Emma Betty first joined the CERG team in 2015 as the technical officer and laboratory manager for the CERG post-mortem facility (including data and tissue archives).
Emma's research background is in the biology, ecology, and conservation of marine mammals in New Zealand waters and she completed her PhD at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in 2019. Her PhD focused on strandings, life history, and conservation of New Zealand long-finned pilot whales. Prior to her PhD, Emma completed a Graduate Diploma in Marine Studies at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and a BAppSc (Hons) at AUT. Her Honours research examined the diet of pygmy sperm whales stranded on the New Zealand coast.
Current postdoctoral research interests include investigations on stranded cetaceans; particularly at the interface of life history, feeding ecology, and emerging ocean pollutants.
Emma currently co-supervises MSc student Denise Poelijoe.