Ben Knight
Marine Biophysical Scientist
Ben is a marine biophysical scientist with over 10 years research and consulting experience in coastal systems in New Zealand and Europe. His primary area of expertise is the development and application of modelling and remote sensing tools to assist in finding sustainable resource use solutions for coastal marine systems. Ben thrives on finding interesting solutions to complex problems and presenting them in a clear and open format to ensure wide understanding of system dynamics and uncertainties.
Ben’s expertise spans a wide range of activities including aquaculture, fisheries, coastal outfalls, energy generation and other coastal developments.
Technical skills, experience and interests
- Modelling of water quality and harmful algal bloom dynamics
- Fisheries ecology
- Aquaculture effects
- Hydrodynamic model development
- Satellite remote sensing algorithm development
- Ecosystem and physical dynamics in coastal and estuarine systems
- Data mining and analysis to assist understanding of complex systems
- Development of web and phone applications for communicating scientific datasets.
Professional affiliations
- Co-Chair Climate-Fisheries Task Group – IndiSeas Scientific Programme (http://www.indiseas.org/)
- Member of New Zealand Marine Sciences Society
- Member of International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae
Qualifications
- MSc (Marine Science). University of Otago, 2002
- PGDipSci (Photonics). University of Otago, 1998
- BSc (Physics). University of Otago, 1997