At IMAS we deliver exciting, innovative, relevant, globally distinctive, practical and first-class education programs.
Positioned at the gateway to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica and with collaborations and partners with the world's leading scientific institutions, IMAS can provide the next step in your career.
If you are interested in conducting postgraduate research we have a number of pre-approved honours and masters projects.
Available projects
Ecology and biodiversity
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Tasmania’s coastal ecosystems including estuaries, bays, lagoons as well as tidal rivers and streams, provide important habitats for a wide variety of fishes, including many of ecologically significance as well as those targeted by recreational and commercial fishers.
This study will sample a representative subset of coastal sites across Tasmania to provide a contemporary state-wide assessment of Tasmania’s coastal fish communities. Fish sampling will involve use of seine nets from shore and the associated data will enable quantification of species distributions, community composition, and biodiversity. Additional environmental data will also be used to provide insights into the potential drivers of spatial variability (e.g. temperature, land-use, urbanisation, habitat type/condition).
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Brown seaweed in the order Fucales form important habitat throughout southern Australia, supporting diverse epifaunal assemblages and high secondary production. Generally, little is known about the ecology of these species and how the critical early life-cycle stages are impacted by warming, including marine heatwaves. Recent research at IMAS on one species of Fucales, bull kelp (Durvillaea), suggests they may be especially susceptible to warming, with fertilisation only occurring at low temperatures and limited to a narrow thermal range.
This project will test the thermal vulnerability of multiple Fucales species to warming by undertaking field surveys of their reproduction combined with lab experiments testing how fertilisation and early growth are impacted by warming. This project will provide new insights into the vulnerability of these key habitat-forming species informing their restoration and/or conservation.
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Kelp forests are disappearing worldwide as climate change drives increasingly frequent and intense marine heatwaves. While the impacts on adult kelp are well known, the microscopic life stages that enable kelp forests to recover after disturbance remain largely unexplored.
Recent studies have demonstrated that seaweeds living in the understory of kelp forests can harbor kelp gametophytes - analogous to a seed bank - enabling kelp gametophytes to lie dormant within other seaweeds for months at a time, until conditions are suitable for their development and recruitment to the reef. It is hypothesised that this mutualism has evolved to benefit both kelp forest recovery following disturbance and the protection of understory seaweed hosts. However, climate change and marine heatwaves specifically, are changing the nature of disturbance events on reefs, with thermal stress now a leading cause of kelp population declines. This raises questions about the thermal tolerance of understorey host species and indeed kelp gametophytes themselves, and whether they can remain viable under marine heatwave conditions to enable kelp forest recovery post disturbance.
With an extreme El Niño predicted this summer, sea temperatures may exceed the thermal limited of many kelp species, creating conditions for a natural experiment to test these questions. Building on recently developed methods that detect microscopic kelp stages associated with understorey red seaweeds, this project will investigate how heat stress affects the hidden propagule bank and the host species they rely on.
The student will combine field collections / observations and laboratory culture techniques to quantify the abundance and survival of kelp propagules before, during and after this summers anticipated marine heatwave. The project will provide new insights into the resilience of kelp forests under climate change and help inform future restoration and conservation strategies.
This is an opportunity to contribute to a timely research question with direct relevance to the future of Australia's temperate reefs.
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Local governments are on the front line of climate change. Impacts occur locally, and communities increasingly expect councils to lead adaptation efforts. Tasmania's coastal councils face growing exposure to climate-related coastal hazards, yet their adaptive capacity varies considerably.
Factors influencing capacity include resources, leadership, institutional arrangements, access to knowledge, and collaborative networks. While barriers and enablers of climate adaptation in Australian local government are well documented, less is known about how regional Tasmanian coastal councils understand and prioritise the governance, capacity, and knowledge needs required to strengthen preparedness for coastal hazards.
In response, Tasmanian coastal councils, the Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT), and the Tasmanian Climate Change Office (TCCO) are collaborating through the Coastal Hazard Resilience Planning Project (CHRPP) to strengthen coastal hazard planning and governance across the state.
Using a qualitative case study approach informed by adaptive capacity theory, this project examines the CHRPP and asks: How do coastal councils participating in the CHRPP understand their preparedness for coastal hazards, and what governance and research/knowledge needs do they identify as priorities for strengthening that preparedness?
The student will work within the CHRPP environment to identify priority governance, capacity, and research needs and explore how research partnerships can better support local decision-making and preparedness for coastal change. Governance refers to the institutional, organisational, and collaborative arrangements through which councils make decisions, access and apply knowledge, coordinate with other organisations, and mobilise resources. Findings will inform CHRPP implementation and local government understanding re planned relocation and managed retreat.
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Supervisory team:
- Elizabeth Andrews
- Jemina Stuart-Smith
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Seagrass flowering, seed germination, and seed viability are strongly influenced by environmental conditions, particularly temperature, light availability, and salinity. Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of marine heatwaves, which may alter reproductive processes by advancing the onset of flowering, disrupting germination cues, and reducing seed resilience and viability. Understanding these responses is critical for predicting the capacity of seagrass meadows to recover from disturbance and for developing effective restoration strategies under future climate conditions.
This project will investigate how environmental drivers influence spatial and temporal variation in seagrass reproduction across intertidal and subtidal habitats. Using a four-year dataset of temperature, light, and rainfall, the study will examine changes in flowering phenology and germination timing at the Red Handfish habitat in Frederick Henry Bay.
Field data collected during the 2026-2027 summer flowering season will be used to assess how spatial variation in temperature and light influences flowering intensity, germination rates, and seed viability across six sites, including three sites in the Derwent Estuary and three sites in Frederick Henry Bay.
By linking environmental conditions with reproductive responses, the project will identify key drivers of seagrass recruitment and resilience. The findings will directly inform seagrass restoration and management initiatives in the Derwent Estuary and support habitat restoration efforts for the critically endangered Red Handfish by improving understanding of the ecological processes underpinning seagrass persistence and recovery.
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The Solitary Islands are a unique region where the warm waters of the East Australian Current meet cooler waters from the south, creating a habitat for tropical, subtropical, and temperate marine communities.
On Muttonbird Island, the mass of pre-fledging wedge-tailed shearwaters has been decreasing for the past 30 years. Whether this decrease is part of tropicalisation experienced as a consequence of warming waters, the result of poor food availability or both is not known.
In this project you will analyse a 40 year citizen scientist collected dataset of chick masses, and compare these with oceanographic and climate variables in the chick-rearing season within the foraging range for this species, to understand which ocean conditions are associated with chick mass, and better understand the impact of warming in a seabird in rapidly warming waters.
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The Ross Sea is one of the most biologically important regions of Antarctica and supports diverse seafloor communities that play a critical role in ecosystem functioning. Understanding where species occur at high abundances, and the environmental factors that drive these patterns, is essential for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change and informing conservation efforts.
Recent advances in seafloor imaging and statistical modelling have enabled large-scale mapping of Antarctic benthic biodiversity. However, modelling species abundances remains challenging because many species occur infrequently and abundance estimates derived from point-scoring approaches do not fully capture the number of individuals present.
This project will combine recently collected seafloor imagery from the Ross Sea with the Antarctic Seafloor Annotated Imagery Database to study the Ross Sea benthic ecosystem. Existing annotated datasets will be complemented by new image analyses to generate species abundance records across a range of taxa. Using these data, the student will investigate environmental drivers of abundance patterns, identify regional biodiversity hotspots, and predict species distributions across the Ross Sea region.
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This Honours project will investigate seafood recovery and yield proportions for a selection of commercially important species in the Tasmanian scalefish fishery (such as octopus, Australian salmon, southern rock cods, garfish, banded morwong, jackass morwong, elephantfish, bastard trumpeter, striped trumpeter, eastern school whiting, wrasse).
The project will begin with a desk review of available information on recovery rates, fillet yields, and conversion factors used in fishery production and value reporting.
This will be supplemented by a survey of Hobart-based scalefish receivers, processors, and seafood industry participants to validate yield estimates and identify species-specific factors influencing recovery rates.
Attention will also be given to wrasse species (bluethroat, purple wrasse), for which the project will also examine current market conditions, product forms, utilisation pathways, and market development.
The project will estimate seafood portion yields per species. The analysis will quantify the number of consumer seafood servings generated from current harvest levels and evaluate how differences in product recovery influence the food production value of different species.
This will provide practical information for fisheries managers, industry, and researchers by improving understanding of the relationship between fishery landings, food production, and market value.
The findings will improve understanding of the economic and food security benefits of Tasmania’s marine resources while addressing a key evidence gap on the nutritional dimensions of fisheries. This will support assessment and management approaches that consider nutritional outcomes alongside economic and ecological performance. The project will also quantify the Tasmanian Scalefish fishery's contribution to local seafood supply, which as several Australian studies show supports Australian consumer benefits substantially.
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Supervisory team:
- Angus Henderson
- Laura Patier
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Shotgun metagenomic sequencing is revealing an extraordinary diversity of viruses associated with wild birds, many of which remain undescribed. Our research team has already generated virome datasets from Southern Ocean and Australian seabirds. These datasets contain candidate viral sequences that have not yet been fully investigated.
This project will use existing shotgun sequencing data to identify, validate and characterise potentially novel viruses in seabirds. The student will use bioinformatic approaches to assess candidate viral sequences, reconstruct viral genomes where possible, annotate genomic features, compare them with known viruses, and investigate their evolutionary relationships using phylogenetic analyses. Selected viruses of particular interest may then be targeted for additional sequencing or molecular validation to improve genome recovery and support confident characterisation.
This project is suited to a student with a strong interest in developing bioinformatics skills and working with large genomic datasets. Previous coding experience is helpful but not essential; enthusiasm for learning command-line computing, genomic analysis and phylogenetics is important. The project will contribute to understanding previously undescribed viral diversity in seabirds and has strong potential to generate publishable virus descriptions and sequence resources from data already available within the research team.
Primary supervisor:
Supervisory team:
- Angus Henderson
- Laura Patier
Brief project description:
Shotgun metagenomic sequencing is revealing an extraordinary diversity of viruses associated with pinnipeds, many of which remain undescribed. Our research team has already generated virome datasets from Southern Ocean seals. These datasets contain candidate viral sequences that have not yet been fully investigated.
This project will use existing shotgun sequencing data to identify, validate and characterise potentially novel viruses in seals. The student will use bioinformatic approaches to assess candidate viral sequences, reconstruct viral genomes where possible, annotate genomic features, compare them with known viruses, and investigate their evolutionary relationships using phylogenetic analyses. Selected viruses of particular interest may then be targeted for additional sequencing or molecular validation to improve genome recovery and support confident characterisation.
This project is suited to a student with a strong interest in developing bioinformatics skills and working with large genomic datasets. Previous coding experience is helpful but not essential; enthusiasm for learning command-line computing, genomic analysis and phylogenetics is important. The project will contribute to understanding previously undescribed viral diversity in seabirds and has strong potential to generate publishable virus descriptions and sequence resources from data already available within the research team.
Fisheries and aquaculture
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The Daily Egg Production Method (DEPM) is a key technique used to estimate the spawning biomass of pelagic fish species. However, one of its major limitations is the difficulty of accurately identifying fish eggs to species level when multiple species spawn in the same area. Recent advances in in situ hybridization (ISH) offer a molecular solution, enabling researchers to develop species-specific DNA probes that bind to target genes within fish eggs, allowing microscopic visualization and reliable species identification.
This project will build on the approach established by Oxley et al. (2017) to design and validate species-specific DNA probes for an ecologically and commercially important small pelagic species: Blue Mackerel (Scomber australasicus). The student will use online genetic databases to source DNA reference sequences, align and compare target gene regions (e.g. 16S or COI), identify species-unique markers, design labelled probes, and optimize hybridization protocols using preserved egg material.
This project provides hands-on experience in molecular biology, microscopy, and fisheries ecology. The students will gain practical skills in bioinformatics, probe design, and visualization of hybridized tissue, contributing to improved identification accuracy in ichthyoplankton surveys. The resulting tools will support future DEPM surveys and enhance spawning biomass estimates for Blue Mackerel in Australian waters, ultimately improving the scientific foundation for stock assessments and the sustainable management of small pelagic fisheries.
Prerequisites: Students must have completed Molecular Marine Ecology (KSA714) or Aquatic Molecular Biology (JFA305), or an equivalent molecular biology unit, to be considered for this project.
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The Inland Fisheries Service (IFS) is responsible for the management of the recreational trout fishery in Tasmania. In discharging this responsibility, the IFS manages several inland waters as `assisted fisheries' that rely on stocking and regulation to maintain a desirable level of fishery performance. Some of these assisted fisheries have no natural recruitment, however some have limited or variable natural recruitment. Performance criteria for these assisted fisheries have been established and are listed in the Tasmanian Inland Recreational Fishery Management Plan 2018-2028.
This project aims to develop a mathematical stocking model to support the management of assisted trout fisheries in Tasmania. Once established, the model will be used to support the annual IFS Transfer and Stocking Plan. Estimates for the model parameters will be obtained from the literature and historical IFS records however a field work component may be required to fill any knowledge gaps and/or to ground-truth the model.
The student will have an opportunity to work closely with the Inland Fisheries Service staff and have access to historical data sets regarding fish stocking and fishery performance assessments. The student will also have the opportunity to participate in field work to collect additional information relevant to model development as required. Applicants should be enthusiastic about the Tasmanian inland fishery and in terms of learning modelling techniques and their application to fisheries management.
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Sand flathead are among the most frequently caught fish in south-eastern Australia, and their opercular spines are widely described by fishers and fisheries agencies as venomous. Surprisingly, there is little evidence to support that claim. Platycephalidae is not currently recognised among fish families with a confirmed venom apparatus, and experimental evidence for bioactive spine secretions within the genus Platycephalus is limited to a single study. As a result, a common assumption about one of Australia’s most familiar recreational fishes remains largely untested.
This project will test whether sand flathead possess the anatomical and molecular features of a functional venom system. Morphometrics, histology, comparative genomics, and proteomics will be used to assess whether the opercular spine has the structure, the secretory tissue, and the toxin-like molecules expected of a functional venom apparatus, and any secretion will be screened for effects on blood coagulation.
Establishing whether sand flathead are venomous will provide an evidence base for managing stings and potential allergic reactions in a species handled frequently by recreational fishers, while identifying bioactive molecules that may have broader pharmacological value. Fish venoms remain comparatively unexplored, making sand flathead a potentially novel source of compounds relevant to future drug discovery.
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Batch fecundity is the average number of eggs released by a female during each spawning event. Relative fecundity is the average number of eggs released by a female during each spawning event relative to female weight (e.g. oocytes per gram). In previous studies of Blue Mackerel (Scomber australasicus) off eastern Australia, batch fecundity has been estimated from females with ovaries with hydrated oocytes using the traditional gravimetric method of Hunter and Goldberg (1980) (see Rogers et al. 2009). This approach involves counting hydrated oocytes in weighed of sub-sections of the ovaries. The main disadvantage of this approach has been that few females with hydrated oocytes have been collected in trawls.
Recently, samples of containing spawning Blue Mackerel were collected from Bass Strait that are suitable for estimating batch fecundity using the traditional method. In this study, the student will also use two alternative methods to estimate the number of eggs in each batch. Firstly, whole mounts of ovaries will be analysed using image analysis methodology and software as described by Thorsen and Kjesbu (2001). Using this method, batch fecundity will be estimated from both hydrated oocytes and the oocytes that will comprise the next batch to be spawned. Secondly, histological sections will be analysed using stereological approaches (Weibel 1966; Kjesbu, et al. 2011; Saber et al. 2016; Charitonidou et al. 2020). Using these three approaches will help to resolve current uncertainties associated with estimates of the batch and relative batch fecundity of Blue Mackerel off eastern Australia.
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Reliable hatchery seed production underpins selective breeding and the long-term productivity of Pacific oyster (Magallana gigas) aquaculture. However, episodic mass mortality during larval culture can result in the complete loss of individual family lines, compromising both hatchery output and genetic gain within breeding programs. At the IMAS oyster hatchery, severe tank-specific larval mortality events have been associated with rapid proliferation of scuticociliates, despite routine tank cleaning and standard biosecurity practices.
Scuticociliates are free-living, opportunistic ciliates, some of which can become histophagous under favourable environmental and host conditions. Previous observations suggest taxa related to Uronema, Pleuronema and Porpostoma may be associated with mortality events. However, their reservoirs, routes of entry and environmental triggers within oyster hatchery systems remain unresolved. Elevated larval-rearing temperatures (~24 °C) may promote ciliate proliferation or increase host susceptibility.
This project will apply a quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay, informed by previous molecular characterisation of ciliates at IMAS, to investigate the distribution and temporal dynamics of target scuticociliates across the hatchery production pathway. Potential reservoirs will include incoming broodstock, pallial-cavity water, seawater at critical treatment and delivery points, cultured microalgae, tank biofilms, and larval and spat culture systems.
By integrating molecular surveillance with hatchery environmental and animal-health observations, the project will identify potential ciliate reservoirs, transmission pathways and early-warning indicators preceding larval mortality. The findings will inform evidence-based biosecurity, surveillance and husbandry protocols to reduce disease risk and improve the reliability of Pacific oyster seed production.
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The red handfish (Thymichthys politus) is a critically endangered marine fish found only in south-eastern Tasmania. Captive breeding and release are important components of its conservation, but successful releases may depend on fish recognising and responding appropriately to features of their natural habitat.
Before release, captive-reared red handfish undergo habitat conditioning, during which native flora, fauna and other habitat components are introduced to acclimatise fish to conditions they may encounter in the wild. This project will use direct observations describe and quantify behaviour during this conditioning process. The student will develop a behavioural classification system and investigate how handfish habitat interactions change over time within preconditioning culture and using behavioural choice assays.
Two-current choice-flume trials will provide an additional measure of fish responses to waterborne cues associated with native flora, fauna or habitat. These trials will be conducted before and after conditioning to determine whether cue preference or avoidance changes with experience.
The student will also participate in a soft release, during which conditioned fish are transferred into cordoned areas of natural red handfish habitat. Fish will be closely monitored using underwater cameras, allowing their behaviour and habitat use to be scored following release. Comparisons between the conditioning tanks and soft-release areas will help determine how behaviours developed in captivity translate to a natural environment.
The results will help evaluate the effectiveness of habitat conditioning and soft-release procedures and inform future protocols for preparing captive-reared red handfish for release into the wild
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Supervisory team:
- Andrew Trotter
- Dean Giosio
- Tamesha Bush-Carroll
- Jemina Stuart-Smith
Brief project description:
The red handfish (Thymichthys politus) is a critically endangered marine fish found only in south-eastern Tasmania. Captive breeding is an essential component of its conservation, but relatively little is known about how red handfish detect, pursue, and capture prey, or how feeding behaviour changes across life stages and rearing histories.
Red handfish are ambush predators that are fed live prey in captivity and appear to rely strongly on prey movement when detecting potential food. This project will use video recordings and live observations to describe and quantify their feeding behaviour. The student will develop a behavioural classification system and score behaviours associated with prey detection, orientation, approach, capture attempts, feeding success, and responses following unsuccessful attempts.
The project will compare feeding behaviour between wild-collected and captive-reared adults and among different fish age groups. Observations of hatchlings and early juveniles exposed to different live feeds will be used to investigate prey preferences, capture success, and the development of feeding behaviour.
The findings will improve understanding of red handfish feeding ecology and may inform live-feed selection, captive-rearing practices, and the development of varied feeding regimes. This knowledge could ultimately support the preparation of captive-reared fish for release into the wild, where their natural diets and feeding behaviour remain poorly understood.
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Pacific oyster breeding has traditionally prioritised growth, survival and disease resistance, while industry increasingly seeks oysters combining high meat production with robust, non-chalky shells. Translating these industry-defined attributes into measurable and genetically informative breeding traits remains challenging. Our recent research identified additive genetic variation in shell density, hardness, thickness, chalkiness and compressive strength, but also demonstrated that these traits represent different aspects of shell quality and may respond differently across farming environments. Conventional meat yield and condition indices showed low heritability, potentially reflecting limitations in phenotype definition and measurement rather than an absence of exploitable genetic variation.
This project will use pedigree Pacific oysters grown across multiple Tasmanian estuaries. Shell density determined by hydrodensitometry will be evaluated alongside shell mass, dimensions, thickness and chalkiness to determine which measurements, or combination of measurements, best represent the industry concept of a robust “dense” shell. Alternative meat phenotypes based on directly measured tissue mass and size-adjusted meat production will be evaluated against conventional meat yield and condition indices, which can be sensitive to shell-cavity water loss and shell characteristics.
Mantle tissue will be sampled and genotyped for a subsample of these phenotyped oysters for further genomic analysis. Pedigree and genomic information will be used to partition genetic and environmental sources of variation, estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations, and assess genotype-by-environment interactions for priority phenotypes. These analyses will identify practical, biologically meaningful and genetically informative traits with potential for future implementation in genomic selection within the Australian Pacific oyster breeding programme.
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Parasites are frequently observed in the ovaries of Blue Mackerel (Scomber australasicus) during routine reproductive assessments conducted as part of fisheries-independent monitoring programs. Despite their regular occurrence, little is known about their potential effects on fish health, growth, and reproductive output.
Previous studies on European anchovy and European hake in the Mediterranean Sea have reported negative relationships between parasitism and fecundity, suggesting that parasites may reduce reproductive potential either directly through damage to ovarian tissue or indirectly through energetic costs to the host (Ferrer-Maza et al., 2014 and 2016). However, no similar studies have been conducted for Blue Mackerel populations in Australian waters.
To address this knowledge gap, we will examine the prevalence and intensity of ovarian parasites in preserved Blue Mackerel (Scomber australasicus) samples collected from eastern Australian as part of fisheries-independent monitoring programs. Parasite occurrence will be quantified and related to key biological parameters, including fish size, age, growth, body condition, and reproductive parameters such as maturity stage, gonadosomatic index (GSI), and fecundity estimates. By investigating relationships between ovarian parasitism and growth and reproductive traits, this study aims to determine whether parasite infection is associated with reduced reproductive performance or condition in Blue Mackerel, thereby providing insight into a potentially overlooked factor influencing population productivity and stock resilience.
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Meat condition is a major determinant of oyster quality, marketability and consumer appeal. Well-conditioned oysters are generally characterised by plump, well-developed tissue with desirable colour and appearance; however, industry assessment remains largely visual and experience-based. Consequently, assessments can be subjective and potentially inconsistent among assessors, production regions and seasons, limiting their benchmarking in quality assurance and phenotyping for selective breeding.
This project will investigate whether computer vision and machine learning can provide an objective, biologically validated measure of oyster meat condition. Market-ready Pacific oysters representing contrasting growing environments and, where feasible, seasonal conditions will be photographed using a standardised imaging system. Computer-vision approaches will quantify image-derived meat condition phenotypes including tissue area and distribution, shell occupancy, colour, shape and textural characteristics. Experienced oyster-industry participants will independently score the same oysters for meat condition. Comparing assessments of freshly opened oysters with standardised photographs may further quantify agreement among assessors and determine how reliably industry perceptions of condition can be captured from two-dimensional imagery.
Following assessment, a biological meat condition metric will be characterised for each oyster, and relevant tissue components, providing biological ground-truth data for model development and validation. Statistical and machine-learning approaches will then determine which image features best predict measured meat condition and expert scores, and whether these can be integrated into a repeatable image-based condition index.
The project will establish the biological and industry relevance of image-derived meat-condition phenotypes and evaluate their potential for automated quality assessment and high-throughput phenotyping in Pacific oyster breeding programs.
Oceans and cryosphere
Primary supervisor:
- Elena Di Stefano
Supervisory team:
- Zanna Chase
- Andrew Smith (ANSTO)
Brief project description:
The Million Year Ice Core (MYIC) project aims to recover a continuous ice core spanning the mid-Pleistocene Transition (700–1,250 kyr), when global ice volume increased and glacial cycles shifted from 41-kyr to 100-kyr cycles. The climate and carbon-cycle dynamics driving this transition remain poorly understood. MYIC climate records will test hypotheses on the MPT and improve understanding of long-term climate stability. Critical to the success of the project is establishing an accurate depth-age chronology.
One key dating technique uses the ‘cosmogenic’ isotope beryllium-10, a rare long-lived radioisotope produced in the atmosphere by the nuclear spallation of oxygen and nitrogen nuclei by cosmic rays, transported to the Earth’s surface and incorporated into the ice sheet. Its production rate is modulated by the solar cycle and by changes in Earth's magnetic field, leaving imprints that can be used to tie the MYIC chronology to other polar ice core records and to identify geomagnetic events. ¹⁰Be concentrations in ice (10⁴ atoms per gram) are measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).
The student will work across two facilities. At IMAS, they will collect meltwater samples from the Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA) system as sections of the 153–400 m core are melted and help develop an automated sample collection system. Filters capturing micrometeorites and dust will be retained for synchrotron analysis.
At ANSTO, the student will carry out chemical separation of beryllium using an automated prepFAST column system, prepare targets for the accelerator and participate in the measurement of ¹⁰Be/⁹Be ratios by AMS on the 6-million-volt SIRIUS tandem accelerator.
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Marine sediments preserve valuable records of past ocean productivity and carbon cycling, providing critical information for understanding how Antarctic marine ecosystems respond to environmental change. A range of sedimentary proxies are commonly used to reconstruct past productivity, including organic carbon, biogenic silica (opal), chlorins, and biogenic barium. However, the reliability of these proxies can vary considerably in regions adjacent to the Antarctic Ice Sheet, where large lithogenic inputs may influence their preservation and interpretation.
This project will evaluate the performance of multiple paleoproductivity proxies in sediments from the Denman Glacier region of East Antarctica. The Denman Glacier is one of the most rapidly changing sectors of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, making it an important location for understanding past environmental variability and future change. Sediment cores recovered during the Denman Marine Campaign will provide a unique opportunity to investigate the behaviour of productivity proxies in a glacier-proximal setting.
The student will analyse multicore samples for organic carbon, inorganic carbon, opal, chlorins, barium, and trace metals using established laboratory methods. These sedimentary records will be compared both across proxies and with modern water-column observations collected during the Denman Marine Voyage, including measurements of biological productivity, carbon, biogenic silica, particulate trace metals and phytoplankton community composition. This comparison will provide a modern framework for assessing how effectively different sedimentary proxies record overlying ocean conditions. The results will improve understanding of proxy behaviour in Antarctic margin sediments and provide new insights into reconstructing past productivity and carbon cycling in the Denman Glacier region.
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Supervisory team:
- Katharina Hochmuth
- Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben
Brief project description:
The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in global climate through the circulation of major water masses and oceanic currents. The Kerguelen Plateau, in the southern Indian ocean, rises ~2000 m above the surrounding seafloor, acting as a major obstacle that deflects and steers these currents, controlling the distribution of heat, carbon, and nutrients across the global ocean.
The Labuan Basin, on the eastern flank of the Kerguelen Plateau, preserves a remarkable sedimentary archive of this circulation history. Sedimentary features were imaged in high-resolution multichannel seismic data collected during RV Sonne cruise SO272 and RV Investigator voyage IN2020_V01, recording the onset and variability of deep-water circulation over millions of years.
This project will use seismic stratigraphy to map the sedimentary framework of the Labuan Basin, establish spatial connectivity between depositional features, and reconstruct the long-term evolution of Southern Ocean circulation.
Primary supervisor:
- Matt King
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Accurate measurement of firn density is fundamental to understanding snow and ice sheet processes, yet conventional approaches often require specialised laboratory equipment and can be time consuming. Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry allows consumer-grade cameras, including smartphone cameras, to reconstruct highly accurate three-dimensional models of objects from multiple overlapping photographs. Studies in soil science and controlled laboratory settings have demonstrated volume estimation errors of only approximately 1 to 3%, suggesting considerable potential for cryospheric applications.
This Honours project will investigate whether smartphone-based SfM techniques can provide a low-cost, portable, and accurate method for measuring the volume and density of firn and ice-core samples. The student will develop an imaging workflow using smartphone and conventional cameras and photogrammetry software to generate 3D reconstructions of firn samples. The estimates will be validated against 3D printed firn samples with similar characteristics and known volume.
The project will explore factors affecting performance, including sample size, surface texture, lighting conditions, image acquisition strategy, and reconstruction settings. Laboratory experiments will be conducted using firn or ice samples, with potential application to field-based measurements in remote polar environments.
The outcomes will provide an early systematic assessment of smartphone SfM methods for firn density determination and could establish a simple, scalable approach for high-throughput density measurements in glaciological research. The project combines glaciology, computer vision, and digital measurement technologies and is suitable for students with interests in glaciology, environmental physics, or geospatial analysis.
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Supervisory team:
- Zhangcheng Pei
Brief project description:
The Cloud and Precipitation Experiment at Kennaook (CAPE-k) was a large international research campaign investigating how clouds, aerosols, and precipitation interact over the Southern Ocean, one of the most remote and pristine regions on Earth, which plays an outsized role in the global energy balance.
Based at Kennaook/Cape Grim (KCG) in northwest Tasmania, the campaign brought together international scientists collect detailed atmospheric observations across multiple seasons. A month-long voyage on the RV Investigator was also undertaken, where the ship sat off the coast of KCG (COAST-K), analysing upstream airmasses. Together these campaigns give us the best picture of sup-polar Southern Ocean clouds to ever collected. By improving our understanding of how clouds form and evolve in this pristine environment, CAPE-K and COAST-K aim to reduce uncertainties in climate models and improve predictions of future climate change. The unique dataset collected during these campaigns provide valuable opportunities for new atmospheric research.
In this project, the student will evaluate the full CAPE-K campaign (April 2024-September 2025) as well as the COAST-K campaign against the latest generation of the Australian climate model ‘ACCESS -AM3’. Most climate models, including ACCESS-AM3 have what is known as the ‘Southern Ocean radiative bias’, a long-standing bias that allows too much sunlight to reach the Southern Ocean due to incorrect simulation of clouds. This project will use the CAPE-K and COAST-K observations to understand that bias and find areas in which we can improve the model.
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Supervisory team:
- TBC
Brief project description:
The Antarctic Treaty's inspection system dates from 1959 and a continent of government stations. Antarctica now hosts a large private sector. Tour operators, expedition cruise companies, private yachts, adventure expeditions and commercial contractors operate there, and most are never inspected. Ships add a second gap. Many vessels used by tour operators, and some used by national programmes, are flagged to States that are not Parties to the Antarctic Treaty or the Environmental Protocol, so the flag State carries no Antarctic Treaty System obligations. The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) has discussed these gaps for years without closing them.
This project examines what the ATCM could do. The student will document the current coverage of inspections and identify where private activities and foreign-flagged vessels fall outside it. The student will then assess the options open to the Parties. These include new inspection checklists for private activities, joint inspections, observers on tourist vessels, port State measures at the gateway ports through which most Antarctic traffic passes, recognition of industry observer schemes, and conditions on permits and authorisations issued by Parties to their own operators. The student will assess each option for legal basis, practicality and the likelihood of consensus.
The project suits a student with an interest in international policy, environmental regulation or Antarctic governance. The student will learn to read ATCM records, to analyse the legal powers of a treaty body and to write policy options for decision-makers. Two companion projects map the flagging of national programme and tourist vessels.
Primary supervisor:
Supervisory team:
- TBC
Brief project description:
More than 100,000 tourists visit Antarctica each season, and almost all of them arrive by ship. Companies based in a few countries operate the vessels, which are often registered, or flagged, elsewhere. Under the law of the sea the flag State holds primary responsibility for a ship's safety, crewing and environmental performance. Where the flag State is not a Party to the Antarctic Treaty or the Environmental Protocol, the obligations of the Antarctic Treaty System reach the ship only indirectly, through the operator or through port States.
This project maps the Antarctic tourist fleet by flag and examines the legal consequences. The student will compile a dataset of vessels operating in Antarctic tourism, recording owner, operator, flag State, class and membership of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). The student will then analyse two legal questions. The first is flag State jurisdiction: what obligations the flag State owes under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Polar Code, and whether those flag States meet them. The second is the enforcement gap: how the inspection rights in Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty and Article 14 of the Environmental Protocol apply to tourist vessels, and whether current practice leaves them uninspected.
The project suits a student with an interest in tourism, shipping or Antarctic governance. The student will learn to work with ship registries and maritime data. A companion project examines national programme vessels, and the two students would share method and data sources.
Primary supervisor:
Supervisory team:
- TBC
Brief project description:
Every national Antarctic programme depends on ships. Some Parties to the Antarctic Treaty own and operate their own icebreakers and ice-strengthened research vessels. Others charter them from private companies. Some are run by navies or coast guards, some by science agencies, and some by commercial operators under contract. The ships are not always flagged to the State whose programme they serve. No full picture exists of who owns, operates and flags the Antarctic fleet, or of the legal consequences of those arrangements.
This project builds that picture. The student will compile a dataset of the vessels used by national Antarctic programmes, recording for each the owner, the operator, the department or agency responsible, the flag State and the classification. The student will then analyse what the pattern means for the Antarctic Treaty System. Questions include how the inspection rights in Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty apply to chartered and foreign-flagged vessels, how the environmental obligations of the Environmental Protocol and the Polar Code reach a ship whose flag State is not a Party, and how naval operation of programme vessels sits with the peaceful use provisions of Article I.
The project suits a student with an interest in Antarctic operations, shipping or ocean governance. The student will learn to work with ship registries and maritime data and to draw legal and policy conclusions from an empirical dataset. A companion project examines the same questions for Antarctic tourist vessels, and the two students would share method and data sources.
Primary supervisor:
Supervisory team:
- TBC
Brief project description:
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) is an Australian external territory in the southern Indian Ocean, about 4,000 kilometres south-west of Perth. The islands have been a sealing ground, a British possession, an Australian scientific station, a World Heritage property, a Commonwealth marine reserve and the site of a valuable toothfish fishery. Each of those roles came with its own legal arrangements, and no single account brings them together.
This project writes the legal history of the Territory from the sealing era of the 1850s to the present. The student will examine the British claim and its transfer to Australia in 1947, the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Act 1953 and the laws applied under it, the declaration of the exclusive economic zone and the arrangements that placed the islands within the CCAMLR Convention Area while leaving Australian jurisdiction intact, the establishment and extension of the marine reserve, the World Heritage listing, and the management of the fishery, including the pursuit and prosecution of illegal fishing vessels in the early 2000s. The project asks how Australia has used law to hold and manage a remote sub-Antarctic territory, and what that history shows about Australian practice in the region.
The project suits a student with an interest in Australian legal and political history, sub-Antarctic conservation or fisheries. The student will work from legislation, treaty records, parliamentary papers, court decisions and archival material, and will produce the first consolidated legal history of the Territory.
Primary supervisor:
Supervisory team:
- Luke Brokensha
- Kerrie Swadling
- Pimnara Riengchan
Brief project description:
This project will investigate the relationship between snow algae communities and marine zooplankton - an ecological linkage that remains largely unexplored. Snow algae are known to alter snow albedo and may contribute organic matter and nutrients to adjacent coastal waters during seasonal melt. Recent studies suggest that snow algal blooms across the Antarctic Peninsula are likely to become more frequent and intense under future climate change; consequently, understanding their ecological significance is increasingly important. Despite emerging evidence that snow algal production may feed into downstream food webs, its influence on nearshore zooplankton communities remains largely unexplored.
The Antarctic Peninsula are undergoing substantial glacier retreat and seasonal snowmelt due to rapid regional warming. Snow algae are widespread and well documented across the region. Zooplankton and seawater samples will be collected and brought back in February 2027. Those samples will be used to investigate how melt-driven inputs may shape coastal zooplankton communities and contribute to nearshore food webs.
To help distinguish potential food sources, pigments, indicator fatty acids and oxygen isotopes will be analysed at IMAS and CSL. These measurements will be used to assess whether snow algae and other melt-associated material contribute to nearshore food webs.
Primary supervisor:
- Luke Brokensha
Supervisory team:
Brief project description:
This project will investigate the diversity and composition of snow algae communities along the West Antarctic Peninsula, a region undergoing rapid environmental change. Snow algae are widespread across Antarctic coastal environments, where they form blooms and contribute to terrestrial primary production. Recent studies suggest that snow algal blooms across the Antarctic Peninsula are likely to become more frequent and extensive under future climate change. Understanding their distribution, composition, and ecological significance is important under a warming climate.
Snow algae samples will be collected from the West Antarctic Peninsula at different depths, and at different locations from coastal terrestrial environments and returned to Tasmania. This research has been made possible by a collaboration between IMAS and HX. Samples will undergo various analysis to examine patterns in pigment and community composition.
This project is closely linked with concurrent research examining near-shore marine Zooplankton communities from the same locations, with both studies contributing to a broader understanding of terrestrial-marine ecosystem connectivity in Antarctic coastal environments.