Dr Emma Betty joined the CERG staff in February 2015. In addition to her role as the Massey University boating and diving safety officer, Emma manages the CERG post-mortem facility and is also a postdoctoral researcher.

 

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 research interests include investigations on stranded cetaceans; particularly at the interface of life history, feeding ecology and emerging ocean pollutants. Emma also co-supervises three PhD students (Rebecca Boys, Beth Hinton and Emily Palmer).

 

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