Project Leader

Lecturer and Researcher in Freshwater and Marine Ecology

I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Marine Science in 2001 and a MSc (Research) in Freshwater Fish Ecology in 2004 both from the University of Galway and a PhD in salmonid ecology from University College Cork in 2010. I held several postdoc positions in UCC and NUIG on freshwater and marine ecology as well as terrestrial ecology before joining the Atlantic Technological University as a lecturer and researcher in 2014. My research interests include marine and freshwater fish ecology, trophic ecology, sustainable fisheries management, biodiversity conservation and marine food traceability. The use of analytical methods including trace elemental fingerprinting, stable isotope analyses and fatty acid analyses feature in much of my research. I am a lecturer in aquatic ecology and statistics on both the BSc Applied Freshwater and Marine Biology and the BSc Agriculture & Environmental Management for which I am also the programme chair.

PhD Student

I’m from sunny South Africa, currently doing a PhD in aquatic science. I graduated with a masters in Biological Sciences from the University of Cape Town, and spent some time working at a rehabilitation centre for injured sea turtles before coming to Galway. This has left me with a profound admiration for the complexity and beauty of marine life.

I’ve always appreciated the multi-disciplinary nature of marine science, and how healthy marine ecosystems are a strong platform on which communities can grow. Therefore my PhD research is focussed on seafood sustainability and safety, and aims to develop a reliable scientific-based traceability tool for shellfish in Ireland.

PhD Student

My background is in epidemiology with a bachelor’s in veterinary bioscience, having experience in aquaculture vaccine development at Aqua Bio-Tech (Malta) and disease monitoring at the Wildlife Epidemiology Department of the Zoological Society of London (UK). I graduated in 2020 from an Erasmus Mundus MSc in Marine Biological Resources (IMBRsea). Since then, I worked at both Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMAR, Portugal) and Blue Resources Trust (Sri Lanka). Specifically, on a project aiming to facilitate the collection of Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) data from landing sites and test the reliability of various data-poor assessments for elasmobranch life histories.

After this I worked as fisheries consultant for MRAG acting as the alternate project manager for the CCAMLR krill programmes. I have also held the role of scientific observer onboard Antarctic Krill vessels. I joined the Marine and Freshwater Research Centre in February 2023 as a PhD student. This PhD aims to develop methods of traceability within the Irish seafood industry, using trace elements in combination with machine learning techniques.

Project Co-Leader

Lecturer and Researcher in Earth and Ocean Sciences

Dr. Liam Morrison attended the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway), where he obtained his BSc Hons in Marine Science and was awarded a PhD degree from the Departments of Oceanography and Botany. Dr. Morrison was previously awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Science Engineering and Technology (IRC) and a Marie Curie Host Fellowship at Queen’s University Belfast and was recently nominated as a Science Foundation of Ireland Funded Investigator (SFI-FI) within iCRAG (Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences).

Research interests include: presence, speciation and bioavailability of toxic and essential trace elements and organic contaminants in marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, obtaining data to support policy on environmental protection; characterisation and removal of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in water and biological systems; development and application of analytical and chemical methods for studying the presence of microplastics in biotic and abiotic systems; nutrient dynamics and eco-physiology of opportunistic macroalgal blooms (including invasive species) in estuaries and coastal bays understand the mechanisms behind macroalgal blooms in order to develop management tools to control their size; application of remote sensing techniques in the spatial and temporal determination of macroalgal blooms; marine radioactivity and sustainable development of marine resources in the context of global change.

MFRC Leader, Lecturer and Researcher in Marine Ecology and Fisheries

I hold an honours degree in Zoology from Trinity College Dublin (1998) and a PhD in marine ecology from University College Dublin (2003). I came to GMIT as a post-doctoral researcher in 2003 and took up a lecturing position on the Applied Freshwater and Marine and Biology programme in 2007. My research interests are in the areas of sustainable fisheries management, fish population biology and ecology; early life history and the elucidation of long-term trends in ecological datasets. In much of my research I use the chronological information stored in the structure and composition of fish hard parts to understand fish population dynamics and stock structure and how they are influenced by environmental and ecosystem change. In my current role as Centre leader I oversee the operation of the MFRC, its research and postgraduate programmes and its strategic development.

Section Manager of Shellfish Safety Team

Over 20 years of experience in the area of harmful phytoplankton species and shellfish toxins, and currently manage the Marine Institute’s Shellfish Safety section’s Microbiology, Phytoplankton and Biotoxin Chemistry units’ activities and teams, ensuring the sections statutory monitoring programmes, laboratory testing services and obligations, scientific advice and the research outputs and targets are achieved, and delivered within the required timeframes.

Particular experience in the management of statutory monitoring programmes with stakeholders for food safety in shellfish, establishment and implementation of Early Warning Systems for Harmful Algal Blooms and molecular detection of toxigenic phytoplankton species.

I am the current chair of the ICES-IOC Working Group on Harmful Algal Bloom Dynamics and sit on the Global HAB Scientific Steering Committee. I am involved in a number of international and nationally funded research projects in the areas of HAB prediction and forecasting and the molecular biodiversity of planktonic species, and regularly present at a multitude of international and national scientific conferences and work shops.

Research Assistant

Sherif is a research assistant in the TRACE-FISH project. He comes to the TRACE-FISH project with an M.S. from the International Master of Marine Biological Resources (IMBRSea). His thesis concentrated on assessing the impact on biodiversity of non-mechanical harvesting of Ascophylum nodosum. He also holds another M.S. in Marine and Atmospheric Sciences from Stony Brook University, NY. For his thesis, he performed a baseline transcriptomic analysis to characterize different oyster immune cells. In Egypt, he held a BSc in Pharmacy and Biotechnology from the German university in Cairo and worked as a hospital pharmacist for four years. During that time, he volunteered for the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSET) NGO to describe the illegal sea turtle trade from boat to buyer in Alexandria, Egypt. He loves painting, boxing, and hanging out with friends in his free time.