Dr Sinead Murphy

Lecturer in Aquatic Ecology

Dr Sinéad Murphy is lecturer in aquatic ecology at GMIT since 2015. Previously, she was a Marie Curie Fellow at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London and a Research Fellow at University of St Andrews, Scotland. Her research has focused on the independent and interactive effects of stressors in the environment on wildlife populations and how to monitor and manage those adverse activities. Stressors such as pollutants, incidental capture of marine mammals in fishing gear, prey depletion and environmental change. Additionally, her work has explored at what level marine mammal species should be conserved and assessed (i.e. population or management/assessment unit) and produced conservation priorities as well as management strategies (for human activities) for those conservation units. She has held positions on a number of intergovernmental working groups, and her work has informed conservation management advice to government departments, inter-governmental organizations such as ICES, ASCOBANS, and OSPAR, and the European Commission.

website: sites.google.com/view/sinead-murphy

Projects

The aim of this project is to investigate the influence of environmental and observational effects on Harbour Porpoise survey counts from the NPWS monitoring programme conducted across three spatial areas of conservation in 2007, 2008, 2013-2016 and 2018.
This collaboration between GMIT and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (lead partners) and Cork Regional Veterinary Laboratory aimed to establish the cause of death of stranded dolphins and porpoises and recover tissues for research purposes.
This collaborative research project, funded by the EPA, is informing the development and implementation of policy by improving understanding of microplastic (MP) sources, pathways and environmental fate in freshwater systems in Ireland and making recommendations for monitoring of MPs.
MFRC PhD student Ms Kristina Steinmetz, is using non-invasive techniques to assess management units and conservation priorities for grey and harbour seals in Irish and north-western European waters

Students