Researchers
Students
Alumni
ManagementSamantha Aird
PhD candidate
BA/Hons
James Cook University
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
PhD candidate
BA/Hons
James Cook University
Samantha’s research interests rest across the fields of archaeology and marine science. Her passion for tropical marine environments and cultural heritage led to the completion of her undergraduate degree (BA (hons) Archaeology) at James Cook University in 2014. Samantha’s PhD research focuses on the long-term importance and resilience of marine resources in socio-ecological settings. Her PhD study site is one of the most significant archaeology sites in the Great Barrier Reef due to its size and age – Woppaburra’s Mazie Bay midden, North Keppel Island. Radiocarbon dates confirm Woppaburra’s Mazie Bay midden to be at least 5000-years-old. More specifically, Samantha employs morphometric, sclerochronology, and stable isotope techniques to reconstruct palaeoclimates using archaeological mollusc remains. She completed a 5-month internship at the Australian Museum’s Lizard Island Research Station in 2016-2017 and continues to work as a research assistant on archaeological material from key Papua New Guinea sites. Her PhD supervisory panel includes A/Prof. Katherine Szabó (Monash University), Dr Andrew Hoey (JCU), Dr Patrick Faukner (University of Sydney), A/Prof. Mike Rowland (JCU) and Dr Amy Prendergast (University of Melbourne).
A team of scientists led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) won one of the nation’s top science awards at tonight’s ‘Oscars of Australian science’, the Eureka P
An analytical tool will be used to assess the climate risks facing historic World Heritage sites in Africa—the ruins of two great 13th century ports and the remains of a palace and iron-making indus
A world-first study on the Great Barrier Reef shows crown-of-thorns starfish have the ability to find their own way home—a behaviour previously undocumented—but only if their neighbourhood is stoc
An international team of scientists has found leaving more big fish in the sea reduces the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the Earth’s atmosphere. When a fish dies in the ocean it si
Abstract: Invasive species management can be the the subject of debate in many countries due to conflicting ecological, ethical, economic, and social reasons, especially when dealing with a species s
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Abstract: The backdrop of legends and movies, the deep sea has always been unfathomable because we had no idea what existed there. Once thought to be barren of life, we now know this couldn’t be
Abstract: Coral reefs provide economic and environmental services for millions of people but undergoing significant ecological decline due to local (i.e., sedimentation, land-based pollution, invas
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Abstract: CHE is not a particular theory or a single approach but a collection of lines of research that address human-environmental interactions in coastal and marine systems at the local scale
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Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au