Our team
Co-Founder
Professor Melanie Bishop, Macquarie University
Melanie has over 15 years of experience as a marine ecologist and leads a nationally and internationally respected team in the Department of Biological Sciences of 15 researchers from seven countries. Melanie is a past recipient of a NSW Scientist of the Year Award and a Young Tall Poppy Science Award Winner.
Dr Janine Ledet
Research Assistant, Sydney Institute of Marine Science
Janine’s research background focuses on the impacts of climate change stressors on marine communities and the application of eco-engineered solutions in coastal environments. As a Research Assistant with Living Seawalls, she leads ecological monitoring at local installations, coordinates outreach and education initiatives, and supervises students and interns.
Co-Founder
Distinguished Professor Katherine Dafforn, University of Massachusetts
Katherine is co-director of the Stone Living Lab, and the Distinguished Professor of Coastal Resilience at UMASS. Katherine is an international leader in coastal ecology, recognised for her contributions to managing urban impacts in marine systems. Katherine leads global research to understand the increasing footprint of coastal and offshore built structures, while innovating nature-based solutions through a collaborative and applied science approach.
Dr Kyle Hilliam
Postdoctoral Researcher, Sydney Institute of Marine Science
Kyle’s research background centres on understanding and predicting the human impacts in the marine environment, including invasive species and eco-engineered solutions. As a postdoctoral researcher, Kyle is responsible for consolidating and analysing data collected from installations to further our understanding of their performance across the globe.
Co-Founder
Associate Professor Mariana Mayer Pinto,
UNSW
Mariana is a Scientia Fellow in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences whose research broadly focuses on human impacts on marine ecosystems. Mariana uses ecological theory and experimental field ecology to understand the mechanisms by which anthropogenic stressors affect biodiversity across a range of marine habitats.
Aria Lee
Project Manager, Sydney Institute of Marine Science
Aria’s research background centres on investigating invasive species inhabiting coastal areas with high densities of anthropogenic structures. As Project Manager, Aria is responsible for managing the scientific monitoring, datasets and installations, ensuring project milestones are met and maintaining stakeholder relationships.
Co-Founder
Alex Goad
Director & Industrial Designer, Reef Design Lab
Alex is passionate about using design to communicate research and is interested in digital manufacturing techniques for marine restoration. He works closely with the scientific team to develop various ecological designs that respond to current environmental issues. Alex’s work has been exhibited internationally and is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Helsinki Design Museum.
Current research students
Orla McKibbin
Doctor of Philosophy
Orla’s research investigates how coastal ecosystem functions are impacted by habitat modifications and the effectiveness of Living Seawalls panels in increasing ecosystem functioning on seawalls.
Research support
Living Seawalls has a wonderful team of casual resarchers, interns and volunteers. Thank you to all our research supporters!
Past contributors
Professor Emma Johnston - Emma was the Scientific Director of the World Harbour Project, collaborating with Katherine Dafforn on an ARC grant on the Barangaroo project with Lendlease.
Professor Peter Steinberg - As CEO of SIMS until 2020, Peter has supported Living Seawalls from its inception. He was instrumental in coordinating and securing funding for the Living Seawalls collaboration between Australia and Singapore.
Dr Beth Strain - Beth was the Postdoctoral Researcher for the World Harbour Project- the precursor to Living Seawalls. Through her research in eco-engineering habitat complexity, Beth co-designed many features of the Living Seawalls panels.
Dr Maria Vozzo - Maria was the Living Seawalls Project Manager and Postdoctoral Researcher until 2021. She was pivotal to the installation of the first Living Seawalls, and developing relationships with stakeholders to expand Living Seawalls worldwide.
Dr Nina Schaefer - Nina undertook her PhD with Katherine Dafforn and Mariana Mayer Pinto from 2015 until 2019, before becoming a postdoctoral researcher with Katherine Dafforn from 2019 until 2023. Following this, she was Melanie Bishop’s Postdoctoral Researcher from 2023 until 2025. She contributed to the long term monitoring of the Barangaroo project, as well as research support on Non-Indigenous Species and key colonizers around Sydney Harbour.
Past research students
Dayanitha Damodaran - PhD 2025 - Dayanitha compared mussel abundances and types on eco-engineered and control seawalls to natural rocky reefs. She found that seawalls overall provide important habitat for mussels in urban estuaries with more mussels found on crevices.
Minin Sinsona - PhD 2024 - Minin addressed how the benefits of eco-engineering interventions vary across predation gradients. Based in the Philippines, she is also conducted an inventory of marine built structures and assessment of their impacts in this tropical nation.
Cerys Strang - Masters 2025 - Cerys studied the first ever Living Boulders installation at Lavender Bay, Sydney Harbour. Her research quantified how the addition of modified rockpools into rocky revetment improved local biodiversity.
Joshua Hamilton - Honours 2024 - Joshua studied the long term effects of seawall habitat enhancement panels on fish and fouling assemblages at Sawmillers Reserve.
Jenna Beyer - Honours 2024 - Jenna undertook the first biodiversity surveys on the Living Piling modules installed at Sawmillers Reserve, comparing the biodiversity of local assemblages of fish and fouling species between the modules and control wharf pilings around Sydney Harbour.
Kate Dodds - PhD 2022 - Kate is investigated the optimisation of eco-engineered seawalls. She considered stakeholder interest, and whether colour, habitat complexity or material selection affect the settlement micro- or macrobiotic communities.
Hanbin Yu - Honours 2022 - Habin’s research investigated the effects of different habitat panel designs placed at different depths on fish communities in Watermans Cove. He found that there was greater seasonal variation in fish communities in shallow areas compared with deeper zones.
Shin Ushiama - PhD 2021 - Shin investigated the effect of eco-modified artificial structures on the abundance and behaviour of crytobenthic fish. He found that cryptobenthic fish benefit from the variety of different microhabitats provided by habitat panels, and these supported rare species not found on non-modified seawalls.
Stephanie Bagala - MRes 2021 - Stephanie investigated the effect of Living Seawalls panels on fish communities in terms of biodiversity and habitat usage. Her findings showed that seawalls modified with Living Seawalls panels supported fish assemblages analogous to those on natual rocky shores.
Gemma Clifton - MRes 2020 – Gemma’s research investigated how the benefits of adding complexity to seawalls varies spatially. She found that within Sydney Harbour, effects of complexity were not influenced by proximity to storm drains (a major source of contaminants) but were generally greater in the lower harbour (where the species pool of available colonists was greater) than the upper harbour.
Tegan Furchert - MRes 2019 - Tegan’s research centred on the prevalence of non-indigenous species (NIS) on Living Seawalls habitat panels. By comparing NIS in various microhabitats on habitat panels, Tegan found that NIS are most abundant in shaded areas at low intertidal elevations.
Lincoln Critchley – PhD 2018 – Lincoln examined impacts of seawalls on adjacent sedimentary and mangrove ecosystems. Specifically, he examined impacts of seawalls on wrack accumulation in these systems.