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Marine biologist

I studied for my PhD at Cambridge University investigating the lives and loves of a...

 
Marine biologist
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I studied for my PhD at Cambridge University investigating the lives and loves of a fish called the Napoleon wrasse or humphead wrasse, a rare & endangered coral reef giant. I’m now a marine science consultant specialising in the international wildlife trade, marine habitat protection and biodiversity assessment.

My studies and research have taken me around the world to Malaysian Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Belize, and Australia.

For the past 10 years (with my PhD somewhere in the middle) I’ve worked for various conservation groups including WWF, IUCN, TRAFFIC, and Natural England. My…

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Writer

I write about the oceans, the natural world, and science in general in an assortment...

 
Writer
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I write about the oceans, the natural world, and science in general in an assortment of traditional and contemporary media spanning books, blogs, websites and magazines.

My first book is about seahorses (Poseidon’s Steed, the story of seahorses from myth to reality. Penguin books). I wrote it because I wanted to dig into the strange fascination people have with these little animals – after all, seahorses are just fish.  I wanted to explain how and why male seahorses get pregnant (and no, that doesn’t make them female. Read my book to find out…

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Diver

I’m a scuba diver and free diver. I try and get myself beneath the waves...

 
Diver
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I’m a scuba diver and free diver. I try and get myself beneath the waves whenever I can.

I learned to dive in England (my first dive was at Stony Cove in March, in a 7mm semi dry suit… and even that wasn’t enough to put me off the whole thing), spent 2 years sploshing around the chilly waters of my home island before heading off to find out what tropical diving was all about.

Since then I trained in Australia as a PADI Divemaster and explored cold and warm waters around the world…

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Broadcaster

I am an independent radio presenter and producer. You’ll hear me regularly on BBC Radio...

 
Broadcaster
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I am an independent radio presenter and producer.

You’ll hear me regularly on BBC Radio 4, answering listeners’ questions on Home Planet and chasing after endangered wildlife on Saving Species. I also make my debut this year in comedy radio (which was terrifying but a lot of fun) as a panelist on the Museum of Curiosity.

I’m a member of the award-winning science collective known as the Naked Scientists, based out of Cambridge University. In 2010, I hijacked the radio show and sailed off into the wide blue yonder to launch Naked Oceans, a…

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Speaker

Whenever I get the chance I love to get up on stage to give talks,...

 
Speaker
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Whenever I get the chance I love to get up on stage to give talks, lectures, and presentations on a variety of ocean and science topics for audiences ranging from children to academics to childish academics. Do please get in touch if you have an event you’d like me to speak at.

Past talks & lectures:

Frontline Club, London. Festival of the Spoken Nerd, London. Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida. Cambridge Science Festival. Royal Geographical Society, Monday night lecture. Cambridge University Alumni tour of Madagascar: assistant guest lecturer.

For all at last returns to the sea – to Oceanus, the ocean river, like the everflowing stream of time, the beginning and the end.

— Rachel Carson

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It’s always our self we find in the sea.

— E.E. Cummings

Why do we love the sea?  It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.

— Robert Henri

When one tugs at a single thing in nature he finds it attached to the rest of the world.

— John Muir

What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams.

— Werner Hertzog

Latest Blog Entries

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Remembering a day at the beach

2012 began for me with a long, rainy drive back home (after a week of...

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New Year what-next pondering

A few days before the end of 2011, the BBC broadcast my last appearance on...

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May your bicycles have mistletoe

Last year I didn’t make any christmas cards. I can’t remember why exactly but I assume...