Michael is driven to work in areas of fisheries sustainability, species conservation, and policy development. Through his position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Conservation and Fisheries, Michael uses his expertise in fisheries, conservation, and social science to bridge the gap between robust science and local knowledge, and centres his research on either improving policy protections for threatened species or increasing our knowledge base about threatened species. Most of Michael’s research has been conducted in the Indo-Pacific, where he co-leads major conservation and policy projects with local partners in Papua New Guinea and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). His specific interests include conservation of non-marine elasmobranchs, pursuing management of the international trade in fish maws, development of vulnerability assessment frameworks, advancing our knowledge on best practices for ageing sharks and rays, and exploring applications of elemental and isotopic characterisation of shark and ray hard parts to inform life history and ecology. Alongside his research, Michael is additionally an active member of the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group, where he served as an editor for the Global Status of Sharks, Rays, and Chimaeras report published in 2024, and is part of the core team currently leading reassessment of all shark and ray species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species over the 2025–2029 period. Michael is also passionate about teaching. Through James Cook University, Michael supervises Honours, Masters, and PhD students and has taught into the National University of Vanuatu’s environmental sciences program, coordinating and delivering subjects on Introduction to Sustainability, Natural Resource Management, Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management, and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.