Welcome to our research group website! I am an ecologist with a background and active research career in the marine environment. I mostly work on reef formers, organisms that build structures that influence the surrounding environment.
I started the lab in 2009 when I was an early career academic at the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University in the United Kingdom. My initial vision was to fuse my interests of ecology and oceanography with a life long passion for technology and computing.
I graduated from my PhD back in 2004, where I worked on the interaction between a common intertidal grazer and the long-lived brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum. I used GIS and remote sensing tools to help understand how the dynamics of this interaction changed over several decades, building in experimental and observational work to help support my search for these drivers. Once I completed, I moved to the Scottish Association for Marine Science as a post-doctoral researcher where I was exposed to cold-water corals and from there I continued to develop my career, culminating in where we are today.
What made you decide to go into marine science?
I think I am very lucky to have had all the opportunities that I have had to date, and I can trace back my route to when I was looking at colleges after finishing high school. I really had no clue about what I wanted to do and marine biology seemed interesting as I was always interested in how ecological and biological processes worked.
What is the focus of your research/work? What do you think is the most important takeaway from your research?
The one thing that ties together all the different aspects of our group is the word “reef”. Everything else revolves around that, why do we build technology? To study reefs. Why do we work with remotely sensed or GIS data? To study reefs. I see reefs as an interesting ecological and physical conundrum, many individuals working together to create habitat, competing against one another whilst facilitating space, complexity and resources for others. It is a truly amazing and dynamic ecosystem to study.
What is the coolest thing you’ve done through your work?
Cool is all relative. I like fixing things and figuring out problems. So generally, that makes me feel cool when I can solve something that has been bugging someone for a while.
What is one fun fact about you?
I like to mow my lawn on the weekend.
If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
Teleportation, as I hate traveling.
I am a profoundly deaf cochlear implant user, fully oral and also a BSL user. In recent years, I have acted as a deaf role model for the National Deaf Children’s Society, and volunteer on many events with the NDCS during the year. I am also on the Welsh NDCS Advisory Committee.