I hold an MSc in Physics (University of Dortmund, Germany) and a PhD in Geophysics (University of British Columbia, Canada). I have worked in industry (as a private environmental consultant and starting up JASCO Applied Sciences Australia as Director), in government (underwater noise research and regulation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada), and in academia (Director of the Centre for Marine Science and Technology [CMST], Australia). As CMST is an external collaborative research centre of Curtin University, all of my projects are done in partnership with industry or government, providing applied science solutions in the realm of underwater acoustics. My research interests are underwater sound (biotic, abiotic, anthropogenic) generation and propagation, passive acoustic monitoring, hearing and sound usage in animals, and noise effects on marine fauna. I have (co-)supervised 19 Ph.D., 3 M.Sc., and 7 Honours students in underwater bioacoustics. I’m a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America. I have served as Chair of the Animal Bioacoustics Technical Committee of the Acoustical Society of America (2015–2018), as Chair of the international conference series on the Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life (2013–2019), as the Australian Government representative on the International Standardization Organization (ISO) working group on standardising underwater noise measurement (2010–2016), as a German Ministry for the Environment committee member for environmental impact assessments under the Antarctic Treaty (2015–2021), as Board member of the International Commission for Acoustics (2022–2025), and as the German and Australian representative on the underwater noise committee of the International Seabed Authority (2023–2025).