Katherine Dafforn is Co-Director of the Stone Living Lab and Distinguished Professor of Coastal Resilience at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s School for the Environment.
As an environmental scientist, Dafforn is an international leader in coastal ecology, working towards the remediation and restoration of coastal habitats worldwide. She leads global research to understand the increasing footprint of coastal and offshore built structures that are degrading marine habitats, while working on ways to reverse the problem.
Dafforn co-founded the award-winning Living Seawalls project that creates habitat on coastal defense structures. Thousands of habitat panels using her designs have been installed on seawalls and other built structures around the world. The panels mimic the habitat features of natural shorelines and encourage native habitat-forming species to counter the adverse effects of built structures. She has worked extensively with partners from local, state and federal government as well as private industry, not-for-profit organizations and community groups.
Over the course of her career, Dafforn has produced more than 100 peer-reviewed publications; secured more than $15 million in total grant funding; and mentored more than 40 graduate students. She received the inaugural “Emerging Leader in Marine Science” award from the Australian Marine Science Association and her project Living Seawalls has
received national and international recognition including nomination for the Earthshot Prize in 2021.
Dafforn received her Bachelor of Science (Honors and University Medal) in marine biology and spatial information systems and her PhD in biological sciences from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. She joins UMB and SLL from her current role in the School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University.