Professor Knights is Head of the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) at UCC. Appointed under the UCC Sustainable Futures programme, Antony is a marine ecologist whose research interests are in understanding how marine ecosystems are structured and function from a biological and anthropogenic perspective. Antony is the Principal Investigator of research on the ecological impacts of anthropogenic activities on the functioning of marine ecosystems funded supported by international funding (i.e. UKRI/NERC, INSITE) to build a scientific evidence base for decision-making and policy development around the decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure. Recent key publications include articles in Nature, Nature Sustainability and the Journal of Environmental Management. He also co-leads the project Blueshores funded by the EU Sustainable Blue Economy Programme (SBEP) aiming to understand how hybrid nature-based solutions can be utilised to enhance resilience and biodiversity on coastlines. Private and industry funding (Deutsche Bank) supports efforts to understand the ecological mechanisms that determine biodiversity of seawall and man-made coastal infrastructure. Collaborations include Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquatic Science (Cefas), Howell Marine Consulting and the University of Plymouth. He provides expert advice to international (UN, OSPAR) and national (Marine Institute, National Parks & Wildlife Service) decision-makers, and sits on the Irish Invasive and Non-Native Species Risk Assessment Panel (INN-RAP). Background Antony completed his BSc. (Hons) in Applied Marine Biology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in 2001. Following this, he completed a Masters at the University of Queensland Australia before obtaining his PhD in 2006 from University College Cork on the population dynamics and sustainability of mussel fisheries.