Kathryn Taffs

Kathryn Taffs is an **Adjunct Associate Professor** and Deputy Head of School at the **School of Environment, Science and Engineering** within Southern Cross University. Her work bridges teaching, research, and environmental policy, focusing on aquatic ecosystems and palaeolimnological techniques to study environmental change. She holds a **BA(Hons) and PhD from the University of Adelaide**, and a **Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (Learning & Teaching) from SCU**.

**Research Interests**: Her studies center on palaeolimnology, wetland ecology, and the impacts of climate change and human activity on estuaries and wetlands. Recent projects include using bioindicators (e.g., diatoms, shrimp species) to assess water quality and ecosystem health. She emphasizes understanding historical environmental baselines to guide conservation strategies.

**Teaching**: Kathryn teaches undergraduate units on wetland ecosystems and earth systems, and supervises postgraduate research projects (e.g., coastal management, estuary dynamics). She integrates e-learning tools to enhance academic writing skills in environmental science students.

**Key Contributions**: Her work has advanced methodologies for river health assessment (e.g., diatom indices), and explored fire regimes and waterlogging tolerance in threatened species like *Arthraxon hispidus*. She collaborates with agencies to remediate acid sulfate soils and restore degraded ecosystems.

**Labs & Facilities**: Her research aligns with SCU’s **Environmental Analysis Laboratory** and **Analytical Research Laboratory**, supporting field and lab-based studies in aquatic and terrestrial systems.