Take 10 with... Emma Ryan

1. Describe your research topic to us in 10 words or less.

Quantifying impacts of sea-level rise on coasts and coral reefs. 

2. Now explain it in everyday terms!

I track how coasts and coral reefs have changed their form in response to past changes in the environment. This, along with monitoring current changes in these environments, will help us better understand how rising seas may affect beaches and coral reefs.

3. Describe some of your day-to-day research activities.

During semester time, I teach a lot and meet with postgraduate students. Most of my time is spent at my computer, but I’m lucky to have a big office that I try to decorate (badly) with pictures of coral reefs and drawings my kids have done.

When I’m not busy teaching or doing administrative things, I like to get out into the field. This means collecting samples (like fossil corals, sand, cores) or taking measurements of things like waves or water quality. On other days, I might be working in a computer lab or working through datasets and writing papers. I also spend a lot of time writing research grant proposals to get funding for research. 

4. What do you enjoy most about your research?

Field work! I think field work is super important in the era of big data, AI and remote sensing. While those advancements are all valuable and have completely accelerated science, nothing can replace the learnings gained from being in the field and measuring processes. I’ve been lucky to visit some incredible coastlines and coral reefs and no one place is the same in time or space. I’m a big fan of place-based science. 

5. Tell us something that has surprised you in the course of your research.

That coral reefs can flourish in the harshest of conditions. I’ve seen amazing reefs flourishing in the turbid (really muddy) waters of inshore Queensland (Great Barrier Reef), and they have done so for thousands of years.

My research focuses on the 'reef flat' zone of coral reefs, where the tides rise and fall twice a day, exposing corals to high water temperatures and sub-aerial exposure during low tide. Many reef flat corals are remarkably resilient as a result and in many of the recent mass global bleaching events, the reef flat corals seem to survive.

6. How have you approached any challenges you’ve faced in your research?

My main challenge was becoming a mum eight years ago and the life changes that come with that, meaning field work is now less frequent. It’s harder to get to the remote locations I’ve worked in previously, like Kiribati and the Maldives. Recently, I have targeted field work in closer locations, including here in Auckland, and in the south Pacific, such as Tonga.

7. What questions have emerged as a result?

It’s not really a question, but a realisation of the value of local communities and collaborators in research, such as the local people who might be on these reefs or beaches every day. There is much we can learn from each other.

8. What kind of impact do you hope your research will have?

I hope it will inspire young women into coastal science, which is traditionally a male-dominated field. I also hope my research has impact outside of science and will be used in helping communities and decision makers, like local governments, make more informed decisions about adapting to climate change impacts at the coast.

9. If you collaborate across the faculty or University, or even outside the University, who do you work with and how does it benefit your research?

My most common collaborators are research students that I supervise in interdisciplinary supervisory teams. This is super interesting for me because I learn a lot from other co-supervisors from Māori studies, Marine Science and the School of Environment.

My students take on a broad variety of coastal-related projects, from coring through shell ridges in harbours to measuring microplastics in coral reef sand, to exploring how Mātauranga Māori and coastal geomorphology can tell a more complete story than either would on its own.

At the boundary of land and sea, coastal science is very interdisciplinary. While I collaborate with other coastal researchers at the University of Auckland, such as Murray Ford and Mark Dickson, I have also collaborated widely across Aotearoa with researchers, practitioners, and local governments.

10. What one piece of advice would you give your younger, less experienced research self?

Don’t take on too many projects at one time! It’s OK to say no to things to allow yourself time to focus on doing something else well.