Simon Hills

Ngāti Porou

ORCID 0000-0002-9115-0375
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Research Gate

Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology
In the Wildlife & Ecology Group, Simon teaches into the Ecology and Zoology programmes at Massey University. His primary teaching responsibility is the design, management and delivery of the core first-year Science and Sustainability courses.
Simon has broadly ranging expertise in genomics, ecology and evolutionary biology, which he applies to a diverse range of research topics involving New Zealand’s biodiversity, both native and exotic. His research generally seeks to increase our understanding the composition, distribution and evolutionary history of New Zealand’s unique ecosystems. The rich, and largely endemic, mollusc fauna (snails, slugs, bivalves, chitons, squid, octopus, and a few other weird things) is a key focus.
As a Māori (Ngati Porou) scientist, Simon is increasingly involved in research collaborations with iwi/hapu. These projects generally involve working with Māori communities to build capacity and generate data that will inform enhanced kaitiakitanga.