Professor Andrew Baird is a coral reef ecologist with an adjunct Professorial position at James Cook University, Australia. He has published widely on many aspects of coral reef ecology including coral conservation and management.

His current research focus is coral biogeography and systematics, and he leads the international multidisciplinary Project Phoenix which has the aim of developing a robust taxonomy for the Scleractinia (coralprojectphoenix.org). Professor Andrew Baird was initially trained as a coral taxonomist by Carden Wallace in the late 1990s and has since been a major contributor to the molecular revolution in coral taxonomy. He is therefore well placed to manage the transition from the traditional taxonomy to a robust taxonomy based on a quantitative and integrated approach. The roles of Professor Andrew Baird in the project will be to:

• Advise on species of interest
• Provide access to the type material for the relevant coral species
• Assist in species identification
• Assist in the write up of research papers in international journals.