People

Originally from New Zealand, Ian completed his BSc and MSc through the University of Auckland. Ian has worked in 18 countries, including every continent. His previous roles include: Ranger on a small conservation island in NZ, filmmaker in Africa, personal trainer in London, head chef on a super yacht based out of Spain, environmental consultant, contract diver, pollution response officer, research officer in Antarctica, and English teacher in a small village on the foothills of the Himalayas.
Realising that little more consistency in his CV would be a good idea, Ian moved to Townsville to concentrate on building a career in research commencing with a PhD through James Cook University in April 2010. Ian’s research focussed on the impacts of sea surface temperatures on the early life history stages of coral reef fish and
the consequences on these impacts on the connectivity of reef fish populations. Specifically it addressed: What are the relationships between natural temperature gradients (spatial and temporal) and the early life history traits of coral reef fishes? What are the effects of ocean warming on the early grown, survival and body condition of juvenile reef fish at equatorial regions, where they may already be living at or beyond their thermal optima? What are the interacting impacts of temperature and variable food supply on the performance of reef fish larvae. This research was supervised by Professors Geoffrey Jones, Mark McCormick and Philip Munday from JCU along with Dr Timothy Clark from AIMS.