Rate My Professor Teresa Konlechner

Dr. Teresa Konlechner holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (BAppSc) and a PhD from the University of Otago, where she serves as Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography. Her research lies at the interface of geomorphology and ecology, focusing on the dynamics of vegetated coastal environments shaped by erosion, sediment transport, and deposition processes. She examines the impacts of climate change and human activities on coastal systems, including sand dunes, wetlands, and coral atoll islands, and develops nature-based solutions such as living shorelines to mitigate hazards, enhance ecosystem health, and support sustainable conservation and management. Konlechner employs field studies, remote sensing, and eco-geomorphic assessments to investigate natural and anthropogenic influences on coastal morphology. Current projects include assessing terrestrial vegetation's contribution to atoll island accretion in the Maldives with Professor Paul Kench (National University of Singapore) and Associate Professor Mike Hilton (University of Otago); nature-based coastal protection solutions in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Morris and Professor Steve Swearer (University of Melbourne and Western Australia); and strategies for managing and restoring dune systems with the Department of Conservation and Professor Sarah Wakes (University of Otago).

In her teaching role, Konlechner delivers courses such as ENVI 311 Understanding Environmental Issues, ENVI 312 Interdisciplinary Aspects of Climate Change, GEOG 201 Field Research Methods, GEOG 301 Field Research Studies, and GEOG 397 Environmental Management: Policy and Practice. She supervises postgraduate students, serving as primary supervisor for MSc theses by Rose Somerville on the decline of pīkao/pīngao in coastal Otago and Jimmy Daamen on foredune response to wave erosion, and co-supervisor for PhD research by Ralph Roob (University of Melbourne) on artificial shellfish reefs for coastal hazards. Completed supervisions include theses by Niall Quinn (2023, PGDipSc), Jinjuan Gao (2022, PhD, Melbourne), Marita McGuirk (2022, PhD, Melbourne), Zhenni Jiang (2018, MSc, Melbourne), and Jack Solomon (2017, BScHons). Key publications encompass 'From grey to green: Efficacy of eco-engineering solutions for nature-based coastal defence' (Morris et al., Global Change Biology, 2018), 'Coastal dune mobility over the past century: A global review' (Gao, Kennedy & Konlechner, Progress in Physical Geography, 2020), 'Mapping spatial variability in shoreline change hotspots from satellite data' (Konlechner et al., Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 2020), 'A national scale coastal change dataset for Aotearoa New Zealand' (Tuck et al., Data in Brief, 2024), and 'Current extent and future opportunities for living shorelines in Australia' (Morris et al., Science of the Total Environment, 2024).