I knew I was a water baby since my childhood summer holidays spent along the Devon coastline. Coming from a family of keen anglers and divers I knew I was likely to follow in their footsteps. I studied Marine Biology (BScHons) at Liverpool and went on to pursue Wild Animal Biology (MSc) at The Royal Veterinary College and Zoology Society of London, where I explored my interest in wildlife management and disease surveillance. Over this time, I worked alongside Zoo pathologists, London Zoo keepers, trainers and ZSL wildlife health researchers – exploring the different avenues available to budding zoologists. After finishing my degrees in the UK, I took the leap and accepted a job in South Africa. Hoping to increase my experience in managing real life research projects, but in actual fact, it was the adventure and travel aspect that really drew me in. Over  next three years with Oceans Research I managed their marine research internship, trained students in practical field based skills whilst also rapidly developed my own leadership and project management skills. 

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Over that time, I developed my interest in marine mammal stranding response. Building on my experiences working for BDMLR and the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Program (CSIP), I became a team member of the Mossel Bay Marine Stranding Network. To date I have responded to over 20 dolphin and whale strandings, coordinating everything from large whale euthanasia to in field cetacean sampling. 

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Continuing my interests in marine mammal ecology and conservation, I am currently working with endangered humpback dolphins here in Cape Town, South Africa. I am part of the team using bioacoustic methods to develop new monitoring tools to better understand these threatened populations. This work forms part of my PhD at Stellenbosch University and is in collaboration with Sea Search Research and Conservation and The SouSA Consortium. 

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Research teams/projects

• Team member of SWORD (Signature Whistle occurrence, recapture and density) 

• Core member of The Sousa Consortium 

• Humpback Whale Supergroups Research Assistant November 2019/20

• False Bay Orca project (April - May 2021) 

• ORI White Shark tagging team member (August 2019)

• Mossel Bay Marine Mammal Stranding Network Team Member

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See below for my film '356 Days - My year in the Field' to see a taster of my work across southern Africa (2019-2020)

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