University of Otago - Otago, NZ Environmental, climatic, and biological interactions influencing the marine distribution of yellow-eyed penguins "Exceptional Doctoral Thesis" Award 2022
I am a spatial ecologist and conservation biologist specialising in marine movement tracking and species distribution modelling. Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Canterbury leading integrative spatial analyses of Antarctic mesopredators in the Ross Sea. I combine foraging, diving, and environmental data to examine habitat use, spatial overlap, and temporal variation in foraging behaviour. In parallel, I lead the long-term monitoring and research programme at one of the largest little penguin colonies on mainland New Zealand. I am also interested in using spatial and GIS methods to quantify the threats facing penguins and seabirds, with the overall aim to inform marine spatial planning and conservation management decisions.