• Professor of Marine Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Prof Conrad Pilditch is the Director of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research has focused on the functioning of soft sediment ecosystems and how they respond to globally important stressors such as sedimentation, eutrophication, ocean acidification, and climate change. His research emphasizes a multi-disciplinary approach linking ecology with hydrodynamics and biogeochemistry to investigate how changes in biodiversity modify critical ecosystem processes such as nutrient processing, carbon sequestration and sediment transport. His research is conducted primarily in coastal environments but has also worked on the continental shelf and in deep-sea habitats. He was the bio-physical science program lead and a researcher in the recently completed National Science Challenge Sustainable Seas, a ten-year New Zealand government funded program aimed at improving ocean health and utilization through ecosystem-based management. Increasingly he is now actively engaging with central and regional government to facilitate the uptake of research into ocean decision making. Prof Pilditch has a MSc in Marine Science from Otago University and a PhD in Biological Oceanography from Dalhousie University (Canada), he has published more than 200 scientific papers and supervised more than 60 postgraduate (MSc/PhD) research students. He has been awarded multiple fellowships to support research visits to Finland, Sweden, Germany, England, USA and China and is a recipient of the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society Merit Award.

• 2024–present Director Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland
• 1998–2024 Professor Marine Science, University of Waikato

• 1998 Dalhousie University, Canada, Biological Oceanography

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