Rate My Professor Will Pinfold

Will Pinfold serves as the Marine Field Operations Technician and Research Vessel Crew in the Department of Marine Science at the University of Otago. Located in Portobello Marine Laboratory, room 301, he supports the department's research and teaching by managing fieldwork operations, research vessels such as Polaris II, diving activities, field planning, and oceanographic equipment provision. His technical expertise enables marine scientists and students to conduct studies in coastal and offshore environments around Otago Harbour, Fiordland, and Stewart Island.

Pinfold earned his Master of Science degree from the University of Otago, with a thesis focused on quantifying the invasive seaweed Undaria pinnatifida using underwater videography. The project developed methods for efficient biomass calculation in seaweed assemblages via underwater filming setups for transects, overcoming freediving limitations, and examined Undaria invasion levels and regeneration of native species and Undaria after harvest in Otago sites. He received the New Zealand Coastal Society Masters Scholarship in 2019 for this research. In his current role, Pinfold has provided essential field support for multiple peer-reviewed studies, including chemical cues from predatory fish suppressing kelp settlement published in Scientific Reports in 2025, bottlenose dolphin occupancy and range in Fiordland in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems in 2025, shifts in species composition in kelp forest communities in Marine Ecology Progress Series in 2024, skeletal carbonate mineralogy of the New Zealand sand dollar in Biogeochemistry in 2025, and translocation of blackfoot pāua in a customary fishery. His contributions facilitate data collection in challenging underwater conditions, supporting the department's work on marine biological, chemical, and physical processes since its establishment in 1992.