Overview
We are a strong, collegial and internationally renowned team of environmental scientists in the School of Life Sciences in the Faculty of Science at UTS. Through scientific innovation and sustainable industry engagement, our research aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13, which seeks to combat climate change and its impacts and Goal 3, which seeks to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.
The research in the Environmental Sciences Discipline Group spans the flora and fauna of both terrestrial and aquatic realms, and explores how plants and animals interact with each other and their environments. It is our aim to make a substantial and enduring contribution to the future of environmental science and health of our planet through climate change mitigation, adaptation and impact reduction.
As part of our commitment to sustainability, we foster a diverse and supportive student community for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, ensuring a strong, future workforce in environmental science.
Discipline leader
Associate Professor Brad Murray
Ecologist whose research focuses on the conservation of native biodiversity under climate change, mitigating the impacts of wildfires at the wildland-urban interface and the management of invasive species.
Deputy Discipline Leader
Associate Professor Katherina Petrou
Marine ecophysiologist coupling cell physiology, photobiology and biochemistry to investigate cellular processes and biochemical adaptations in algae in response to environmental change.
Academic Staff
Professor David Booth
Internationally renowned marine biologist in the fields of reef-fish ecology, climate change and other anthropogenic impacts on fishes and fisheries in Australia (the Great Barrier Reef and along the NSW coast) and in the Caribbean and Hawaii.
Dr Yvonne Davila
Ecological scientist researching the ecology and conservation of plant-animal interactions, with an emphasis on the dynamics of plant-pollinator relationships and communities, pollination and plant reproductive biology, in response to environmental change.
Dr Anne Griebel
Environmental biologist linking plant physiology with landscape ecology to research impacts of disturbances and our warming climate on population dynamics, ecosystem services, greenhouse gas cycling and biodiversity.
Professor Alfredo Huete
Distinguished Professor in Remote Sensing and Terrestrial Ecohydrology conducting interdisciplinary research on climate change impacts on ecosystem health and functioning, carbon and water cycling, and the resilience of drylands and urban areas.
Associate Professor Andy Leigh
Plant ecologist and ecophysiologist with a research focus on how plants cope with environmental extremes and climate change, particularly temperature variation, across a range of scales and ecosystems.
Dr Leigh Martin
Scholarly Teaching Fellow in the School of Life Sciences, specialising in environmental sciences subjects, with research interests in invasive species, reptiles and amphibians, and urban heat mitigation.
Professor Simon Mitrovic
Applied aquatic ecologist whose research focuses on freshwater and estuarine ecology, toxic cyanobacterial and other algal blooms, environmental flow management, reservoir water quality management, microplastics and aquatic ecotoxicology within an overarching context of climate change.
Dr Megan Murray
Environmental scientist specialising in tailored remediation strategies for degraded sites with research interests exploring emerging, sustainable-origin solutions for land and water pollution, including plant-based phytoremediation.
Professor Shauna Murray
Marine biologist researching the ecology and evolution of phytoplankton and biotoxins, using molecular genetic techniques, and developing novel genetic tools for the monitoring of marine water quality and their implementation across important aquaculture and fishing industries.
Associate Professor Fraser Torpy
Environmental scientist with research interests in horticultural biotechnology, the contribution of plants to improved air quality in cities under climate change, and the range of ecosystem services provided by green wall technology and other forms of urban greening.
Professor Jonathan Webb
Wildlife biologist with expertise in conservation biology, field sampling methods, and mark-recapture techniques, whose current research focuses on restoring habitats for hollow dependent animals and rock dwelling reptiles, and elucidating the impacts of wildfires on reptiles.
Dr Sophie Wood
A specialist in environmental risk assessment and Program Director for the Contaminated Sites Assessment, Remediation and Management (CSARM) short courses.