Research Fellows

	Tracy Ainsworth - James Cook University Contact : Tracy.Ainsworth@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 4442 Tracy is originally from the North Coast of New South Wales. She completed a BSc in Marine Biology/Aquaculture in 1996 and MSc in Marine Microbiology/Immunology in 2001, both at James Cook University. After working at the University of Queensland for several years she completed a PhD in 2007 at the Center for Marine Studies. Her PhD research investigated the histopathology and microbial ecology of stress and disease in reef corals. Tracy's broad research interests include stress responses, cell biology, immunity and disease of marine invertebrates.
	Glenn Almany - James Cook University Contact : Glenn.Almany@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 5721 Glenn is originally from Los Angeles, California. He spent six years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear reactor engineer on a submarine (1985-1991), and has a BSc in marine biology from San Francisco State University (1996) and a PhD in Zoology from Oregon State University (2002). His research is broadly focused on the ecology of coral reef fishes.
	Andrew Baird - James Cook University Contact : Andrew.Baird@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 4857 Andrew grew up in Sydney, Australia. He completed a BSc with 1st class Honours in Marine Ecology in 1994 and a Phd in Marine Ecology in 2001 both at James Cook University. His current research focuses on the evolution of life histories and biogeographical patterns in reproductive ecology of scleractinian corals.
	Natalie Ban - James Cook University Contact : Natalie.Ban@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 6067 Natalie has been involved in marine conservation planning and research for the past 10 years. She completed her Ph.D. in Resource Management and Environmental Studies at the University of British Columbia in 2008. She has a Bachelor's and Masters in geography from McGill University. She grew up in Canada, Germany, and the USA. Her current research focuses on incorporating dynamics, especially patch dynamics, into conservation planning.
	Line Bay - James Cook University/AIMS Contact : Line.Bay@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 5979 Line grew up near Roskilde in Denmark but moved to Townsville late last century. She completed her Honours degree on the behavioural ecology and PhD on population genetics of coral reef fishes at James Cook University. While maintaining broad interests in molecular ecology and evolution, her current research uses genetic tools to examine the role of thermal stress on corals and their endosymbiotic algal communities.
	Joshua Cinner - James Cook University email : Joshua.Cinner@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 6751 Josh grew up in Massachusetts, USA. He completed a Masters degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island in 2000 and a PhD from James Cook University in 2006. His research focuses on using social science to improve coral reef management.
	Sean Connolly - James Cook University email : Sean.Connolly@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 4242 Sean Connolly was born and grew up in Evansville, Indiana, USA, a long way from the ocean. He received a B.A. in Biology from Earlham College (USA) in 1994, from whence he began his scientific career with a paper on spider web orientation in 1992. He received a PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University (USA) in 1999, for research on the ecology of temperate rocky shores. During a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona (USA), as part of the Research Training Group in Biological Diversification (1998-2000), he shifted his focus to paleobiology, examining the global dynamics of biodiversity in the fossil record. Since then, he has been at James Cook University as a Lecturer (2000-2002), Senior Lecturer (2003-2006), and Associate Professor (2007), where he has developed a research program in ecological modelling applied to coral reefs. His principal focus is coral reef biodiversity, but he is also active in the areas of physiological ecology, larval ecology, and population dynamics. Sean currently holds an ARC Australian Professorial Fellowship (2008-2012).
	Simon Dunn - University of Queensland Contact: s.dunn@cms.uq.edu.au Phone: 61 7 3365 3378 Simon grew up in the UK and obtained a BSc(Hons) in marine and freshwater biology from Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London in 1998. He completed his PhD on cellular mechanisms of symbiont release during cnidarian bleaching at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (2002). This was followed by a short-term position researching cellular pathways in neuroblastoma and medullablastoma cancer at the University of Liverpool (2002-2003). He then moved to Corvallis, Oregon, USA to take up a post-doctoral position in the Weis lab. This work focused on the cellular interactions of cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis (2003-2007). His work at UQ will continue to focus on the changes in gene expression and cellular interactions of coral and anemone symbiosis.
	Pedro Fidelman - James Cook University Contact: Pedro.Fidelman@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 6517 Pedro is originally from Brazil, where he received a BSc (Hons) in Oceanography from the Federal University of Rio Grande (1996), and MSc in Geography from the University of Sao Paulo (2000). In 2007, he completed a PhD in Environmental Science at the University of Wollongong, Australia. His main area of expertise is institutional analysis and environmental governance. Pedro's research has focused on how systems of social norms and rules (i.e., institutions) can be used towards more sustainable environmental governance. Examples of his current research include investigating the governance of large-scale, multi-level common-pool resources.
	Simon Foale - James Cook University Contact: Simon.Foale@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 6785 Simon grew up in the Solomon Islands and studied zoology and marine ecology at Queensland University in the early '80s. His Ph.D. (University of Melbourne) and subsequent work (ANU) has involved a strong social science focus and he will be building a cross-disciplinary cluster while at the Centre, before migrating to the School of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology in 2010.
	Débora De Freitas - James Cook University Contact: Debora.defreitas@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 6282 Débora De Freitas is originally from Brazil. She completed a BSc-honours (2000) and Masters-honours (2003) in Oceanography at the Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil – with complementary studies in Marine Policy at the Center for the Study of Marine Policy, Delaware/U.S.A. She is concluding her PhD in Environment Studies at James Cook University. Her research interests focus on the use of geospatial technology (i.e. GIS) in systematic conservation planning, integrated coastal zone management, and stakeholders’ engagement in the management of natural resources.
	Nick Graham - James Cook University Contact: Nick.Graham@jcu.edu.au Phone: +61 7 4781 6291 Nick is from the Lake District in the UK, about 4000km from the nearest tropical coral reef. He obtained a BSc(Hons) degree in Zoology from Newcastle University in 1999, a Master of Applied Science in Tropical Marine Ecology from James Cook University in 2002 and, after a few years working as a Research Associate in Prof Nick Polunin's group, a PhD from Newcastle University in 2008. His current research focuses on the impacts of climate change to reef systems, and the physical, ecological and management properties that promote recovery and resilience.
	Lauretta Grasso - James Cook University Contact: Lauretta.Grasso@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 4354 Lauretta is North Queensland born and bred. She did her undergraduate degree with a major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at James Cook University. This was followed by Honours and a PhD at the Australian National University in Canberra, both of which focused on developmental mechanisms in the coral Acropora millepora. Her current research interests include the molecular control of coral settlement and metamorphosis, and symbiont recognition.
	Terry Hughes - James Cook University Contact: Terry.Hughes@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 4000 Professor Terry Hughes is an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow (2002-2007, 2007-2012) and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (since 2005). Professor Hughes was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2001, and was a member of the Expert Advisory Committee for Australian National Research Priorities in 2002. He is a Fellow and Board Member of the Beijer International Institute for Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Stockholm, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Resilience Alliance. He has been awarded numerous prizes awards, including the Centenary Medal of Australia, the Silver Jubilee Award for Excellence of the Australian Marine Science Association in 2004, the 2007 Sherman Eureka Prize for Environmental Research, and the 2008 quadrennial Darwin Medal of the International Society for Coral Reef Studies. According to ISI Science Citation Index, Professor Hughes is ranked number one globally for citations to individual researchers in coral reef science. He has published 18 papers in Science and Nature. In the past 2-3 years, his research has increasingly evolved in a new direction, moving from an ecological focus to a broader evaluation of the linkages between coral reef ecosystems, the goods and services they provide to people, and the welfare of human societies.
	Johnathan Kool - James Cook University Contact : Johnathan.Kool@jcu.edu.au Phone: +61 7 4781 6749 Originally born in Montreal, Johnathan has spent many years living and working in a number of different locations throughout Canada and the United States. He received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries in 2008 from the University of Miami. He also holds a B.Sc(Ag) in wildlife biology from McGill University, and Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University. Johnathan has also worked professionally as a GIS researcher for the Appalachian Mountain Club and as the GIS lab manager for the World Resources Institute. He is currently developing analytical and individual-based methods for studying the formation of large-scale patterns of diversity in coral reef ecosystems, as well as working on ways to integrate aspects of complexity theory and computer science into conservation planning.
	Jennie Mallela - Australian National University Contact : jennie.mallela@anu.edu.au Phone: +61 2 6125 9960 Jennie grew up in Birmingham in the UK. She has a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Bio-geo science from The University of Leeds. She gained an MSc in Marine Resource Management from Heriot-Watt University where she spent much of her time diving the shipwrecks of Scapa Flow, Orkney and documenting their marine biodiversity. She completed her PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University in coral reef communities and carbonate production in fluvially impacted reefs in Rio Bueno, Jamaica (2004). Subsequently, Jennie worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago assessing the effects of Orinoco and Amazon river runoff on coral reefs. Her work at ANU now focuses on the effects of land-based runoff on the central GBR. She is using coral cores to reconstruct environmental change and calcification on the GBR using coral sclerochronology and geochemical proxies.
	Peter Mumby - University of Queensland Contact : p.j.mumby@exeter.ac.uk Phone: 44 (0)1392 263798 Professor Peter Mumby will be moving to the University of Queensland in 2010 to take up an Australian Laureate Fellowship. Peter is currently Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Exeter. His research on coral reef remote sensing remains the most-heavily cited in the field and has strongly influenced the monitoring of marine ecosystems from space. Before embarking on a research career, Peter spent two years designing marine reserves in Belize where he experienced, first hand, the limited scientific basis for such planning. This experience was highly influential in defining and driving his research, which has been dedicated to conducting applied science in support of the management of coral reefs. In 1997 he obtained a PhD in coral reef remote sensing and then used two post-doctoral fellowships to broaden his expertise into empirical reef ecology and ecological modelling. Today, Peter uses remotely-sensed data to scale up ecological models so that they are spatially-realistic and able to inform conservation decisions directly.
	Philip Munday - James Cook University Contact : Philip.Munday@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 5341 Philip grew up in Tasmania where he was surrounded by beautiful forests, great trout fishing, and superb (but chilly) temperate-water diving. He spent a number of years working overseas as a dive guide before returning to Australia and moving to Townsville to study marine biology. He completed his PhD (1996-1999) in Marine Ecology at James Cook University. Philip has conducted extensive research on the reproductive ecology of reef fishes. His current research focuses on fish-habitat associations and the impact of climate change on reef fish communities
	Morgan Pratchett - James Cook University Contact : Morgan.Pratchett@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 5747 Morgan is originally from Botswana, but spent his childhood in Kununurra, north-western Australia. He completed his BSc with honours (1992-1996) and Phd (1996-2001) in Marine Ecology, at James Cook University. His current research focuses on major perturbations and threats to coral reef ecosystems, such as climate induced coral bleaching and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish.
	Bob Pressey - James Cook University Contact : Bob.Pressey@jcu.edu.au Phone: 61 7 4781 6194 Professor Bob Pressey has worked on the theory, techniques and practice of conservation planning as a private environmental consultant, then as a research scientist with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, and now at James Cook University. During his career, he has combined scientific research with policy development and collaboration with practitioners in Australia and internationally. His publications have had a high scientific impact. He is an ISI highly cited researcher in the field of Environment/Ecology with more than 4000 non-self citations of his papers and book chapters. His influence on practice includes close involvement with the systematic design of about 1 million hectares of reserves in New South Wales and collaborative projects that have influenced conservation decisions extensively in other countries. He has current projects in China, South Africa, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Mexico, including two global biodiversity hotspots. His awards and prizes include the New South Wales Premier's Public Sector Environment Award (2004), the Eureka Prize for Biodiversity Research (2002), and the major annual award from the Society for Conservation Biology (2001). An important feature of his new research program will be the close involvement of practitioners and other stakeholders representing local, regional, state and national agencies, non-government organisations and community groups.