Rate My Professor Chris Hepburn

Hepburn's projects include supplying ecological information for community-based management of coastal fisheries via Te Tiaki Mahinga Kai, developing restoration strategies for depleted stocks such as pāua using local aquaculture facilities, integrating macroalgae cultivation to lessen environmental impacts, assessing ocean acidification through ecosystem experiments, exploring factors influencing macroalgal productivity like light and nutrients, investigating the invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida's physiology and effects on native assemblages, and examining nitrogen recycling from epifauna to macroalgae. He has supervised over a dozen postgraduate students, with current candidates researching bioactives in Undaria pinnatifida, waste valorization using black soldier flies, Undaria biomass distribution, and ecophysiology of Asparagopsis armata; completed theses cover kelp forest restoration, pāua enhancement, microbial phosphorus cycling, and giant kelp vulnerability. Select publications are Bennett-Jones et al. (2025) 'Integration of Indigenous practices into fisheries legislation: Obstacles and opportunities for the maramataka (Māori lunar calendar)' in Marine Policy; Ryder et al. (2025) 'Re-assessment of a blackfoot abalone (Haliotis iris) population in Peraki Bay, New Zealand, after 45 years' in New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research; and Cornwall et al. (2025) 'Predicting the impacts of climate change on New Zealand’s seaweed-based ecosystems' in New Zealand Journal of Botany. He teaches MARI 112 Global Marine Systems, coordinates AQFI 301 Field Methods for Assessment of Fisheries and Aquatic Habitats, and leads AQFI 421 Advanced Aquaculture and Fisheries. Promoted to Professor in 2022, Hepburn previously received a Division of Sciences Community Engagement Award in 2016 and recognition as a top supervisor in 2013.