My interests have always centred on fish, ever since childhood. Many years of snorkelling and diving led me to pursue a B. Sc. at the University of Sydney, majoring in marine sciences. During my last year, I was given the opportunity to assist (voluntarily) the Australian Museum - Ichthyology Department- sort and identify collections of deeper-dwelling fish from the Coral Sea, and I subsequently completed an honours project on the distributions of tuna larvae in the Coral Sea with Dr Jeff Leis (Australian Museum) and Prof. Iain Suthers (University of New South Wales). I'm currently completing a PhD at the University of Technology, Sydney, with Prof. David Booth researching the ecology of fish communities on artificial reefs. This research focuses on whether artificial reefs are suitable habitat for developing and sustaining fish populations.