About PRIMER-e

A boutique research and software development company

Contact us

Tel: +64 (9) 869-2230

E-mail: primer@primer-e.com

Thousands of scientists worldwide trust PRIMER with their hard-won data.

With PRIMER you know that your tools are backed by the academic excellence of some of the most highly-cited applied statisticians of our times.

PRIMER-E Limited was founded by Professor K. Robert Clarke and Ray N. Gorley, as “Plymouth Routines in Multivariate Ecological Research,” a spin-out enterprise of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) in the UK. PRIMER software and methods are now well-established in research laboratories, public and private institutions in over 132 countries worldwide.

In August 2016, PRIMER-e transferred its business activities to Quest Research Limited in Auckland, New Zealand, where it continues apace in the true spirit of its founders (who remain as trusted advisors), under the directorship of Professor Marti J. Anderson (New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study (NZIAS), Massey University).

Our mission is to empower researchers to make the most of their data by providing statistical software and training workshops backed by academic excellence, novelty, agility and ease-of-use.

Meet the Team

Paul J. Somerfield
1963 – 2023

It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our friend and close colleague, Professor Paul Somerfield, who died of cancer on 31 July 2023.
Paul led PRIMER workshops for decades, both in the UK and internationally, enabling hundreds of scientists to draw insights from their multivariate data. Paul was a terrific instructor and a beacon of light, with a marvellous sense of humour. He was instrumental in the development of new multivariate methods for ecology and provided amazing support to PRIMER software end-users globally. He contributed statistical expertise towards fundamental achievements across an incredibly broad range of scientific fields. He left an amazing legacy. He will be missed by all who knew him, as a great scientist, teacher, mentor, husband, father, and friend. You can read more about Paul’s wonderful life, career and contributions on the PML website HERE.

Marti J. Anderson
Director

Dr Marti J. Anderson is the Director of PRIMER-e (Quest Research Limited), a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an Honorary Research Associate at the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study (NZIAS) at Massey University in Auckland. Her core research is in community ecology, biodiversity, multivariate analysis, models of ecological count data, experimental design and resampling methods, with a special focus on creating novel applied statistics for ecology. Marti developed all of the methods in PERMANOVA+ and combines her love of research with creative entrepreneurial exuberance as the new driving force behind PRIMER-e.

Lyn Shave
Company Administrator

Lyn provides the heart and soul of PRIMER-e on a day-to-day basis in its new-found home in New Zealand. With a background in English Language and Cultural Studies and harbouring a genuine love of (and interest in) people, Lyn not only provides all practical and logistic imperatives required for the smooth operation of the PRIMER-e business, she also enthusiastically embraces a vast number of daily international communications with PRIMER-e’s thousands of customers.  Motto: “Everything is awesome!”

Dale Euinton
Lead Software Engineer

Dale received a Bachelor of Business Studies and a Bachelor of Mathematics from Massey University which he then followed up with a Postgraduate Diploma of Computer Science. After spending a few years working in small businesses, Dale has moved into the role of Software Engineer at PRIMER-e which nicely combines the various elements of his background. Dale combines logic and creativity to bring fresh perspectives to PRIMER-e’s software development team. He excels at brainstorming new ideas, working diligently to develop new versions of our software that will push the boundaries of modern tools for computer-intensive statistical analysis and graphical solutions.

Sarah Brien
Customer Service & Sales Administrator

With a background in the adult education sector in both teaching and administration, Sarah provides friendly and helpful sales, accounting and database support. Her bright eye for detail ensures that PRIMER-e’s databases are kept in tip-top shape, and that all your queries are met with a timely, organised and cheerful reply. Sarah is of Cook Island Maori and NZ European descent and is respectful of all languages, cultures and heritages. As a caring mother of three, she understands the need for flexibility and team-work to achieve goals, as well as the importance of pure kindness and courtesy in meeting peoples’ needs.

Nurudeen Adegoke
Research Associate in Statistics

Nurudeen is a Research Associate in Statistics at PRIMER-e with interests in multivariate analysis, industrial and environmental monitoring using control charts, and general applied statistics. Nurudeen is a highly capable mathematical statistician, having graduated as the top student from the famous Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) in Nigeria. He completed his PhD in Statistics at Massey University, New Zealand. A key member of our research team, Nurudeen creates synergies between classical statistical approaches and modern computer-intensive techniques, developing novel methods which open doors to the future.

Adam N. H. Smith
Workshop Presenter

Adam obtained his PhD from Massey University (MU) in Auckland, New Zealand and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Statistics at MU. Adam specialises in the application of modern statistical methods to ecology and management, including fisheries and marine reserve assessment. Adam has a wealth of multi-disciplinary experience and lectures across a wide range of areas, including data mining, quantitative ecology and biostatistics. He has been a key consultant to industry and government, having worked as an in-house statistician for the Department of Conservation (DoC) and the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Sciences (NIWA) in New Zealand. Adam is an enthusiastic and engaging lecturer with a passion for natural environments and for teaching and learning.

Juan J Cruz-Motta
Workshop Presenter

JJ is a quantitative ecologist with applied interests in environmental impact and management, often acting as an expert consultant to regional and federal government agencies. JJ’s research focuses especially on the ecology of benthic rocky reef assemblages and fishes associated with coral reefs. He completed his PhD at the University of Sydney, Australia, and has lectured in experimental design, ecology and biostatistics at the Universidad Simon Bolivar (Caracas, Venezuela). He is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and Executive Director of the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute (CCRI). Since 2010, together with Dr Edlin Guerra-Castro, he has organised and presented a suite of PRIMER and PERMANOVA+ workshops in Spanish for hundreds of participants from Central and South America.

Edlin Guerra Castro
Workshop Presenter

Edlin is a marine biologist with research interests in quantitative community ecology, exploring patterns and processes affecting the biodiversity of marine coastal ecosystems. He has lectured in ecology and biostatistics at the Universidad de Oriente (Venezuela) and currently holds the position of Young Researcher for the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Since 2010, together with Dr J.J. Cruz-Motta, he has organized and presented a suite of PRIMER and PERMANOVA+ workshops in Spanish for hundreds of participants from Central and South America.

Victor Quintino
Workshop Presenter

Victor completed his PhD in Biological Oceanography in 1988 at the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, France. He is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Aveiro, Department of Biology, in Portugal. He specialises in the ecology of coastal and estuarine macro-benthic communities and their responses to natural and anthropogenic factors, integrating environmental, biological and eco-toxicological descriptors in bioassessments. Victor lectures topics in experimental design and the analysis of multivariate biological data to post-graduate students and has been using PRIMER software as a teaching tool for over 20 years. He has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed papers and is currently Editor-in-Chief for Marine Pollution Bulletin and Associate Editor for Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science.

Dr Maite Mascaró
Workshop Presenter

Maite is a marine biologist with special interests in the eco-physiology and behaviour of species key to conservation, aquaculture and fisheries. Her research focuses on adaptive responses to variation in temperature and dissolved oxygen at different temporal scales, with special emphasis on octopuses and seahorses. She completed a PhD at Bangor University, UK in 1998, and since then has lectured in experimental design and data analysis in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM) where she is a full-time professor. For the past ten years, Maite has been engaged in a project to enhance statistics education for students with poor mathematical backgrounds through computational programming (using R code) and collaborative classroom activities. Maite brings a wealth of pedagogical knowledge, enthusiasm and expertise into PRIMER / PERMANOVA+ workshops, presented in Portuguese.

Dr Arden Miller
Research Associate and Strategist

Arden completed a Ph.D in Statistics at the University of Waterloo in Canada in 1992. He has almost 30 years of experience as an academic with the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests are focussed on the design and analysis of experiments. Arden creates web-based resources and contributes to key strategic developments at PRIMER-e for research, company administration & software development.

Dr Paulo Mateus Martins
Research Fellow

Paulo earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, an MSc, and a PhD from the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco in Brazil. During his PhD, Paulo received a scholarship to conduct part of his research as a visiting student at the University of Otago in New Zealand, where he worked on research exploring global drivers of alpha and beta diversity in parasites. Paulo is passionate about science, ecology, coding and the discovery of broad-scale patterns of biodiversity. As part of the PRIMER-e research team, he is currently using new modelling tools to characterise the responses of species to climate change along broad-scale environmental and spatial gradients.