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Associate Professor Stephanie Godfrey serves in the Department of Zoology within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Biodiversity and Conservation from Flinders University obtained in 2004 and a PhD. Godfrey commenced her position as Lecturer in the Department of Zoology in February 2017 and advanced to Associate Professor. Her academic interests center on the influence of host behaviour, encompassing social structure and behavioural variation, on parasite and disease ecology. She examines the structuring of contact patterns in wildlife populations and their responses to perturbations, the effects of conservation management activities on host-parasite communities including the conservation of unique parasites, and reptilian host-parasite ecology alongside social behaviour and organisation. Her expertise extends to wildlife disease ecology, host-parasite ecology, behavioural ecology, social behaviour of wildlife, reptiles and lizards, Australian marsupials, wildlife conservation, and animal social networks.
Godfrey contributes to teaching in the Ecology Degree Programme and Zoology courses, including ECOL212 Ecological Applications, ZOOL313 Animal Function and Environment, ZOOL316 Biological Data Analysis and Computing, ZOOL415 Parasitology, ZOOL422 Advanced Topics in Animal Behaviour, and ZOOL495 Masters Thesis Preparation. Key publications include Hyde, E., Godfrey, S. S., & Borkin, K. M. (2026). How low temperatures affect long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) and lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) activity, central North Island, New Zealand in New Zealand Journal of Zoology; Ruru, T. T., Godfrey, S. S., & Young, M. J. (2025). Incidental distribution and activity of the flightless Campbell Island teal (Anas nesiotis) on Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku, New Zealand in Notornis; Derne, B. T., Godfrey, S. S., et al. (2025). Mixing in moderation: Slow transmission of non-local macroparasites following a population augmentation of an endangered Australian skink in Molecular Ecology; Albery, G. F. et al. including Godfrey, S. S. (2025). Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems in Nature Ecology & Evolution; and Hoffbeck, C. et al. including Godfrey, S. (2025). Differences in establishment of host and parasite after one decade among four simultaneous translocations of a long-lived reptile in Austral Ecology. Her research profile on Google Scholar records 3354 citations, reflecting substantial influence in ecology, social networks, parasitology, and behavioural ecology. She is an editor at PeerJ.
University of Otago researchers use miniature trackers on Hochstetter's frogs to map movements up to 17m, aiding conservation amid predators and habitat loss.
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