Dr Penelope Ajani
University of Technology Sydney
Senior Research Fellow
Dr Penelope Ajani is a marine biologist who has been actively engaged in the development, conduct and communication of marine science for the past thirty years. She has worked in academia, government and as a private consultant. She has a BSc (Hons) from Melbourne University, a PhD from Macquarie University, and in 2014 was awarded a prestigious Chancellors Research Fellowship at UTS. Prior to her move to academia, she was employed as a Senior Marine Scientist with the NSW government. Dr Ajani has managed and implemented numerous scientific investigations relating to water quality, waste disposal, impacts on marine biota and environmental protection. Her extensive investigations at a long- term coastal station off Sydney now provides Australia with one of the best understandings of ocean phytoplankton patterns at multiple time scales in any coastal area in the Southern Hemisphere. Since 2018, Dr Ajani has been a Research Fellow within the Seafood Safety: Marine Algal Biotoxin Group, Faculty of Science, UTS. Her current work engages novel molecular tools to investigate harmful algal dynamics, evolution and toxin production. She works closely with the shellfish industry to detect and manage water quality issues impacting aquaculture.
