Rate My Professor Will Rayment

Will Rayment is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marine Science within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. He holds a BA from the University of Oxford, an MSc from University College London, and a PhD from the University of Otago, earned in 2008 with a thesis titled 'Distribution and ranging of Hector's dolphins: implications for protected area design'. His career at Otago includes roles as undergraduate coordinator and fourth-year coordinator in the Department of Marine Science.

Rayment's research specializations encompass the ecology and conservation biology of cetaceans, capture-recapture methods and analyses, species-habitat relationships, and the efficacy of Marine Protected Areas and MPA networks. Additional interests include marine mammal ecology, marine species distribution, and marine conservation. He participates in the Coastal People: Southern Skies collaboration. For his outstanding supervision of postgraduate students, Rayment was awarded the University of Otago OUSA Supervisor of the Year in 2015, including the Sciences Division award, and served as a finalist for the Sciences Division Supervisor of the Year in a later period.

Rayment has produced a substantial body of peer-reviewed publications advancing knowledge in marine mammal ecology. Key contributions include 'Kernel density estimates of alongshore home range of Hector's dolphins at Banks Peninsula, New Zealand' (2009), 'First evidence that marine protected areas can work for marine mammals' (2012), 'Trialling an automated passive acoustic detector (T-POD) with Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori)' (2009), and 'Fine-scale habitat use of foraging sperm whales is driven by prey availability in a submarine canyon' (2022). Recent works feature 'Characterizing the distribution and behavior of sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, over the Otago submarine canyons, New Zealand' (2026), 'Multi-event modeling of Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) fecundity using four decades of monitoring: Implications for current management of bycatch' (2026), 'Passive acoustic monitoring reveals new insights into the acoustic occurrence and foraging activity of Hector's dolphins in Porpoise Bay, New Zealand' (2026), and 'Migratory species strongly affect seabird biomass in seasonal assemblages off northeast Aotearoa/New Zealand' (2026). His research informs conservation strategies for endangered cetaceans in New Zealand waters.