Emma Kennedy

Emma Kennedy has research expertise in coral reef ecology and climate change, and is currently working in the Remote Sensing Research Group at the University of Queensland in a team producing the first global atlas of coral reefs. Growing up in the UK, she learned to dive in a gravel pit outside of London and completed a PhD predicting the future loss of Caribbean coral reefs. In Australia she has worked on several high-profile research initiatives, including how ocean acidification affects the Great Barrier Reef and locating important coral reef refugia for the global conservation initiative “50 reefs”. Emma is passionate about the underwater world, working as a scuba instructor and writing for BBC Wildlife Magazine. She sits on the scientific advisory panel for citizen science organisation Reef Check Australia, is a reef check and Coral Watch volunteer herself, and was highlighted as an emerging leader in the #AusScienceHeroes campaign.