Research

Marine research programs often have a multidisciplinary approach, employing a range of techniques from molecular genetics, to field based studies and computer modeling. Staff at UNSW hold major grants in physical and biological sciences, especially on the continental shelf for management oriented programs on commercial fish populations, and for studies in chemical ecology. Marine research at UNSW extends as far as Western Australia, The Great Barrier Reef and Antarctica with international links to scientists in some of the best laboratories in Europe, North America and Asia.
We have modern laboratory facilities for: molecular genetic analyses, comparative physiology , microscopy and cell biology, sophisticated chemical analyses, in –depth geological analysis, GIS and remote sensing analytical facilities, excellent computing capability including access to supercomputers for rapid modeling of complex problems.
Public concern about the marine environment is growing. Issues such as sustainable fishing, chemical pollutants and the transport of invasive species around the world are high on the agenda. Effective research requires the skills and knowledge of oceanographers, geologists and biologists. Staff at UNSW have major interests in these areas. Trained postgraduates will be well equipped to assist society respond to these challenges.
The following UNSW academics carry out research in marine science:

Associate Professor Paul Adam, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Cambridge)
Research interests: Ecology and floristics of saltmarsh and mangrove communities. Anatomy of halophytes. Saltspray effects in coastal heathland vegetation, genecology of Sporobolus virginicus.

Associate Professor Alberto D. Albani, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (UNSW) Dr. Geol. Sc. (Florence)
Research interests: The coastal zone and its evolution. Geologicmentological history of the Inner Continental Shelf. Foraminiferal ecology of the New South Wales coast and estuaries. Human-induced enviromental stresses in the Venice Lagoon and the central Mediterranean Sea.

Dr Mark Baird, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Mathematics. MSc (Hawaii), PhD (Warwick)
Research interests: Biological oceanographic modelling. The development of a 3 dimensional physical-biological model of plankton population dynamics for the East Australian Current. Nutrient uptake by benthic communities. Elemental ratios (CNP ratios) in aquatic plants. Models of estuarine ecology. Bio-mechanical descriptions of ecological processes.

Professor Michael L. Banner, School of Mathematics, PhD (John Hopkins)
Research interests: Wind generation of short gravity and gravity-capillary waves. Dynamics of small-scale breaking waves. Modulation of short wave spectra by wind and swell. Microwave backscatter from the ocean surface, as used by active microwave remote sensing satellites for ocean wave and wind stress monitoring. Underwater ambient noise from breaking waves. Numerical wave modelling.

Associate Professor Kevin D. Barrow, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, PhD (Adel)
Research interests: In vitro studies of metabolism in marine invertebrates using NMR spectroscopy. Chemical and enzymological studies of novel marine metabolites involved in plant-animal and animal-animal interactions.

Dr Peter J. Blennerhasset, Senior Lecturer, School of Mathematics, PhD (London).
Research interests: Theoretical studies of the wind generation of water waves. Hydrodynamic stability. Shear flow instabilities in small scale breaking waves. Wind generation of small wavelength waves.

Dr Rob Brander, Senior Lecturer, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Sydney).
Research interests: Coastal geomorphology and coastal morphodynamics. Rip-currents and coral-reef island beaches. The morphodynamic relationships between waves, currents and sediment transport in the coastal nearshore zone environment.

Associate Professor Ron J. Cox, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Director, Water Research Laboratory, PhD (UNSW).
Research interests: Coastal and Ocean Engineering, Coastal Management, Sediment Transport, Fluvial & Estuarine Processes, Engineering Hydrology and Flood Mitigation, River and Estuarine Hydraulics ,Environmental engineering including outfall design and impact assessment, Field Data Collection and Interpretation, Power Station Water Cooling Systems, Numerical & Physical Modelling, Groundwater and Geohydrology.

Dr Merel Dalebout, Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Auckland).
Research interests: Population and conservation genetics of marine mammals.

Professor Matt H England, School of Mathematics, PhD (Sydney)
Research interests: Physical oceanography, ocean modelling, climate processes. The circulation of the Southern Ocean and its role in the global carbon cycle and climate change. Parameterisation of mixing in ocean models, modelling flow over topography. Using chlorofluorocarbons, radiocarbon and other geochemical tracers to assess ocean and climate models. Interocean exchange of heat and freshwater. The World Ocean Circulation Experiment.

Professor Graham Fleet, School of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry, PhD (Calif.)
Research interests: Microbial aspects of food processing, quality, and public health.

Dr Paul E. Gribben, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Marine Biofouling and
Bio-Innovation, PhD (Auckland)
Research interests: Chemical ecology of marine bivalves, ecology and
life history characteristics of soft-sediment invertebrates, aquaculture
of marine invertebrates.

Associate Professor Peter Greenaway, Visiting Associate Professor, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Newcastle upon Tyne )
Research interests: Physiology of crustaceans including crayfish, mudcrabs, shore crabs, terrestrial crabs and isopods.

Dr Emma L. Johnston, Lecturer, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Melbourne)
Research interests: Marine pollution ecology (or ecotoxicology). Subtidal sessile invertebrate ecology, interactions between disturbance and competition. Invasive Species. Developing protocols for field-based ecotoxicological experiments.

Professor Staffan Kjelleberg, Professor, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, PhD (Goteborg)
Research interests: Mechanisms by which marine bacteria adapt to starvation and stress. Resuscitation programs of starved as well as viable but non-culturable bacterial cells. Interactions between marine bacterial films and larvae of sessile marine organisms; development of biological antifouling technology.

Dr Nathan Knott, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Melbourne)
Research interests: Marine pollution ecology.

Dr W.D. McKee, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematics, PhD (Cambridge)
Research interests: The propagation of water waves along channels with irregular boundaries. The fundamental motivation for this is in lessening wave damage in harbour.

Professor Jason H. Middleton, Department of Aviation and School of Mathematics, PhD (Monash)
Research interests: Geophysical fluid dynamics, physical oceanography and turbulent convective processes in fluids. More specific present interests are in dynamic processes on continental shelves, with application to continental shelf waves wind driven flows and cross-shelf processes and general circulation on the Great Barrier Reef and around Antarctica, their observation, and analysis using time series methods. Mixing processes and buoyant convection in the upper ocean and continental shelf regimes are of continuing interest. Recent projects also relate to aviation meteorology and include sea/land breeze systems and the wind climate at Sydney airport.

Dr Alistair G. B. Poore, Senior Lecturer, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental
Sciences, PhD (UNSW)
Research interests: Ecology and evolution of marine invertebrates and macroalgae; marine plant-herbivore interactions; sub-tidal rocky reefs; ecology of mobile epifauna inhabiting macroalgae; ecology of marine amphipods; effects of habitat structure on invertebrate dispersal; human influences on mobile epifauna; evolution in modular organisms; phenotypic plasticity in macroalgae.

Dr Peter C. Rickwood, Honorary Research Fellow, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Cape Town), C. Chem., M.R.C.S., MMSA.
Research interests: The topography and magnetic properties of the bedrock on the continental shelf near Sydney, N.S.W. The geochemistry of recent sediments in Lake Macquarie and the Hawkesbury River Estuary, N.S.W., and also those in the western Adriatic Sea and within the adjacent tidal Lagoon of Venice (Italy). Environmental assessment of marine sediments.

Dr Moninya Roughan, Lecturer, School of Mathematics, PhD (UNSW).
Research interests: Physical oceanography; upwelling in boundary currents; flow around headlands; larval transport; circulation around coral reefs; dispersion and flushing in shallow estuaries

Dr Jes Sammut, Senior Lecturer, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (UNSW).
Research interests: Sustainable aquaculture; coastal resource management; environmental impact assessment; acid-sulfate soils; estuary acidification; diseases in estuarine and freshwater fish and shellfish; problems arising from development in the Asia-Pacific region

Associate Professor William B Sherwin, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Melb).
Research interests: Conservation genetics and demography of marine and terrestrial mammals.

Dr Willem Sijp, Post-doctoral fellow, School of Mathematics, PhD (UNSW).
Research interests: Numerical climate modelling, feedbacks in the global thermohaline circulation, NADW stability, Paleoclimatology. Of particular interest are the effect of the Drake Passage on past and present climate and NADW collapse.

Professor Peter D. Steinberg, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (California); Director, Centre for Marine Biofouling and Bio-Innovation
Research interests: Pure and applied aspects of marine chemical ecology; biofouling and antifouling; marine herbivory; seaweed/bacterial interactions; subtidal ecology. Applied research on the use of signal molecules in novel biotechnologies is done under the auspices of the Centre for Marine Biofouling and Bio-Innovation.

Associate Professor Iain M. Suthers, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, PhD (Dalhousie)
Research interests: Biological oceanography of marine fish larvae and invertebrates in relation to physical processes of circulation, estuarine fronts and upwelling. Study areas include Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay and nine other NSW estuaries, coastal NSW and the Coral Sea. Evaluating the significance of prey abundance and pollutant stress on larval fish using morphometric, histological and otolith condition indices - and the ultimate effect on larval recruitment. Reasons and mechanisms of dispersal of plankton, of larval retention, and of vertical migration using the plankton particle size spectrum to demonstrate the effect of coastal eutrophication and the causes of red tides.

Associate Professor Geoff H. Waugh, School of Economics, PhD (UNSW)
Research interests: Fisheries economics, bioeconomic modelling, simulation and empirical testing of models, fisheries management, policy formation, economic implications of the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone, fisheries and development especially in relation to Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Associate Professor Mike Wootton, School of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Chemistry, PhD (UNSW)
Research interests: Development and evaluation of marine food products and assessment of their quality as food. Extraction of agar from Indonesian seaweeds.

Where do I find more information?
More information on marine science can be found at the following UNSW websites: www.marine.unsw.edu.au
www.bees.unsw.edu.au
www.maths.unsw.edu.au
www.famer.unsw.edu.au