Rate My Professor Jemina Stuart-Smith

Dr Jemina Stuart-Smith is a research fellow at the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), part of the College of Sciences and Engineering. She obtained her BSc with Honours in 2002 and a PhD in Zoology in 2007 from the University of Tasmania. Since graduating with her doctorate, she has held various appointments within the university, including as project coordinator for Redmap Australia, a continent-scale citizen science program monitoring marine biodiversity and species range shifts in response to climate change. In her present role, she leads the IMAS threatened species and ecosystems team and the red handfish conservation project, having previously chaired the National Handfish Recovery Team in collaboration with CSIRO.

Jemina Stuart-Smith's research specializations include marine conservation ecology, recovery of threatened species, biodiversity monitoring, habitat restoration, and the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. Her work has been pivotal in conserving the critically endangered red handfish (Thymichthys politus), one of the world's rarest marine fishes, through initiatives such as captive breeding, head-start programs, wild releases, population viability assessments, and eDNA-based detection methods. She has produced 34 peer-reviewed publications with over 2,000 citations. Key publications comprise "Population parameters and conservation implications for one of the world's rarest marine fishes, the red handfish (Thymichthys politus)" (2024), "Conservation challenges for the most threatened family of marine bony fishes (handfishes, Brachionichthyidae)" (2020), "A risk assessment for one of the world's rarest marine fishes" (2022), "Using eDNA and SCUBA surveys for detection and monitoring of a threatened marine cryptic fish" (2023), "Macroalgae and mobile reef invertebrates face high extinction risk" (2025), and "Continental-Scale Assessment of Climate-Driven Marine Species Range Extensions Using a Decade of Citizen Science Data" (2025). Stuart-Smith lectures on marine conservation and restoration ecology, contributes to national programs like the National Environmental Science Programme Marine Biodiversity Hub, and promotes community engagement in science. She was awarded the 2024 Winston Churchill Fellowship (Tasmania) to investigate rewilding strategies for species facing extinction and is recognized as a National Geographic Explorer, influencing policy and advancing threatened species management.