Dr Lachlan Phillips

Lachlan is a postdoctoral researcher with CSIRO’s AquaWatch mission. His research is focused on applying artificial intelligence to improve coastal modelling capabilities and water quality forecasting. Lachlan draws on his experience in ecology and ocean dynamics to develo novel approaches to AI development. His current projects include developing neural networks to predict future river outflows; and pairing hydrodynamic, biogeochemical and optical models to simulate satellite products for AI pre-training.

In 2023, Lachlan received his PhD from Macquarie University with his thesis “Resolving the impact of the intensifying East Australian Current (EAC) southern extension: from physics to predators” in which he investigated how intensification of the EAC is driving changes in a coastal pelagic ecosystem in one of the fastest warming regions in the southern hemisphere. The project involved extensive field work where spend three months each year on Montague Island (Baranguba) deploying biologging devices on penguins and conducting boat based pelagic surveys.