Back to staff Back to CTCMS Dr Alasdair Edwards Alasdair Edwards joined the University of Newcastle in 1980, two years after finishing his PhD at Cambridge. He has been with the Centre for Tropical Coastal Management Studies since it was established in 1987. He served as Director of the Centre from 1993-96 and is currently the Degree Programme Director for the MSc in Tropical Coastal Management. Currently his research is focused on the evaluation of the uses and relative cost-effectiveness of remote sensing technologies for coastal resources assessment and mapping. Until this work is completed in late 1999, active research in other areas is in abeyance. On the teaching side he has a particular interest in the development of distance-learning materials for remote sensing through the Bilko project of UNESCO. Further details of major research projects and the publications arising from them are available through the links below. Past and current research interests are focused in two main areas and involve a number of collaborative projects in various parts of the world: Biogeography, systematics and ecology of tropical marine fishes Systematics of the dottyback fishes (Pseudochromidae: Pseudoplesiopinae) (with Dr Tony Gill, Natural History Museum, London). Fish and fisheries of Saint Helena Island and nearby seamounts in the South Atlantic. Speciation and genetic divergence of Red Sea fishes from their Indian Ocean relatives. Damselfishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic. Systematics, zoogeography and ecology of Brazilian reef fishes (with Dr Gustavo Nunan, Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro.) Contributions to the science underpinning coastal management Application of remote sensing technologies to the assessement and mapping of coastal resources Rehabilitation of degraded coral reef systems using artificial reef structures (with Dr Susan Clark). Assessing the impacts of aquarium fish collection on reef fish populations. Publications