I graduated from James Cook University in 2001, from the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. It was a blue-collar maths department, and my skills are consequently very applied. I became interested in biophysical oceanography during my honours year. My thesis analysed macroscale structure in coral reef fish connectivity patterns on the Great Barrier Reef. After graduating, I spent a year teaching English in Malawi, and following another year working as a Research Assistant for Sean Connolly, I began a PhD at the University of Queensland’s Mathematics Department in 2007, supervised by Hugh Possingham and Kevin Burrage.

I am currently an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne’s School of Botany. I am most interested in spatial planning and decisions in dynamic ecosystems. I also spend a little time thinking about less-applied ecology, particularly the dispersal ecology of coral reef ecosystems.