Chief Investigator
Cynthia Riginos is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland. She is an evolutionary biologist with wide-ranging interests spanning population genomics, land & seascape genetics, molecular ecology, phylogeography, biogeography, speciation, hybridisation, invasive species, and conservation. Overall, her research seeks to understand how marine biodiversity is created, where that biodiversity has accumulated, and how this knowledge can be used preserve biodiversity and the processes that create it in a changing world. Cynthia is especially fond of reef fishes, molluscs, and corals but easily distracted by other taxa as well. She is an associate editor for Molecular Ecology, Molecular Ecology Resources, and the Journal of Biogeography. She is a founding member of both the Diversity in the Indo-Pacific Network (DIPnet), a consortium seeking to promote open data exchange and collaboration among genetic research groups and students working in the Indo-Pacific region, and the Genetic Observatories Metadatabase (GEOME), an infrastructure for linking accessioned genotypes with their spatial and other collecting metadata. Cynthia has been at UQ since 2006 and previously held an endowed postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Evolution & Comparative Genomics at Duke University. Her PhD (2000) and Master’s (1998) degrees are both from the University of Arizona in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Post docs
Iva Popovic
Evolutionary genomics of marine invertebrates
Email: iva.popovic@uqconnect.edu.au
My research takes advantage of natural biological systems and genomic methods to understand the evolutionary processes shaping genetic diversity and divergence between closely related species….(continued)
PhD, MS, and Honours students
Ilha Byrne
Spatio-temporal dynamics of Crown-of-Thorns and other echinoderm larvae on the GBR as revealed by eDNA
Supervisors: Riginos, Uthicke & Popovic
Email: i.byrne@uq.net.au
I completed my Bachelor of Science at the University of Queensland in mid-2020 and subsequently commenced my honours project with the Riginos Research Group…(continued)
Kimberley Dunbar 
Dispersal, gene flow, and range shifts of marine organisms
Supervisors: Riginos & Pandolfi Email: kimberley.dunbar@uq.net.au
Kimberley Dunbar completed an undergraduate Bachelor of Marine Science, culminating in an honours degree studying estuarine and marine ecosystems at James Cook University…(continued)
Vhon Garcia
Biogeography of Philippine marine snakes
Supervisors: Riginos & Cook Email:
Follow @garciavhon
Marine snakes offer an excellent system to examine speciation and evolutionary transitions among a various habitats…(continued)
Samantha Howitt
Genomic analysis of Crown-of-Thorns seastars
Supervisors: Riginos & Popovic
Email: s.howitt@uq.net.au
I am an honours student commencing February 2021, having majored in genetics throughout my undergraduate coursework....(continued)
Sinan-Saleh Kassam
Characterizing the cryptic species complex in Australia using genotype, phenotype, and environment
Supervisors: Riginos & Ortiz-Barrientos Email: s.kassam@uqconnect.edu.au
Not being able to differentiate and effectively resolve cryptic species has significant implications for conservation genomics...(continued)
Chuan Lei
Hybrid speciation in anemonefishes
Supervisors: Hobbs, Cheney, & Riginos
Email: c.lei@uq.net.au
Hybrid speciation has been believed to be important by botanists, but for animals, only until recently when more and more hybrid evidence based on genetics are being discovered, hybridization is gathering attention for its constructive role in animal evolution….(continued)
Katharine Prata
Delineating hard coral population structure in relation to the seascape
Supervisors: Riginos & Bongaerts Email: k.prata@uq.net.au
Little is known about the spatial patterning of reef-building hard coral (Sclearactinia) populations…(continued)
Lab alumni
Post-docs
Thomas Huelsken
Fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2010-2011)
Lisa Pope
UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2012-2014)
Eric Treml
Senior Lecturer at Deakin University
World Wildlife Foundation Fuller Fellow, ARC Fellow (2007-2011)
PhD students
Dean Blower, PhD 2020
Pim Bongaerts (Primary supervisor: Hoegh-Guldberg), PhD 2010 – Curator, California Academy of Sciences
Carmen da Silva (Primary supervisor: Wilson), PhD 2019 – Endeavour Fellow
Jenny Giles, PhD 2014 – Shark Biologist and Wildlife Forensic Scientist
James Hereward (Primary supervisor: Gimme Walter), PhD 2013– Research Associate, University of Queensland
Jude Keyse, PhD 2015 – Inala State High School
Libby Liggins, PhD 2014 – Senior Lecturer, Massey University
Andrew Mather, PhD 2016 – Environmental consultant
Ambrocio (Din) Matias, PhD 2019 – Assistant Professor, University of Philippines Diliman
Iva Popovic, PhD 2019 – Research Associate, University of Queensland
Danielle Shanahan (Primary supervisor: Possingham), PhD 2010
Joshua Thia (Supervisors: Riginos & McGuigan), PhD 2019 – Research Associate, University of Melbourne
MS students
Meredith Kraina, MS 2018
Adam Dinsdale (Primary supervisor: Buckley), MS 2012
Kristin Douglas, MS 2008
Chuan Lei, MS 2020
Honours students
Jenny Evans, 2018
Lucie Malard, 2014
Lachlan Gleeson, 2012
Gabriel Dominguez, 2011
Carrie Sims, 2011
Carla Meers, 2010
Andrew Mather, 2009
Anna Mirams, 2009
Janne Torkkola, 2009
Jolene Wong, 2008
Gwen David, 2007