Dr Watters completed the Degree of Doctor Philosophy in 1970 while employed in the Department of Zoology. For the next three decades, he and the other staff of the Department developed the Zoology Museum to a level that is envied by other universities.

Dr Watters, appointed as honorary Curator on his retirement from teaching in 1988, enriched the Museum by developing an international network of museum staffs which enabled the exchange of specimens previously unavailable to museum users. His reputation led to visits to over 140 museums in 31 countries, and invitations, through the Australian Universities and Colleges International Development Program, to consult on developing museums in departments of Biology in universities in Thailand and the Philippines.