I am a senior lecturer in population biology at the University of Newcastle, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences. I'm in the Modelling, Evidence and Policy Group and also affiliated with the Newcastle Centre for Behaviour and Evolution. I have guest affiliations with the University of Amsterdam and with the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.
My research interests comprise a range of topics that include behavioural ecology, eco-evolutionary dynamics, life history theory, energy budget theory, demography and the conservation of marine coastal species. My research aims at developing a mechanistic framework to link ecology and evolution on the basis of the processes that drive the dynamics of heritable life history traits. I test this framework mainly on estuarine and marine animals (beach hoppers, ray-finned fish, manta rays and reef sharks). I also study how populations are affected by harvesting, fishing and environmental change, and investigate the evolution and maintenance of discrete, alternative phenotypes within single populations. I have blog posts on some of my research results.
Also, as an academic, parent and partner, the issue of balance is frequently on my mind. On my blog here I share some of these reflections.