Kate is a South African citizen who completed her undergraduate, honours and masters degrees in South Africa between the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University in Grahamstown. Her post graduate studies focussed on Fisheries Science and Oceanography.

After the completion of her masters, Kate worked as a marine environmental consultant in Cape Town for six years where she gained valuable experience in environmental assessments, monitoring and reporting in the Ports and Harbours, Oil and Gas and Coastal Development sectors.

She aims to apply the eco-engineering principles developed during her PhD to these industries in the future ensuring a reduction in the environmental and socio-economic impacts of these industries.

Kate is a PhD student in the Biological Sciences department at Macquarie University. As part of Melanie Bishop's Benthic Ecology lab, she is interested in developing effective eco-engineering solutions for marine infrastructure.  This process, also referred to as green engineering, attempts to increase the ecological value of anthropogenic structures in the marine environment. Kate's current work focusses on the greening of seawalls and encourages the development of abundant and diverse intertidal communities that are able to provide the ecosystem goods and services lost through traditional coastal armouring methods.