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.

My teaching interests are around topics in marine ecology, biological statistics and experimental design.

1.   Jessica Allen (2023 – 2027) – Scaling-up Urban Nature-based Solutions: Turning Climate Challenges into Opportunities for Humans and Nature. DoS – Firth, CoS – Knights. Funding – UoP-UCC Doctoral Partnership.

2.   Laura Bachmaier (2023 – 2029) – Reconfiguring seascapes in the Anthropocene: Assessing how connectivity pathways maintain biodiversity. DoS – Knights, CoS – Firth, Bilton and Howell. Funding – Universof Plymouth Doctoral Teaching Associate (DTA) Programme.

3.   Thomas Wright (2023-2027) – Assessing the distribution of biodiversity across seascapes using ecological networks. DoS - Knights, CoS – Firth, Bilton and Howell. Funding – ARIES DTP.

4.   Corryn Knapp (2025-2029) - Investigating abiotic and biotic drivers of intertidal communities on coastal infrastructure. DoS - Firth, CoS – Knights. Funding – Irish Research Council (IRC)/Research Ireland

5. Lily Nobles (2026-2030) - Predicting the spatial arrangement of marine biodiversity using machine learning: A primer for marine spatial planning in the 21st Century. DoS – Knights, CoS – Firth, Reed. Funding – Research Ireland.

1. Dr Anaëlle Lemasson (2015 - 2017) – Ocean acidification and warming impacts on native and non-native shellfish: A multi-disciplinary assessment. DoS - Knights, CoS - Hall-Spencer, Moate, Fletcher

2. Dr Xiaoyu Fang (2015 – 2019) - Identifying the role of past and current benthos activities for estuarine ecosystem functioning. DoS - Moens, CoS - Knights, van Colen and Soetart 

3. Dr Molly James (2017-2021) – Mechanisms of vertical movement in meroplankton: A primer of dispersal. DoS - Knights, CoS - Polton, Nimmo-Smith, Howell

4. Dr Javier Cuetos-Bueno (2019-2021) - Drivers and dynamics of commercial coral-reef fisheries footprint expansions and implications for stocks, ecosystems, and societies. DoS - Knights

5. Dr Charlotte Clubley (2020-2024) – Environmental filtering in the Anthropocene: investigating community assembly processes at multiple scales. DoS - Knights, CoS - Bilton, Firth

6. Philip Langlois (2023-2025) – ResM: Sustainable whelk fishing – A model for Jersey. Master (Research). DoS - Knights

7. Dr Bruno Salonen (2022-2026) – Disentangling the influence of environmental filtering on range edge dynamics of marine invertebrates in a rapidly changing ocean. DoS - Knights, CoS - Bilton, Firth

8. Ana Ferreira Coelho (2023-2026) – Functional implications of hard coral - soft coral shifts on reef fish communities. Master (Research). DoS - Reverter, CoS – Knights 

9. Dr Franz Bauer (2022 – 2026) – Untangling the roles of dispersal, environmental and biotic filters, in the structuring of marine communities on artificial sea defences. DoS – Firth, CoS – Knights, Griffin, Brown, Foggo, Hanley. Funding – ARIES DTP.

Current Grants:

• Parnell, O'Dwyer et al. (2025-2037). Decarb-AI: Climate Change and Machine Learning. €5.7m. Research Ireland/Innovate for Ireland.
• Airoldi, Firth, Knights, et al. (2025-2028). Modular design of functional, biodiverse, and visually-appealing multi-use foreshore hybrid infrastructure (Blueshores). €3.5m. Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership/Horizon.
• Rist, Knights, Ronalli, Hansen and Baun (2024-2027) Life-cycle effects of PFAS on mussel devlopment - towards realistic predictions of pollution impacts on populations (FLAME). €800k. Villum Young Investigator Grant, Denmark.
• Firth, Chan, Peterson, Rodriquez, Kopke and Knights (2024) Living Seawalls in Cork. €60k. HEREG.
• Knights, Bilton, Howell and Firth (2024-2028) Reconfiguring seascapes in the Anthropocene: Assessing how connectivity pathways maintain biodiversity. €110k. NERC, ARIES Doctoral Training Programme.
• Firth, Hanley & Knights (2023) Scaling-up nature-based solutions: Turning climate challenges into opportunties for humans and nature. €110k. UoP-UCC Doctoral Training Partnership.

Selected Recent Grants:

• Knights (2023) INSITE Synthesis 2. €55k. INSITE/NERC.
• Somerfield and Knights (2022) INSITE Synthesis. €299k. NERC, UK (NE/W009889/1)
• Knights, Schratzberger and Somerfield (2020-2023) DREAMS - Decommissioning: Relative effects of alternative management strategies. £700k. NERC, UK (NE/T010835/1)
• Howell et al. (2018-2021) One Ocean Hub. £1.4m. UKRI/GCRF.
• Attrill et al. (2018-2021) Conservation strategies for biodiversity hotspots and safe havens in a changing climate: Oceanographic drivers of ecosystem variability in the Chagos Archipelago. £922k. Garfield-Weston Foundation/Bertarelli Foundation.