My PhD research focuses on conceptualising and forecasting the ecological succession of coral reef benthic communities. I am currently developing a stochastic forecasting model that integrates climate drivers to conduct decadal forecasts of future benthic community compositions. This work is underpinned by a PRISMA-driven systematic review and a high-resolution spatial analysis of benthic taxon and functional groups on the reefs of Aldabra Atoll. My primary goal is to clarify the specific definitions of ecological change in these communities and to quantify how taxonomic and functional groups transition and persist in response to biotic and abiotic stressors.
My previous research includes modelling changes amongst coral functional groups within benthic reef communities using Markov Chain analysis, investigating the relationships between coral reef 3D complexity and fish community structure, and exploring relationships between rugosity and three metrics of fish community structure in the Caribbean.
DATA SCIENCE & AI: I have undertaken projects developing deep-learning image object-recognition models to automate species identification from underwater imagery and I am currently undertaking an industry Data Science qualification.
GEOSPATIAL: I am passionate about GIS, cartography and spatial data science. Therefore, I recently designed and delivered an online, GIS course with an ecology-focus.
FIELDWORK: I am a HSE-certified scientific diver holding a FREC4 first-response cert. My practical experience includes scientific dive team lead and field coordinator overseeing large-scale underwater data collection.
TEACHING: eDNA workshop delivery (MSc level), academic writing tutor, Envelope Modelling demonstrator.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND: BSc in Software Engineering, MSc Wildlife and Conservation Management, and PGCE in Computer Science Education (QTS).
