Specialist Staff

The MFRC maintains substantial capacity and a strong reputation in strategically targeted areas of applied marine and freshwater research.

Our researchers publish prolifically and engage actively at national and international conferences and meetings.

To collaborate please contact the MFRC’s specialist research staff:

​Dr Simon Berrow: Marine mammals, seabirds and Environmental impact

+353 (0)91 742296

Mr John Boyd: (Biography) Fisheries, Seagoing operations and maritime training

+353 (0)91 742518

Dr Deirdre Brophy: (Biography) Fish ecology, population dynamics & stock structure

+353 (0)91 742484

Dr Roxanne Duncan: Fish biology, Stock identification, fleet behaviour dynamics

+353 (0)91 742516

Dr Joao Frias: (Biography) Marine anthropogenic litter; microplastic pollution; ecotoxicology; micro-FTIR; standardised methodologies

+353 (0)91 74 2522

Dr Martin Gammell: (Biography) Freshwater biology, Animal behaviour

+353 (0)91 742277

Dr Conor Graham: (Biography) Freshwater fisheries, stable isotope ecology

+353 (0)91 742888

Dr Ghassen Halouani: Fisheries management, Ecological modeling

+353 (0)91 742524

Dr Colin Hannon: (Biography) Invertebrate Aquaculture

+353 (0)91 742522

Dr Aaron Henderson: Elasmobranch ecology/biology, marine resource management

+353 (0)91 742893

Dr Fiona Kavanagh: Marine ecology, Invertebrate taxonomy

+353 (0)91 742892

Dr Pauline King: Fish biology, Intertidal ecology

+353 (0)91 742089

Dr Heather Lally: (Biography) Freshwater ecology

+353 (0)91 742484

Dr Adelaide Lerebours: Fish biology, ecotoxicology, host-parasite interactions

+353 (0)9174 2516

Dr Olga Lyashevska: statistical data analysis, data integration and processing

+353 (0)91 742517

Dr Anne Marie Mahon: Freshwater Pollution

+353 (0)91 742516

Dr Eugene McCarthy: Proteomics and molecular biology

+353 (0)91 742329

Dr Pauhla McGrane: Phytoplankton biology, Seagoing operations and maritime training

+353 (0)91 742517

Dr Cóilín Minto: Biostatistics, Quantitative ecology

+353 (0)91 742514

Dr Luca Mirimim: (Biography) Molecular Ecology, Fish Health and Conservation Genetics

+353 (0)91 742173

Dr James Moran: (Biography) Agroecology; sustainable agriculture and rural development; high nature value farmland; biodiversity and ecosystem services; wetland ecosystems

+353 (0)91 742885

Dr Sinead Murphy: Marine mammal population biology, Conservation management

+353 (0)91 742086

Dr Róisín Nash: (Biography) Marine ecology, microplastics and pollution

+353 (0)91 742593 

Dr Francesco Noci: (Biography) Food technology, Food science

+353 (0)91 742300

Dr Joanne O’Brien: Marine mammals and bioacoustics

+353 (0)91 742277

Dr Ian O’Connor: Spatial ecology of marine megafauna & GIS

+353 (0)91 742296

Dr Katie O'Dwyer: (Biography) Ecological parasitology; Ecoimmunology

+353 (0)91 742884

Dr Cilian Roden: Phytoplankton ecology

+353 (0)91 742214

Dr Orla Slattery: Fish health, proteomics, molecular biology

+353 (0)91 742554

Dr Anita Talbot: Fish immune response, vaccine development

+353 (0)91 742511

Ms Elizabeth Tray: Ecology, fisheries, biodiversity informatics

+353 (0)98 42306

Dr Louise Vaughan: Ecology, Biostatistics, Fisheries

+353 (0)98 42306

Dr Philip White: Analytical chemistry, environmental contaminants, instrumental method development and validation.

+353 (0) 91 742281

Current Students & Graduates

Graduate education at the MFRC enjoys an excellent reputation. Our alumni have progressed to high-level careers in industry and academia where they continue to contribute to governmental and industrial policies and priorities.

Current MFRC postgraduate students:

  • Isabel Baker: Social and foraging behaviour of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Shannon Estuary, Ireland.

  • Luke Batts: Testing key uncertainties for monkfish assessment and management using management strategy evaluations

  • Daniel Brady: Conservation of Austropotamobius pallipes in Ireland: Characterising immune reaction proteins and the genetic population structure of Irish populations by molecular methods

  • Philip Doddy: Cyanobacterial crust communities as bioindicators in limestone lakes.

  • Paul Dolder: Informing improved management of mixed fisheries through comparative modelling of fleet dynamics.

  • Jamie Downes: Gill disease in finfish aquaculture with emphasis on amoebic gill disease.

  • Kerrie Duffy: Identification of Virulence Factors Associated with Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) from Neoparamoeba perurans

  • Kevin French: Acoustic communication in a freshwater insect, Sigara distincta.

  • Melanie Gomes: Conservation Biology of Elasmobranchs in the Celtic Seas.

  • Michael Griffin: Exploring acoustic communication in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) using passive acoustic monitoring and playback experiments.

  • La Daana Kanhai: Microplastic distribution and ecological interactions across latitudinal gradients.

  • Niall Keogh: Offshore ecology of seabirds.

  • Giada Magueri: Modelling the sustainability and ecosystem services of wildlife ecotourism in remote rural communities.

  • Laurence Manning: Social behaviour of harbour seals, Phoca vitulina, in the west of Ireland.

  • Adon McFarlane: Population assessment of an endangered freshwater crustacean, the white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes): Could a consideration of crayfish behaviour improve monitoring techniques?

  • Ryan Mckenna: Development of Distributional Indicators to Support the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.  

  • Claire Moore: Sprat fisheries ecology: Using knowledge of stock structure to implement sustainable management strategies.

  • Gráinne Moran: Transcriptome characterization and biomarker discovery in Atlantic salmon affected by Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD). 

  • James O’Connor: Potential pathways, trophic transfer and bioindicators of microplastics within freshwater systems.

  • Christina O'Toole: Unlocking the archive: using scale chronologies to resolve climate impacts. 

  • Elena Pagter: Microplastics in Galway Bay: an ecosystem based approach.

  • Andrew Power: Seabird Eggs as a higher trophic level indicator of contaminants in Irish marine waters.

  • Sara Ruas:  Enhancing biodiversity and the provisioning of ecosystem services through connectivity at the landscape scale of the FARM-ECOS project.

  • Felix Scholz: Bio-security risks associated with the use of lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) as a cleaner fish species in salmonid polyculture systems in Ireland.

  • Michael Sheridan: Direct age determination for crustacean fisheries in Ireland.

  • Paula Silvar Viladomiu: Linking mixed fisheries and multispecies models for management advice

  • Kristina Steinmetz: Population genetic structure of grey and harbour seals in Irish and western European waters using non-invasive molecular techniques. 

  • Katie Thomas: The Ecology of Salmon (Salmo salar L.) at Sea: Environmental factors affecting marine growth, survival and migration of Atlantic salmon

Recent MFRC postgraduates:

  • Dr Heidi Acampora: Marine microplastics: Interactions with seabirds.

  • Dr Marta Bolgan: Exploring the potential of passive acoustic monitoring in the management and conservation of a threatened freshwater fish, the Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), in Irish lakes.

  • Dr Simon Dedman: Defining maximum sustainable yield for data poor fisheries: The case of the elasmobranch fisheries in the Irish Sea.

  • Dr Roxanne Duncan: Population and sub-population structure of albacore tuna in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean.

  • Dr Mar Marcos Lopez: Immunological approach to the development of diagnostic tools and treatments for Amoebic Gill Disease in farmed Atlantic salmon.