Rachel Cooper

I am an exchange student spending the third year of my undergraduate degree at the University of Queensland. I study Biodiversity and Conservation at my home University, University College London in the UK, so I’m enjoying the opportunity to explore the amazing wildlife Australia has to offer! Since being here I have become particularly interested in the marine side of conservation so started volunteering at MSEL in 2023 with Dr Tania Kenyon and Karen Eigeland, helping out on their coral rubble restoration work. My work involves estimating coral percentage cover from rubble photos taken at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef and counting coral babies on collected coral rubble pieces under the microscope. This will be important to further understand the process of rubble stabilisation so we can try to recover reefs more effectively after disturbances. I’m happy to be contributing to the great efforts being made to save this crucial ecosystem.