Based at the University of Melbourne, he is an Associate Dean of Academic Innovation for the Faculty of Science and former head of the School of BioSciences.

[2] He completed his Honours and PhD at the Australian National University under ornithologist Andrew Cockburn, submitting his thesis in 1992.

[5] His lab maintains wild study populations of black swans at Albert Park Lake in Melbourne, and superb fairy-wrens at Serendip Sanctuary near Lara, Victoria.

[5][6][7] In 2015, Mulder served as head of the newly formed School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne.

[8] Using DNA fingerprinting, Mulder's PhD research revealed widespread extra-pair paternity in the superb fairy-wren: up to 76% of offspring were sired by males outside their social group.