[2] Holsworth earned his Bachelor of Science at the University of British Columbia in 1958.
[3] For his PhD research, conducted at the University of Western Australia, Holsworth studied behaviour and population homeostasis in quokkas on Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia.
[5] In 2004, he was granted honorary life membership by the Australian Mammal Society for providing "long standing service to the Society and to the advancement of substantive knowledge of Australasian mammals.
[2][7] According to Holsworth in 2014, “When I retired from university teaching I wanted to continue training the next generation of ecologists and promoting conservation.
"[2] In its first year, the endowment provided $15,000 to fund three wildlife research projects by Australian postgraduate students.