Professor Simon Thrush is the Director of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

A world-renowned marine ecologist, Simon researches coastal ecosystems in order to understand how to improve their conservation and resource management. He has worked in several parts of the world, including Europe and the USA, and has made several trips to Antarctica.

Simon has extensively researched shellfish dominated seafloor ecosystems, and has contributed original research papers mapping distributions and changes over time, defining the role of shellfish as nursery habitat, regions of high biodiversity, and their influence the nutrient transfer between sediments and seawater. He has made a significant contribution to our understanding of key environmental issues associated with fishing impacts and land-coast interactions, and has worked with conservation and resource management in New Zealand, Italy, Finland, USA and Netherlands, and offered advice and assistance to many community groups. He has a very effective network of colleagues within New Zealand and well established and productive relations with resource management agencies such as Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council, Department of Conservation and Ministry of Primary Industries. 

Simon obtained a BSc (Hons) from the University of Otago, New Zealand and a PhD from the University of East Anglia, England. Simon has over 25 years of experience in the development, management and successful implementation of strategic multidisciplinary research to influence resource management and improve societal valuation of marine ecosystems. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, recipient of a Marie Curie Fellowship (EU), an Erasmus Mundas Scholarship in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (EU), a Walter and Andree de Nottbeck Foundation Senior Research Fellowship (Finland), and a New Zealand Marine Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award. Simon has trained and mentored many graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and early career scientists, has contributed to over 180 publications in the peer reviewed scientific literature and 100 consultancy reports, and enjoys extensive international collaboration with colleagues in USA, Canada, Britain, Norway, Finland, Spain, Netherlands and Italy.