Dr Mardi McNeil

Biography

Mardi is a Postdoctoral Researcher and sessional academic in the School of Earth  and Atmospheric Sciences at QUT.   Her interest is in cross-disciplinary research in marine geoscience, specifically biogenic carbonate sediments and structures at various spatial scales from calcareous epiphytes to bioherms and reefs, and their physical, chemical, and biological processes and properties.

Academic Scholarships:

2017 – 2020 Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend – Domestic
2017 – 2020 AINSE Postgraduate Research Award top-up stipend
2019 QUT Science and Engineering Faculty Dr Lawrie Cowled PhD Scholarship
2018 QUT Science and Engineering Faculty Dr Lawrie Cowled PhD Scholarship
2017 QUT Science and Engineering Faculty Dr Lawrie Cowled PhD Scholarship
QUT Vacation Research Experience Scholarship
The University of Sydney School of Geosciences summer scholarship

Awards:

2018 Terry Walker Award – Australian Coral Reef Society
2016 Dean’s List for Excellent Academic Performance

Research Grants:

2019 ANSTO – Research Portal Proposal
2018 National Geographic Explorer – Early Career Research Grant
2018 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority - Reef Guardian Science Grant
2017 Martin Fellowship – Naturalis Biodiversity Centre (The Netherlands)
2017 National Parks and Wildlife Foundation/Paddy Palin Science Grants

Travel Grants:

2018 International Association of Sedimentologists (ISC2018)
2018 Society of Sedimentary Geologists (ISC2018)
2017 International Association of Sedimentologists (Flugel Course 2017)
2016 World Seagrass Association – Evamaria Koch Student Travel Grant

Scholarly Publications:

McNeil, M. A., Webster, J. M., Beaman, R. J., & Graham, T. L. (2016). New constraints on the spatial distribution and morphology of the Halimeda bioherms of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Coral Reefs, 35(4), 1343-1355
Altmetric score: 655

Erler, D. V., Nothdurft, L., McNeil, M., & Moras, C. A. (2018). Tracing nitrate sources using the isotopic composition of skeletal-bound organic matter from the calcareous green algae Halimeda. Coral Reefs. doi:10.1007/s00338-018-01742-z

Media:

2017 Thinkable Peer Prize for Women in Science
Stories of Australian Science
The Labs

Conference Abstracts:

2019 Ecological Society of Australia Conference, Queensland (Oral)
Halimeda algal bioherms: a critical inter-reef habitat to support ecosystem function and biodiversity in the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia

2018 International Sedimentological Congress, Quebec City, Canada (Oral)
New data reveals the complexity of modern Halimeda algal bioherm morphology in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

2018 Australian Marine Science Association Conference, South Australia (Oral)
Lidar and multibeam data reveals the complex morphology of Halimeda algal bioherm inter-reef habitat in the northern GBR

2017 Dorothy Hill Women in Earth Sciences Symposium, Queensland (Poster)
The spatial distribution and morphology of Halimeda bioherms in the northern Great Barrier Reef

2016 International Seagrass Biology Workshop, Wales (Oral) Epiphytic calcium carbonate production and sediment characteristics from a sub-tropical seagrass carbonate factory: Moreton Bay, Australia