Georgina Wood
ARC Early Career Industry Fellow
College of Science and Engineering
I am an Early Career Australian Research Council Fellow at Flinders University and Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia. Much of my research focuses on repairing nature in a changing climate, particularly temperate kelp forest ecosystems. I have led restoration projects in collaboration with industry on the east (www.operationcrayweed.com) and west (www.greengravel.org) coasts of Australia, with a focus on the genomics of key seaweed species and how best to conserve genetic diversity. I am also leading the development of a series of online webtools to aid decision-making in coastal restoration, assisted gene flow strategies and aquaculture (www.reefadapt.org and www.kelpee.info). I am an editor of Restoration Ecology and a coordinator of the Green Gravel Action Group for kelp forest restoration.
I work with a large team of excellent collaborators and currently supervise multiple students around Australia and in Norway as part of the GecoKelp project (https://www.gecokelp.org), a multi-institutional project linking kelp genes to ecosystem processes, funded by the Norwegian Research Council.
2016 - 2020 PhD (Marine Science)
UNSW Sydney (Sydney, Australia)
Using genomics to restore and future-proof underwater seaweed forests
2010-2014 BSc (Hons) Biology and BA Spanish and Latin American Studies
2025, Australian Research Council Linkage Grant: Securing a Future for Australia's Blue Forests
2025, Flinders College of Science and Engineering Student Mentorship Award - nominated
2024, Flinders College of Science and Engineering Consortium Development Seed Funding
2024, Flinders College of Science and Engineering International Research Engagement Award
2023, Revive and Restore Competitive Funding Grant: Leveraging genomic data to conserve Australia's forgotten forests
2023, Australian Research Council Industry Fellowship: A genomic toolkit to future-proof the seaweed industry
2023, Canopy Blue Industry Funding: Blue Tonne Kelp Restoration Challenge
2023, Norwegian Research Council Competitive Grant: Unravelling impacts of warming, from genes to ecosystems
2022, Canopy Blue Industry Funding: Blue Tonne Kelp Restoration Challenge
2022, Winnifred Violet Scott Charitable Trust grant: Refuges in Australia's Marine Forests
2020, UNSW Ecology and Evolution Research Centre outreach Award
2019, International Temperate Reefs Symposium Student presentation Award
2018, Winner of UNSW Sydney Postgraduate Research Competition (Sustainability)
2018, UNSW Sydney Three Minute Thesis Competition (second)
2017, UNSW Ecology and Evolution Research Centre Outstanding Evolution and Ecology Presentation
Student Supervision:
PhD:
Jane Edgeloe - Spatial and temporal genetic variation in climate-threatened temperate marine forests (University of Western Australia, co-supervised with Prof. Thomas Weinberg, Prof. Jacqui Batley & Prof. Melinda Coleman, submitted December 2024)
Catalina Musrri - Future-proofing underwater crayweed forests. (University of Sydney, co-supervised with Assoc. Prof. Ezequiel Marzinelli & Prof. Adriana Verges)
Kaylah Gawne - Future-proof restoration of golden kelp in Victoria (Deakin University, co-supervised with Dr. Prue Francis, Dr. Cayne Layton & Dr. Jacqui Pocklington)
Oceane Attlan – Long-term changes in marine communities and function (University of Western Australia, co-supervised with Prof. Thomas Weinberg and Dr Albert Pessarrodona)
Rachel Venhuizen – Securing a future for kelp forests in a changing ocean (University of Sydney, co-supervised with Assoc. Prof. Ezequiel Marzinelli & Prof. Adriana Verges)
Masters:
Louise Richardson - The influence of nitrate and parental history on thermal tolerance in Western Australian ecklonia radiata (University of Western Australia, co-supervised with Prof. Thomas Wernberg & Dr. Sam Starko, High Distinction)
Rowen Monks - Genetic diversity, structure and connectivity of Laminar hyperborean in Norway, using SNP analysis (University of Oslo, co-supervised with Prof. Thomas Wernberg & Prof. Stein Fredriksen, High Distinction)
Bibiana Fernandez Cano Alvarez – Impacts of 40 years of marine heatwaves in South Australia (Flinders University, co-supervised by Prof. Patrick Hesp & Dr Milena Fernandes)
Honours:
Fiona McQueen - Development of Cryopreservation techniques to restore Australian fucoids (Flinders University, co-supervised by Dr Ryan Baring)
Lewis Hurley - Thermal tolerance of South Australian kelp and implications for aquaculture (Flinders University, co-supervised by Dr. Sasi Nayar)
Lachlan Burns – The effect of microbial abundances on early life history stages of golden kelp Ecklonia radiata (Flinders University, co-supervised by Prof. Elizabeth Dinsdale)
Guinevere Peart – Epiphyte growth on seagrass mimics to improve insights of light attenuation (Flinders University, co-supervised by Dr Ryan Baring & Dr Milena Fernandes)
Other professional service
Green Gravel Action Group Key Coordinator (2021-2024)
Vice-President SA Branch of the Australian Marine Sciences Association
Editor of:
- Restoration Ecology
- Frontiers in Marine Science
Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042
South Australia | Northern Territory
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