People

Matt was originally born in Melbourne Australia, but left before he was one and grew up in Cambridge in the UK. He started scuba diving around the age of 15 which is when he developed his interest in the marine sciences. Matt did his undergraduate studies at Newcastle University in the UK and always had an interest in tropical marine biology, in particular coral reefs. He then undertook a master of applied science degree in marine biology at JCU in Townsville where he learnt more about coral reefs and tropical marine biology in general. In his last semester he did a research project under the supervision of Geoff Jones looking at the effects of depth and aspect on coral reef fish distributions on reefs in Kimbe Bay, PNG. Matt is now a research student studying the effects of depth on the distribution, habitat use and specialisation of coral reef fishes. He is supervised by Professor Geoff Jones and Dr Nick Graham and has carried out work on both the GBR and the reefs of Kimbe Bay, PNG.