Rate My Professor Stephanie Waller

Waller's research focuses on evolutionary virology, encompassing the surveillance of avian influenza viruses, crustacean viruses, and broader virosphere exploration in wild birds, subantarctic territories, offshore islands, cockles, and spiny lobsters. Her work employs genomics and metatranscriptomics to assess viral transmission dynamics, diversity, and pandemic risks, contributing to preparedness for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Aotearoa New Zealand. Key publications include "Avian Influenza Virus Surveillance Across New Zealand Wild Birds" (2025, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses), "A Novel Crustavirus as a Candidate Aetiology of Tail Fan Necrosis Disease in Spiny Lobsters" (2025), "Rapid GeneXpert surveillance of influenza A virus in Aotearoa New Zealand" (2026, bioRxiv), "Longitudinal sampling of New Zealand cockles (Austrovenus stutchburyi) reveals high diversity of crustacean-infecting viruses," and co-authorship in the "Consensus statement from the first RdRp Summit" (2024, Frontiers in Virology). She has presented seminars such as "Exploring New Zealand's Virosphere" (2024), "Microbiology seminar on metatranscriptomic survey of wild birds" (2025), and public talks on "Genomics to the Rescue: Preparing Aotearoa for highly pathogenic avian influenza" (2025) at events like Thirst for Knowledge and Rotary Club of Mosgiel. Awards include the D.G. Catcheside Prize 2025 for top Australasian doctoral student in genetics (Genetics Society of Australasia), first place in the poster section at the 2023 Biomedical Sciences Postgraduate Symposium, and a Genetics Otago Student Poster Award (2023), along with travel scholarships for conferences like AVS11.