Dr Lavers is a Research Scientist at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. She is a marine eco-toxicologist with expertise in tropical and temperate seabird ecology, plastic pollution (marine debris), invasive species management, and fisheries by-catch. She supervises a large number of graduate students in Australia and abroad working on a diverse array of projects.
Before joining the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Dr Lavers worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on remote islands in Hawaii, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (London), and completed her first post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Tasmania (Quantitative Marine Science program).
Jennifer's research aligns to the University's research theme of Marine, Antarctic and Maritime. Her research interests include understanding how marine apex predators, such as seabirds, can act as sentinels of ocean health, and translating this knowledge into outreach programs (e.g., art-science linkages) that engage the broader public in science and conservation. Jennifer's research, and that of her students, primarily focuses on plastic, heavy metals, POPs, and radionuclides as pollutants of aquatic ecosystems.
