Despite numerous efforts to reduce waste, construction industry produces large amounts of waste creating adverse environmental and economical impact. In New Zealand, 50% of landfill waste is from the construction industry. New Zealand uses different material, technologies and processes in construction compared to most countries, therefore our understanding on methods to accurately quantify waste generated in construction projects in New Zealand is limited. In this project, I am collaborating with Dr Niluka Domingo to model waste management data and develop a tool that predicts the amount of waste from residential buildings in New Zealand. The findings will provide insights on waste management strategies and areas that can be improved to reduce the waste generated in construction projects in New Zealand.

Like birds, dolphins are also known to depend on sound to communicate, forage and navigate. However, our understanding on vocalisation and behaviour in marine mammals is limited. Further geographic isolation can lead to having different dialects between populations. In this project, my PhD colleague Jessica Patiño Pérez at SNCS, Massey University investigates vocalisations and social network across two populations of bottlenose dolphins in New Zealand. In my current role, I am collaborating with Jessica to analyse acoustic data to understand how features such as frequency and inflection points in dolphin whistles differ between populations. This study will have a great impact on conservation strategies for endangered marine species.