Samuel Starko

Samuel Starko is a Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia (UWA), affiliated with the School of Biological Sciences and the UWA Oceans Institute. He holds a PhD in Botany from the University of British Columbia, awarded in 2019. His research focuses on marine biology, specifically investigating how coastal marine habitats interact with environmental changes and their implications for ecology, evolution, and conservation.

Education/Academic qualification: Botany, PhD, Morphological and functional diversification during kelp evolution, University of British Columbia (Award Date: 5 Apr 2019).

Research Interests: Starko combines molecular techniques with field ecology to study environment-organism interactions, particularly in the context of global change. His work emphasizes coastal marine ecosystems, kelp forests, and conservation strategies. Key areas include genetic drift impacts, blue carbon assessments, and the ecological responses to marine heatwaves.

Grant Activities: Starko leads or contributes to two active research projects: "Identifying potential trade-offs of adapting to climate change" funded by the ARC Australian Research Council (2024–2027) and "Revive and Restore" (2023–2025), exploring kelp conservation and restoration strategies.

He is affiliated with the UWA Oceans Institute and collaborates extensively with international researchers through initiatives like the Kelp Forest Challenge.