Systems Biology of Marine Ecosystems

Dr. Manoj Kumar is a research scientist (ARC-DECRA Fellow) in the Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. He obtained a PhD in Marine Biotechnology at the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI-CSIR), Gujarat, India. His major research activities have been focused on the eco-physiology and stress tolerance mechanisms of benthic marine macrophytes (seaweeds and seagrasses) to diverse environmental and anthropogenic perturbations under the scenario of global climate change through omics approaches (proteomics and metabolomics). His research interests have also included: the use of seaweeds in food and fuel; quality seed stock generation of seaweeds using tissue culture; and protoplast isolation techniques. He has also researched the epigenetic regulation of marine and terrestrial plants under environmental stress conditions. Dr. Kumar was a visiting scientist at the Agriculture Research Organization (ARO), Volcani Centre, Israel where he expanded his research activities in the area of phyto-hormone signaling that regulates root and shoot architecture in the Arabidopsis model plant. Currently, he is studying the early signals of seagrass loss using advanced 'omics' approaches, in order to understand eutrophication and light attenuation related phenotypic responses in seagrasses.

Prof. Peter Ralph is the Executive Director of the Climate Change Cluster (C3) at the University of Technology Sydney. He leads a dynamic, multidisciplinary group of researchers dedicated to improving our predictions about the impacts of climate change. Over the past eight years, he has grown this research institute to support over 100 staff and students. He is a member of the Blue Carbon International Scientific Working Group, formed under the auspices of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, United Nations Environmental Program and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. He is the former leader of the CSIRO Marine and Coastal Carbon Biogeochemistry Cluster, which brought together the expertise of eight Australian universities in Australia's largest coastal blue carbon accounting, mapping and measurement study. He has recently been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board for CzechGlobe (Global Change Research Institute - Czech Academy of Science).