The talented researchers in the Climate Change Cluster all have remarkable stories to tell. Whilst their backgrounds vary the common threads of passion, determination and enquiry run through their research. We hope these profiles will inspire and excite others to follow their lead.
PhD candidates
| name | THesis title |
|---|---|
| Jack Adriaans | Microbial Bioremediation and Biotransformation of phenolic compounds in Industrial Effluent |
| Rachel Alderdice | Revealing the mechanistic basis for coral hypoxia sensitivity versus tolerance via coupled transcriptomics-metabolomics platforms |
| Lorenzo Barolo | Glyco-engineering of therapeutic proteins from microalgae |
| Harvey Bates | The Energetics of photosynthesis to understand stress response of microalgae |
| Giselle Firme | Plasticity of phytoplankton in a changing ocean and implications for primary productivity in Eastern Australian waters |
| Nerissa Fisher | Strategies of Resource Allocation by Phytoplankton under Dynamic Ocean Environments |
| Jestin George | The green horizon for biotech: a genome editing approach |
| Trent Haydon | Roles of Metabolite Transformations in Providing Corals with Enhanced Stress Tolerance |
| William King | New Qualitative Tools to decrypt, Predict and Manage Oyster Disease |
| Julian Kofler | Design of a scalable single-use photobioreactor for axenic cultures of microalgae |
| Carmela Isabel Nunez Lendo | In situ coral nurseries in the Pacific as genetic repositories: Establishing an optimal strategy to propagate and conserve biodiversity of corals |
| Nine Le Reun | Elucidating chemicals exchange between Thalassiosira and bacteria interactions |
| Sean Macdonald-Miller | Exploring the genetic basis for increased pigment biosynthesis in the marine diatoms Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonanna |
| Fateme Mirakhorli | Integrated Microfluidic Systems for Algal Research |
| James O’Brien | Chemical signalling and cycling in a changing ocean: Will environmental shifts alter the microbial-scale interactions that control marine sulphur cycling? |
| Axel Olander | Examining the Volatile Metabolites of Vagrant Tropical Corals in a Temperate System |
| Amelia Pezzano | Algae as a New, Alternative Source of Cellulose Fibres for use in Textiles |
| Shawn Price | Developing Next Generation Algal Bioplastic Technology |
| Mickael Ros | Adaptive strategies of carbon transformation amongst coral symbionts (Symbiodinium spp.) |
| Peta Vine | Evolution of phytoplankton functional traits under different types of environmental variability |
| Matthias Windhagauer | Optimising diatom metabolism for bioplastic production |
| Nathan Williams | Microbial threats in coastal environments |
| Peter Wood | Improved continuous culturing for algal biofuels: linking chemostat and turbidostat operation and identifying opportunities for scalability |
Graduate Research Student Alumni
| Name | Thesis title |
|---|---|
| Pemika Apichanangkool | Assessment of blue carbon reserves in Thailand |
| Kirralee Baker | The biogeochemical role of diatoms in Australia’s coastal ocean |
| Iurii Bodachivskyi | Acid-catalysed Conversion of Algal Biomass into Value Added Small Molecules |
| Kasper Elgetti Brodersen | Analysing the below-ground microenvironment of seagrasses |
| Richard Carney | Bacterioplankton community responses to inflow events in the Hunter river estuary |
| Richard Carney | High inflow river plumes and their impact on estuarine and coastal microbial community composition |
| Katie Chartrand | Environmental tolerances and drivers of deepwater seagrass photophysiology |
| Ponlachart Chotikarn | A comparison of computer model and eddy correlation system |
| Jenn Clark | Integrating physiological, ecological and evolutionary approaches to assess stress resilience of a habitat-forming macroalga |
| Nikolaus Csaszar | Estimating the potential for adaptation of corals to climate change |
| Peter Davey | An integrated view of seagrass response to changing light environments |
| Eva Fernandez | Sulphur-mediated Marine Microbial Interactions: How Phytoplankton Physiology Shapes Microbial Landscapes |
| Risa Fujise | Distribution abundance and life cycle of free-living Symbiodinium |
| Stephanie Gardner | The ecological role of dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) in coral reef ecosystems, from cells to communities |
| Marco Giardina | Micro-scale measurements of marine microbial interactions with global-scale consequences |
| Samantha Goyen | How have corals pushed their limits to thrive in Sydney's backyard? |
| Malin Gustafsson | Modelling macromolecular synthesis and flux in scleractinian coral |
| Ying Hong | The role of zooplankton in cyanobacteria bloom development in Australian reservoirs |
| Johanna Howes | Biochemical Energy Balance of the Coral Symbiosis |
| David Hughes | Using next-generation multi-spectral FRRf to improve current estimates of marine primary productivity (MPP) within Australian waters |
| Kenji Iwasaki | Algal Bioproducts – Investigating the Effect of Light Quality on Metabolite Production by Photosynthetic Diatoms |
| Isabel Jimenez | Thermal properties of corals and implications for coral bleaching |
| Jeff Kelleway | Carbon Dynamics of Saltmarsh Wetlands |
| Mikael Kim | Molecular and cellular investigation of photosynthesis-driven carbon fixation in seagrass |
| Tara Konarzewski | Clinal variation in life-history traits of the invasive plant species Echium plantagineum L. |
| Anna Liza Kretzschmar | Molecular genetics of Gambierdiscus, producer of ciguatera fish poisoning |
| Leonardo Lailo | Incorporating new knowledge of phytoplankton diversity and nutrient utilisation into an ocean-climate model to improve forecasts of ocean function |
| Michaela Larsson | Understanding the ecological niche of toxin producing dinoflagellates |
| Caitlin Lawson | Is Isoprene the Key to Thermal Resilience Amongst Reef Building Corals? |
| Pei-Chuan (Tina) Liu | The correlation between photosynthesis and hybrid vigour |
| Alicia Lloyd | Assessing the Risk of Ocean Acidification for Scleractinian Corals on the Great Barrier Reef |
| Hannah Lloyd (MSc) | Intertidal Biodiversity of South-east Australian Rocky Shores: How do habitat-forming species control biodiversity? |
| Ana Cristina Jaramillo Madrid | Improvement of microalgae biomass production through systems biology |
| Leigh Martin | Impacts of invasive exotic plants on reptile and amphibian assemblages |
| Lauren Frances Messer | The role of microbes in nitrogen cycling processes in the Australian marine environment |
| Nasim Shah Mohammadi | Molecular and physiological investigations of heavy metals stress in the seagrass Posidonia australis. |
| Bojana Manojlovic | A dynamic carbon model for Australian seagrasses |
| Valentina Hurtado McCormick | The microbiology of seagrasses in a changing ocean: Does environmental stress encourage seagrass pathogens? |
| Louisa Norman | Role of saccharides in transformation of iron chemistry in seawater |
| Katherina Petrou | Nutrient limitation and photokinetics of southern ocean phytoplankton |
| Megan Phillips | Plant life history and the naturalisation to invasion transition: the exotic flora of Australia |
| Margaret Ramarajan | Development of an advanced molecular toolkit for genetic engineering of Nannochloropsis sp. for functional genetics and high value bio-products |
| Dale Radford | Enhancing Biofuel Production in Microalgae |
| Charlotte Robinson | Optical partitioning of phytoplankton niches and implications for carbon cycling (CSIRO top-up scholarship recipient) |
| Verena Schrameyer | Defining the bio-energetic limits of Symbiodinium sp.'s host-symbiont relationship under future climate scenarios |
| Cristin Sheehan | Frozen glasshouses: evolutionary adaptation of Antarctic diatoms and their future under a warmer world |
| Paras Sidiqui | Quantifying the direction and magnitude of global and local climate change on urban ecosystem |
| Sutinee Sinutok | Impact of ocean acidification on sediment-dwelling marine calcifiers |
| Rachel Smith | Examining the best stormwater treatment techniques and monitoring the toxicity of stormwater using bioassays |
| Alex Thomson | The role of bioturbators in blue carbon cycles |
| Nguyen Ngoc Tran | Impacts of Extreme Climate Conditions on Ecosystem Seasonal Dynamics and Productivity Patterns |
| Stacey Trevathan-Tackett | Effects of habitat degradation on the long-term storage of carbon in seagrass meadow sediments |
| Jessica Tout | The role of microbial behaviour in structuring coral-microbe interactions |
| Daniel Taylor | Mechanisms linking site water status and NPP of Australian woody ecosystems |
| Arjun Verma | Diversity and genetics of benthic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis in Australasian waters |
| Oksana Vronska | Developing a harvesting process for algal biomass production |
| Navpreet Kaur Walia | Optimisation of strain and culture conditions of the microalga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, for recombinant protein production from nuclear transgenes |
| Chris Watson | Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Techniques to Determine Physiological, Phenological and Compositional Changes in Eastern Australian Grasslands |
| Rhys Whitley | A soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer model for Australian woodlands and forests |
| Kim Wilson | Impact of oil and dispersants on seagrasses |
| Zunyi Xie | Remote Sensing of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems |
| Sepideh Zolfaghar | Examination of groundwater dependent ecosystem’s ecophysilogical traits and their responses to climate change |
Honours
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Amanda Grima | What is the elementome of corals and how is it affected by temperature? |
| Christine Yong | Using marine microalgae to treat wastewater |
| Janet Mackie | Implications of marine heatwaves on microbially mediated biogeochemical processes |
| Sarah Williams | Optimisation of biostimulant production from algal cultures |
Honours alumni
2019
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Raissa Gill | Implications of environmental variability on traits of ocean microbes |
| Nicola Henderson | Are reef restoration approaches ever scalable? |
| Abeeha Khalil | Chemical interactions between diatoms and bacteria |
| Sean Macdonald Miller | Enhancing microalgal pigment production |
| Kate McLennan | Determining abundance and distribution of Prorocentrum minimum |
| Rachelle Tran | Metabolic engineering of microalgae for synthetic biology applications |
2018
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Kristopher Abdullah | Bacterial production of plant growth-promoting hormones, a driving force in the symbiosis between phytoplankton and bacteria |
| Christopher Cooney | Unlocking the competetive capacity of soft corals through metabolic profiling |
| Annabelle Doheny | Integrity of coral skeletons persisting under natural extreme reef habits |
| Erica Leal | Production optimisation of algal feed for aquaculture industry using large scale photobioreactors |
| Axel Olander | Exploring volatile gas emissions of coral reef bethnic taxa |
| Amelia Pezzano | Systems biology to understand the regulation of metabolic pathways enhancing the fucoxanthin production in marine microalgae |
| Nathan Williams | A dynamic insight into Pacific Oyster mortality, with focus on temperature, nutrients, and oyster microbial ecolog |
2017
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Renee Ashton | Tropicalization of temperate waters: spacial dynamics of microhabitat use by vagrant tropical fishes along the NSW coast |
| Rene Delmas | Utilisation of terrestrial organic carbon by zooplankton |
| Ashley Douglas | Determining broad scale associations between air pollutants and urban forestry - a GIS approach |
| Robert Fleck | Production optimisation of the diatom species chaetoceros melleri for aquaculture feed using large-scale photobioreactors |
| Trent Haydon | Characterisation of the microbiome and secondary metabolite (DMSP) in soft corals |
| Helen Hayes | The role of bacteria on nutrient uptake in dinoflagellates |
| Patrick Monarca | Exploring the nexus between behaviour and thermal physiology of coral reef fishes |
| Luke Niven | Phytoremediation of lead in the blue macquarie region |
| Thomas Pettit | Development and augmentation of a botanical biofilter for the remediation of indoor air quality |
| Jack Silburn | The effect of sample selection on estimates of catch composition from a penaeid trawl fishery in SE Australia |
| Jake Violi | A new algal toxin linked to neurobiological disease |
2016
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Jack Adriaans | Cultivation optimisation and recombinant protein expression profiles in GE microalgae |
| Harvey Bates | Photosynthetic energetics in seagrasses; what do electron and proton circuits tell us about the fine tuning of photosynthesis under stress? |
| Annalisa Humphries | Bioactivity screening of micro and macro algae |
| Seoyeon Jung | Monitoring impact of microbial community composition and functional analysis during growth cycle stages of Nannochloropsis oculata |
| James O'Brien | Sulphur-mediated microbial interactions under mesoscale oceanographic perturbations |
| An Tran | Bioflocculation of the green alga Nannochloropsis oculata by using a member of its own bacterial consortium |
2015
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Jake Amaro | Tropical rainforest phenology and functioning assessed through combined satellite and field data |
| John Hanna | Algal biotechnology: optimising Chlorella vulgaris biomass production in photo-bioreactors |
| Regan Hayward | Developing an open source comparative transcriptomics portal for Zostera muelleri |
| Anna Hespe-Poulos | Understanding photoprotection in diatoms |
| Mikael Kim | Do seagrass have an intermediate photosystem between a C3 and a C4 plant? |
| Caitlin Lawson | Evaluating the functional role of biogenic volatile compounds in coral symbiotic algae |
| Maxwell McKinley | Developing a phylogenetic-independent index of stress susceptibility for Symbiodinium: a potential new indicator of coral health |
2014
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Isobel Cummings | Future reefs; how will ocean acidification and warming affect symbiont bearing foraminifera |
| Samantha Goyen | Understanding the molecular background to ROS damage of the coral |
| Simon Hardy | Effects of warming on seagrass carbon stocks |
| Kenji Iwasaki | Effects of CO2 enriched aeration on Nannochloropsis oculata and Chaetoceros muelleri growth in ePBR |
| Brendan O'Keefe | Stability of Holocene "blue" carbon in seagrass meadows in Jervis Bay, NSW |
| Jacob Pooley | Photoprotective capabilities of different genetic clades of the coral endosymbiont algae, Symbiodinium sp |
| Lachlan Webster | How chemistry links plants and bacteria: the role of exudates in seagrass ecology |
| Peter Wood | Batch versus continuous culture: improving algal biofuel productivity |
2013
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Adam Kemp | Physiological and meteorological control of water and carbon relations amongst Australian ecosystems |
| Liana Pozza | Using satellites to understand phytoplankton dynamics in Australia's coastal ocean |
| Jessica Roy | Do burrowing infauna increase carbon turnover in seagrass sediments? |
| Cristin Sheehan | Sunlight through glasshouses: understanding diatom physiology and production under a changing climate |
| Michael Simpson | Impacts of an invasive crab in Tasmania |
2012
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Kirralee Baker | Microalgal performance under short-term environmental change vs. long-term environmental selection |
| Mitch Duley | The effects of hypo-saline conditions on the health of the cnidarian symbiosis |
| Ben Hogan | Ecotoxicological validation of arsenic remediation technique using three aquatic microorganisms |
| Ellen Mannix | Comparative patterns of habitat use by bird assemblages in an urban environment |
| James Tomlinson | Algal and bacterial interactions in the Hawkesbury/Nepean Estuary |
2011
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Samuel I'Ons | Determining the factors that drive invasion success for marine invertebrates |
| Kieran Parker | Productivity of biofuel-generating algae in a new solar bioreactor configured to distribute light and avoid photoinhibition |
| Charlotte Robinson | Correcting oceanographic estimations of chlorophyll distribution |
| Matthew West | Establishment and environmental impacts of the invasive alga Caulerpa taxifolia |
2010
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Ken Loong Chew | Parameter optimization for land surface models in simulation of plant-atmosphere exchange of water and CO2 |
| Jennifer Clark | Adaptation potential of seaweeds to elevated temperature |
| Lyndle Hardstaff | Relationships between the flammability of plant leaves and their physicochemical attributes: comparing native and exotic species |
| Hannah Lloyd | Marine molluscs: biogeography |
| Miles McInerney | Ultrastructure and communication of the multi-partner coral symbiosis |
| Kien Nguyen | Differential impacts of native and exotic invasive plants on invertebrate assemblages |
| Lily Serna | Modelling pesticides in an estuary feeding into the Great Barrier Reef |
| Gabe Shaw | Phytoplankton species composition and productivity in the Tasman Sea |
| Jessica Tout | Coral bacteria associations; the role of chemotaxis |
2009
| Name | thesis title |
|---|---|
| Chris Arendshorst | Coral signalling: protein-specific interactions with bacterial |
| Justine Djajadikarta | Phytoplankton and nutrient dynamics in New South Wales coastal waters |
| Justine Gilbert | How does the microbial consortium associated with corals contribute to coral health? |
| Mitchell Hollier | Effects of CO2 enrichment on Southern Ocean phytoplankton. |
| Michaela Larsson | Phytoplankton and Nutrient Dynamics in the Lower Hawkesbury-Nepean |
Masters by Research students
| name | THesis title |
|---|---|
| Sage Fitzgerald | Applying an integrative taxonomic approach to resolve systematics of the Acropora hyacinthus (Scleractinia, Cnidaria) species complex in the Indo-Pacific |
| Paige Strudwick |
How Does The Coral Microbiome Develop Over The Course Of A Coral’s Life And What Role Does It Play In Adapting To Shifting Environmental Conditions? |
| Aaron Wright | Aquatic ecosystem structure and function in response to water sensitive urban design |