Dr. Steve Swearer

Biography

Stephen completed a Bachelor of Science with honors in Aquatic Biology at Brown University in 1991. He worked for a year as a research assistant at Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. He then returned to university to pursue doctoral studies under the supervision of Professor Robert Warner at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was awarded his PhD in March 2001 for his dissertation on “Self-recruitment in Coral Reef Fish Populations.” Stephen joined the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne in January 2001, where he ran the Research Ecology Evolution Fishes (REEF) lab, and was promoted to full professor in 2014. He served as Director of the National Centre for Coasts and Climate from 2016 to 2023. In February 2024, he joined the University of Western Australia as the inaugural Jock Clough Marine Foundation Oceans Chair. His roles include being a member of the Research Leadership Group at the Oceans Institute and co-leading the Living Shorelines Australia initiative. His research interests include fish and fisheries ecology, early life history, dispersal and movement ecology, habitat restoration, and nature-based coastal protection.

Research Interests

Experience