My research interests are diverse within coral reef science but primarily focus on reproductive and larval ecology, long-term ecological change, coral bleaching and restoration ecology and include use of various techniques ranging from large scale manipulative field experiments to molecular biology using state-of-the art ‘omic techniques. 

 

I have lived in five countries and worked with a diverse group of scientists from a range of disciplines in large, international multi-disciplinary research groups. Between 2005 and 2008 I was employed by Newcastle University (UK) as part of an international European Union funded project, involving a consortium of scientists from six countries, to investigate reef restoration techniques on degraded reefs in the Philippines. I was also appointed as a member of the Reef Restoration Working Group of the Coral Reef Targeted Research program of the World Bank-Global Environment Facility (GEF-CRTR), a multi-million dollar five year incentive to investigate some of the most pressing problems facing coral reefs. An impact case study based on this work received a 4-star rating in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework indicative of research quality that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour.

 

I was awarded a prestigious three-year Lee Kuan Yew Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2009 to conduct independent research at the National University of Singapore and between 2012 and 2014 held a senior research fellowship jointly with the University of New South Wales and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to coordinate multidisciplinary research activities among a group of 17 marine ecologists and molecular biologists from Australia and Singapore. During 2016 and 2017 I was a Powell Center Fellow at the University of Hawai'i's Institute of Marine Biology, investigating methods of identifying resilient coral reefs against a backdrop of degradation.

 

I currently lead a European Research Council Consolidator Grant at Newcastle University to bring together the various branches of my research and to assemble a world class research team to tackle questions facing tropical coral reefs.