Emma Handley

Emma commenced her PhD in September 2025 as part of Project Halo, joining a collaborative research team between UNSW and the University of the South Pacific to pilot two large-scale nature-based solutions in Fiji. Her research focuses on integrating mangroves into maritime infrastructure, with the aim of ensuring their long-term survival and optimised growth conditions.

Through her research on physiological stress responses and tolerance thresholds in key mangrove species, Emma aims to inform infrastructure design and broader-scale restoration practices to support the sustained provision of mangrove ecosystem services, including improved water quality, biodiversity support and wave attenuation. 

Emma holds a Bachelor of Marine Science from Macquarie University, where she was awarded a New Colombo Plan Scholarship to undertake the Tropical Biology and Marine Conservation Program at Udayana University in Indonesia. She later completed a Master of Sustainability at the University of Sydney.

Since 2021, Emma has worked as an Environmental Scientist in the private sector, specialising in contaminated land management for legacy industrial sites and major infrastructure projects across Australia and New Zealand.