Dr Christopher Cornwall is one of the Associate Directors of the National Centre of Research Excellence Coastal People: Southern Skies. He is a Senior Lecturer at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Biological Sciences. His work examines how local and global drivers of change impact marine ecosystems using ecology, physiology, geochemistry and other techniques. His focus is on seaweed dominated ecosystems such as kelp forest ecosystems in Aotearoa and coral reefs in the tropics. His recent research examines community driven questions in these ecosystems.