A supportive and productive research community
Higher Degree Research candidates play an important role at the Coastal and Marine Research Centre.
Our collaborative culture encourages students to share their ideas, progress and findings, supplemented by opportunities for professional development and volunteer work across the centre.
HDR Programs at the CMRC
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) projects comprise the majority of student research programs at the centre, with most laboratories offering opportunities for PhD supervision.
Follow the links below to learn more about available PhD projects and potential supervisors.
PhD study information Research degree scholarships Griffith Graduate Research School
PhD research projects
View our available PhD projects to find an existing project that matches your research passion
Find a supervisor
Research staff at the Coastal and Marine Research Centre come from many disciplines, including leading experts in the fields of Marine Biology, Marine Ecology, Marine Chemistry and Toxicology, and Coastal Processes and Management. Explore our individual research strengths and candidate supervision.
Explore our research
Find out more about our primary research areas and laboratory teams to see if they align with your interests.
Our PhD candidates
Coral Reef Algae Lab
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Soren Huber | House hunting on the GBR : What do prospective coral recruits seek in their algal dream homes? |
Marine Invertebrates Lab
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Brett Bolte | Exploiting filter feeding bivalves as a natural sampling platform |
| Julieta Gamboa Cutz | Microbial community and methane activity in solis of coastal wetlands throughout a salinity gradient |
| Lorelle Stanisic | Integrating morphology and mitochondrial DNA for species delimitation in Figuladra |
| Marina Richardson | Understanding the diversity of remnant east-coast shellfish reefs to inform restoration design |
| Mollie Stefanek | Immune pathways in Australian native oysters |
| Nikolina Nenadic | Unlocking the aquaculture potential of Australia's native oysters |
| Ya Zhang | Prevention of maturation to improve resilience and growth of the Australian greenlip abalone Haliotis laevigata |
Phycology and Biogeochemistry Lab
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Jas Singh | Use of nanobubbles for water quality rehabilitation applications |
| Kane McManus | Developing and testing new methods to measure effects of nutrient stressors on ecosystems |
Global Wetlands Project
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Alyssa Giffin | Marine and coastal ecosystem-based adaptation |
| Andria Ostrowski | Stressors in the real world: Evaluating impacts of multiple stressors in coastal ecosystems |
| Charles Cadier | Wetlands restoration and recovery of associated ecosystem services a win-win strategy |
| Ellen Ditria | Wetland ecosystem services: automated monitoring and links with ecosystem degradation |
| Georgia King | Instream outcomes of irrigation flow releases across the northern Murray-Darling Basin |
| Jordan Holdorf | Adaptive management of restoration for coastal habitats in a changing climate |
| Kristin Jinks | Food-web structure and carbon contribution to animal diets in shallow and deep-water seagrass habitats |
| Naima Iram | Methane emissions of wetlands versus other land uses in the Great Barrier Reef catchment |
| Olivia King | The combined and interactive effects of multiple stressors in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon |
| Renee Piccolo | Spatial prioritization and landscape context in wetland restoration |
| Sebastian Lopez-Marcano | Measuring cross-habitat movements among habitat hotspots of fish with artificial intelligence |
Marine Megafauna
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Sarah McCulloch | Supplementary feeding patterns of east Australian humpback whales on their southern migration |
Sea Jellies Research Lab
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Clarissa Garbi Molinari | Transcriptomic responses to environmental changes in jellyfish |
| Jessica Strickland | Forensic detection of Irukandji jellyfish using e DNA |
| Jonathan Wanderley Lawley | Investigating endogenous and exogenous drivers of polychromatism in jellyfish |
ARI Toxicology Lab
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Arthur Barraza | Assessing toxicology of sea turtles |
| Gulsah Dogruer | Assessing the impact of chemical exposure on the health of endangered sea turtles through toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics |
| Julia Smith | Assessing the toxicological status of sharks as apex predators in the Australian marine ecosystem |
| Matthew Johnson | Development and validation of a new suite of in vitro bioassays for environmental monitoring |
| Ruth Maggeni | Accumulation and impacts of plasticisers and flame retardants in sea turtles |
Coastal Water Quality Lab
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Danielle Hill | Impacts of industry on amphibians; investigating selenium and mercury bioaccumulation and toxicity |
| Felicia Haase | Unravelling the early diagenesis of vanadium in anoxic marine sediments |
| Heera Lee | The impact of seagrass on trace metal dynamics in coastal sediments |
| Jessica White | Using computational simulations to understand iron-liquid interfaces for groundwater remediation |
Southern Ocean Persistent Organic Pollutants Program
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Erika Oteri | New biomarkers of toxicity assessed through 'omic approaches in fasting humpback whales |
| Jane Hall | Understanding the impact of disease and pollution on New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) |
| Kushani Perera | Analyzing the risk of microplastics dietary exposure via seafood on humans |
| Md. Hafiz All Hosen | Linking humpback whale chemical exposure to effect: taxon specific in-vitro toxicity assessment |
| Raphael Mayaud | Assessing the increasing cost of maritime disturbance to migrating humpback whales |
Coastal Dynamics and Management
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Ali Koosheh | The experimental study of wave overtopping at sloped seawalls |
| Ali Saremi | Statistical downscaling of wave climate projections in Australia |
| Amin Reza Zarifsanayei | Climate change impacts on wave-driven longshore sediment transport, projection and uncertainty analysis |
| Ana Paula Da Silva | Climate control on natural headland sand bypassing |
| Dima Al Atawneh | Impact of climate change on ground water resources |
| Gaelle Faivre | Understanding the role of the reef for coastal hazard assessment given climate change and development in SIDs in the South Pacific Islands |
| Gerard Mcnamara | Quantification of wave transformation using electromagnetic sensing and machine learning |
| Huong Nguyen | Opportunities to adapt to climate change by improving agricultural land management in Vietnam |
| Ian McNicol | Climate change adaptation - raising the capacity of land use planning to address sea level rise |
| James Thompson | Effects of wave farms on coastal dynamics |
| Jayden Hyman | Operationalising the adaptive management of deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining projects using a participatory systems modelling approach |
| John Miller | The Australian storm wave climate and its relationship to cyclones and other extreme storms |
| Ken Subaru Muroi | Optimizing submerged breakwates for coastal protection: a hybrid modelling approach |
| Leonard Peach | Evaluating machine learning for operational coastal wave condition forecasting |
| Md Atiqul Islam | Development of satellite-derived precipitation products for water resources management |
| Mohammad Alipour | Analysing diffusion of battery energy storage system in Queensland residential sector |
| Mohammad Hassan Ranjbar | The development and spatiotemporal distribution of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms and salvinia in an urban lake: individual-based modelling |
| Mohammed Al-ogaili | Predicting the recession and overtopping of two-class armour berm breakwater |
| Shabnam Hosseinzadeh Shahmarbiglou | Site selection of offshore renewable energy using Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approaches |
| Shahid Ali | Feasibility study for small hydro-power development using GIS-AHP for climate change mitigation |
| Simone Heilgeist | Assessing the environmental fate of sunscreen derived nano-TiO2 in swimming pools: an integrated approach |
| Sneha Kaira | Sustainability evaluation of road operational and maintenance phase: application of system dynamics |
Precision Erosion and Sediment Management
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Jagriti Tiwari | Integration of MUSLE and GIS for improved sediment yield prediction for GBR catchments in Queensland |
| Jemma Purandare | Strategic management of sediment transport in artificially by-passed tidal entrances |
Water Management
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Abolfazl Ansari | A comprehensive study on sustainable water desalination using membrane distillation: Experimentally validated computational investigation |
| Chao Deng | Integration of remote sensing and modelling techniques for water resource assessment in a subtropical catchment |
| Hengyu Wei | Influence of salinity intrusion on algal bloom dynamics in a subtropical water, Lake Hugh Muntz |
| Hongchuan Zhang | Model with sediment transport near seabed in coastal regions |
| Jingwei Yao | Water Quality Research with MODFLOW and SD-MUSIC Model |
| Jingyao Ma | Numerical study for the stability of suction anchor under cyclic loading |
| Mingyuan Ma | Hydroelastic Interactions between Ocean Waves and Offshore Open-Net Fish Cages |
| Mohammad Reza Ramezani | Effects of urbanization and climate change on catchment hydrology in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia |
| Xu Chen | Numerical study of Fluid-Soil-Pipeline Interactions |
| Ye Htet Oo | Coupling artificial intelligent techniques with hydrodynamic model to study morphology evolution |
| Zhengxu Li | Integrated model for seabed instability around a breakwater |
Marine Biodiscovery
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Dale Prebble | Investigation of alpha-synuclein aggregation inhibitors sourced from subtropical marine organisms |
| Darren Holland | Marine natural products biodiscovery and meta-analysis of their bioactivities to improve their potential for drug discovery |
| Eden Little | Chemical investigation of Gumby Gumby and other bush medicine used by Gamilaroi people |
| James Baxter | Chemical investigations of tribe eucalypteae |
| Joshua Porter | A chemical investigation of Australian winteraceae |
| Pauline Lindholm | Impacts of invasive invertebrate species on artificial reefs, and their natural products |
Marine Conservation
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Despoina Linaraki | Reconsidering the methods of expansion into the sea |
| Katherine Walters | Communicating marine science and changing conservation behaviour using cultural and digital engagement |
| Tyler Hofmann | Finding cryptobenthic reef fish and examining their impact on artificial reefs |
Marine Environmental Management
| Name | Project |
|---|---|
| Tharindu Dampe Acharige | Occurrence of micro-plastic in marine aquatic fauna |
Contact details
- Phone
- (07) 5552 7269
- Location and postal address
- Coastal and Marine Research Centre
- Room 2.01, Building G51
- Griffith University
- Gold Coast campus, Queensland, 4222
