However, Batchelor has also shown an interest in ancient and modern stromatolites, which has led him on a number of field trips to outback Australia, including to the Pilbara Craton and to Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve.
The Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) is an international, multi-disciplinary, science and exploration effort to explain the origin of freshwater microbialites (similar to stromatolites) in Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada.