Dr Nick Graham tackles large-scale ecological and social-ecological coral reef issues under the overarching themes of climate change, human use and resilience.

He has worked extensively on the ecological ramifications of fishing and closed area management. He assessed the long-term impacts of climate induced coral bleaching on coral reef fish assemblages, fisheries and ecosystem stability.

He studies the patterns and processes by which degraded coral reefs recover, and how this can be incorporated into, or influenced by, management action. Increasingly, he works with social scientists and economists to assess methods of linking social-ecological systems for natural resource assessment and management.