EquipmentMt John Sky Camera

Joe's primary research is in the field of imaging, where he uses X-rays, electrons, optical light, and sound waves, among other things, to look at everything from galaxies to protein molecules - the aim is to visualise our universe and understand how things work.

Joe has experience in phase retrieval, X-ray diffractive imaging, and designing computational algorithms to reconstruct images of proteins and viruses from X-ray diffraction data collected at synchrotrons and X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL). He is also working on ultrasonics for biomedical and environmental applications that will hopefully go on to help people.

Joe's other research interests include signal processing, quantum optics/computing, optimisation algorithms, and astrobiology.

I am an ecosystem ecologist focussing on the development and application of molecular tools to determine the role of fungal communities in community and ecosystem-level outcomes. My main research interests spans the breadth of fungi, including mycorrhizas, wood decay fungi, and pathogens. I have also applied similar approaches to soil invertebrates, plant communities, bacteria, and oomycetes.

One application is in the invasion of woody plants, including the invasion of wilding conifers. Using molecular identifications of fungi on tree roots, I’ve shown that trees are largely co-invading with non-native fungi, transforming ecosystem function belowground.

Alan Gilmore has retired from the University of Canterbury. He was based at Mt John University Observatory in Tekapo and held the position of Resident Superintendent.

Though officially retired, he and his wife Pam Kilmartin continue to run an observing programme of astrometry of near-Earth objects with Mt John telescopes.

He also distrutes monthly star chart sets.

Professor Angus McIntosh is a freshwater ecologist specialising in population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, and aquatic landscape ecology across streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. His research focuses on fish and invertebrate ecology, aquatic food webs, predator–prey interactions, invasion, flow‑related habitat size, disturbance regimes, restoration and cross‑ecosystem (aquatic–terrestrial) linkages.

 

He has led long‑term studies in the upper Waimakariri River system (Canterbury – particularly at the Cass Field Station), the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (Colorado), and agricultural streams of the Canterbury Plains, advancing understanding of biodiversity patterns, habitat dynamics, and ecosystem resilience.

 

Key research areas include:

 

• Impacts of non‑native trout on galaxiid fishes
• Riverscape configuration and drivers of aquatic biodiversity
• Effects of flow alteration and habitat size change on river food webs
• Habitat drying and responses of pond communities
• Aquatic–terrestrial ecosystem exchanges and cross‑boundary energy flows
• Freshwater restoration, including the Canterbury Waterway Rehabilitation Experiment (CAREX)

 

Angus also provides consulting and Environment Court expertise in freshwater ecology, habitat assessment, and river management.

 

For more information, photographs, and outreach material are available through the Freshwater Ecology Research Group (FERG) and his EcologyLive website.

Research interests include:
- understanding the structure and evolution of stars and planetary systems
- asteroseismology: studying the pulsations of stars
- fundamental properties of variable and multiple star systems
- discovering new planets and studying planetary systems

My research focuses on understanding the structure and dynamics of communities with the aim of testing and developing ecological theory that is fundamental for the effective management of ecosystems.

I pursue research in the field of Galactic Archaeology, which seeks to unravel the formation and evolution history of the Milky Way. I do this using a variety of astronomical data including spectra, photometry and asteroseismology.

Key projects in which I am involved that further this investigation are:

* Statistical analysis of chemical abundance distributions in stellar populations using techniques such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Bayesian Inference and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE).
* Galactic Chemical Evolution studies with chemical yields compared to big observational datasets
* Automated determination of stellar parameters and chemical abundances
* Characterisation of binary systems
* Detailed stellar parameter and chemical abundance analysis of benchmark stars

I'm an active member of 4MOST and WEAVE, which are large scale multi-object spectrographs on the 4m telescopes, VISTA@ESO in the southern hemisphere and WHT@ING in the northern hemisphere respectively. Analysis of the high and medium resolution spectra from both projects will characterise to never before detail the chemical distribution within the Milky Way.

A critical mission that has significantly advanced our understanding of the Milky Way is the ESA Gaia mission which is measuring precise positions and motions of over 1 billion stars in the Milky Way.

Combining the kinematic with chemical information from these projects will result in a chemico-kinematic, multi-dimensional chart of the Milky Way against which to test our theories of galactic formation and evolution.