New Chair in Fisheries Science

A new position established within the School of Biological Sciences will deepen expertise in the subject of fisheries science at Victoria.

Created through the generous support of the Ministry for Primary Industries through the Victoria University Foundation, the inaugural holder of the Chair, Dr Matthew Dunn, will focus on research that can help inform and support the lucrative fisheries industry (worth an estimated $1.3 billion to New Zealand’s economy each year).

Matthew has joined Victoria following a decade at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), where he managed the Deepwater Fisheries Group and was a programme leader for the National Centre for Fisheries.

Originally from the UK, Matthew has a background in fish biology, fisheries stock assessment and economics, and has previously worked at two globally-influential marine centres there—the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources, and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science at Lowestoft.

In his new role, Matthew will be working closely with a range of New Zealand science organisations, while supporting the development of more graduates in the field of fisheries science.

Matthew believes that graduates entering the world of fisheries science need to be highly-skilled quantitative biologists as research techniques become increasingly sophisticated.

“A key part of my role will be helping to ensure that our graduates are equipped for this increasingly important and challenging industry.”

As well as teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses, Matthew is also supervising a number of research students at Master’s and Doctoral level.

“As fisheries scientists, we understand that the interaction between fish, fisheries, science and politics is very complex.

“There are many areas of New Zealand fisheries science I hope to explore, with the aim of leading research important to the industry which other organisations may not have the resources or time to tackle on their own.”