My research interests centre on supply-side ecology and population models of benthic marine invertebrates. I use a combination of field-based experimental approaches and theoretical models to assess how populations become established and develop and use those models to understand how key anthropogenic and environmental pressures may affect population persistence.

In particular, my work focuses on: quantifying the role of density-dependent processes in population development and growth; assessing the role of abiotic and biotic factors such as selective extraction, habitat availability, flow dynamics, competition and predation in population growth models; and the development of larval-phase based models to predict (changes in) species range distributions.

I recently finished working on a large EU Framework 7 Project, Options for Delivering Ecosystem-Based Marine Management (ODEMM; www.liv.ac.uk/ODEMM) at the University of Liverpool. The aim of the project was to develop an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment programme to facilitate the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). My primary role was to develop (1) framework models linking a complex network of marine industry activities to suites of ecosystem characteristics, (2) pressure-based ecosystem evaluation tools, and (3) a risk assessment framework to evaluate threats to marine ecosystems from human activities using qualitative assessments. Other work assessed the combined effect of human activities and developed tools to simply ecosystem-based marine management.

Most recently, I joined the Ryan Institute at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) as an Irish Research Council (IRC) Postdoctoral Fellow. Based in the Marine Environment Laboratory, my research focuses on the dispersal and establishment of invasive species, and especially, the invasive oyster Crassostrea gigas.