Asia has been with Project Manta since early 2013. She was brought on board to assist with community engagement and to manage the east coast sighting database. Asia completed her undergraduate studies in 2014, receiving an Honours Class I for her research with Project Manta looking at manta ray feeding aggregations at Lady Elliot Island.
This research was published as an article, Prey Density Threshold and Tidal Influence on Reef Manta Ray Foraging at an Aggregation Site on the Great Barrier Reef, in the open access journal PLoS One early 2016. Asia has just been awarded an APA scholarship with The University of Queensland to pursue her PhD candidature commencing August 2016.
Asia's interests lie in improving our understanding of manta ray critical habitat selection and use, as well as examining the threats facing these animals, with a view to improving their conservation status.