Current PhD students

Our current postgraduate students in the School of Biological Sciences

  • Yasmine Ahlman

    Sedimentation Impacts on Temperate Mesophotic Ecosystems (TMEs)

    Supervisor: Professor James Bell

  • Maëlle Anastasi

    Understanding Mating Behaviour and Male Fertility of Social Wasps in New Zealand for Pest Management

    Supervisor: Professor Phil Lester

  • Emma Applegate

    Plant-microbial interactions and carbon dynamics

    Supervisor: Dr Nicola Day

  • Negin Asadi

    The first lineage decision during cattle development

    Supervisor: Associate Professor Peter Pfeffer

  • Victoria Bain

    Exploring Antarctic Marine Microorganisms for Novel Antimicrobial Natural Products

    Supervisor: Dr Helen Woolner

  • Tamara Becker

    Supervisor: Associate Professor Stephen Hartley

  • Paul Bell-Butler

    Taxonomy and historical biogeography of the Lophocoleaceae

    Supervisor: Professor Joe Zuccarello

  • Isabella Bostock

    Supervisor: Professor Elaine Dennison

  • Caitlin Brown

    Understanding the influence of host-microbe interactions in the respiratory tract on infectious disease outcomes

    Supervisor: Dr Kerry Hilligan

  • Salvatore Campanile

    Microbiology among sea ice crystals: a preliminary dive into prokaryotic life from the Antarctic sub-ice platelet layer

    Supervisor: Professor Simon Davy

  • Fraser Campbell

    Vocal ethology of North Island kākā (Nestor meridionalis)

    Supervisor: Dr Rachael Shaw

  • Victoria Cantalapiedra

    Physiological and community-level impacts of freshwater acidification on microalgae and cyanobacteria in the Waikato River

    Supervisor: Dr Christopher Cornwall

  • Lénaïc Chagnat

    Diving into coral bleaching molecular regulation: how is oxidative stress involved in the coral reef crisis?

    Supervisor: Dr Clint Oakley

  • Juan Chavez

    The Ecological Role of Wētā as Seed Dispersers in Aotearoa New Zealand

    Supervisor: Professor Kevin Burns

  • Jess Cotterell

    Understanding B cell dynamics using novel mRNA vaccines

    Supervisor: Dr Melanie McConnell

  • Chiara de Jong

    The role of oxidative stress in coral symbiosis and bleaching

    Supervisor: Dr Clint Oakley

  • Samantha Dilday

    Professor Phil Lester

  • Kathryn Gale

    Mātauranga Māori in monitoring of water quality and taonga species

    Supervisor: Professor Jeffrey Shima

  • Alisha Gill

    Illuminating ecosystem connections through predator-prey dynamics of lanternfishes

    Supervisor: Professor Jeffrey Shima

  • Pooveshni Govender

    Adaptive Platform Trial Design in Cardiac Surgery

    Supervisor: Dr Melanie McConnell

  • Barbara Graham

    The HMA/LMA Dichotomy in the Tropical and Temperate Sponge Stress Response

    Supervisor: Professor James Bell

  • Isaac Green

    Designing cross-reactive influenza antigens

    Supervisor: Professor Wayne Patrick

  • Justin Gulino

    Ecological and Social Drivers of Environmental Change in Wellington

    Supervisor: Dr Danielle Shanahan

  • Rosemary Jackson

    Impact of febrile-range temperature on CD8+ T cell metabolism and function during viral and bacterial infections.

    Supervisor: Professor David Ackerley

  • Dilip Jayasimhan

    Spontaneous Breathing in Acute Hypoxaemic Respiratory Failure

    Supervisor: Dr Melanie McConnell

  • Kim Khairul Anuar

    Mechanisms of Immune Modulation by the Secreted B. quintana YopJ Homologue

    Supervisor: Dr Joanna Mackichan

  • Amber Kirk

    Resilience of the black coral Antipathella fiordensis to current and future climate conditions.

    Supervisor: Professor James Bell

  • Min Liu

    Discrete choice experiments in osteoarthritis: a comparison of China and New Zealand

    Supervisor: Professor Elaine Dennison

  • Usangi Maldeniya

    The role of temperate sponge-associated microbiomes in enhancing sponge holobiont acclimation to marine heatwaves

    Supervisor: Professor James Bell

  • Abby Martin

    Realising the potential of circRNA as the future of mRNA vaccines

    Supervisor: Professor Wayne Patrick

  • Naychi Myo Min

    BCL6 as a Driver of Glioma: Mechanistic Insights from a GEM-CLeM System

    Supervisor: Dr Melanie McConnell

  • Jenny Neave

    Supervisor: Dr Christopher Cornwall

  • Lee Oliver

    Plant Reproductive Traits in Response to Climate Change and Disturbances through Fire and Species Invasions

    Supervisor: Associate Professor Julie Deslippe

  • Arjay Ooi

    Chemical genetic analysis of seaweed and algae in New Zealand

    Supervisor: Dr Andrew Munkacsi

  • Shivani Patel

    Investigating the role of FOXP3 and OPRK1 genetics in multiple sclerosis

    Supervisor: Professor Anne La Flamme

  • Meghla Pinky

    Supervisor: Professor Joe Zuccarello

  • Ngaire Platt

    The breaking of symmetry and induction of gastrulation in the early mammalian embryo

    Supervisor: Associate Professor Peter Pfeffer

  • Mele Porter

    Reactogenicity and Immunogenicity of COVID 19 vaccination when administered subcutaneous versus intramuscular

    Supervisor: Professor Anne La Flamme & Dr Helen Woolner

  • Mollie Rickwood

    Understanding the role of temperate mesophotic sponges as drivers of coastal fish production

    Supervisor: Alice Rogers

  • Huiling Sang

    Genomic and otolith shape insights into John dory fisheries

    Supervisor: Professor Peter Ritchie

  • Katya Sellen

    Developing novel non-addictive pain medications

    Supervisor: Dr Bronwyn Kivell

  • Jade Shivak

    Symbiont digestion in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis

    Supervisor: Professor Simon Davy

  • Niamh Smith

    Diel vertical migration patterns, metabolic rates and implications for the biological carbon pump from a lanternfish perspective

    Supervisor: Professor Jeffrey Shima

  • Lorelei Switzer

    Innovative behaviour in wild toutouwai (Petroica longipes)

    Supervisor: Dr Rachael Shaw

  • Zaccheaus Tabiling

    Marine fungi as a source of new bioactive secondary metabolites

    Supervisor: Dr Helen Woolner

  • Alyssa Tomkies

    Co-occurrence and community structuring of symbiotic dinoflagellates in reef-building corals

    Supervisor: Professor Simon Davy

  • Ailish Ullmann

    Effect of habitat heterogeneity on the biodiversity of deep-sea polymetallic nodule fauna

    Supervisor: Professor Ashley Rowden

  • Lydia White

    Refining circular RNA vaccine design for enhanced immune impact

    Supervisor: Professor Wayne Patrick

  • Nick Wilson

    Investigations into a scalable method of producing bovine muscle fibres from embryonic stem cells

    Supervisor: Associate Professor Peter Pfeffer

  • Kea Witting

    Resilience and Recovery of Temperate Mesophotic Ecosystems

    Supervisor: Professor James Bell