Our People

Having worked in marine science for over 20 years, I have a keen interest in the impacts of climate change on our oceans, and how we can mitigate further impacts. I have worked as a plankton analyst at the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey and looked at changes in the base of the food chain. I have helped to set up the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership, developed new quality control systems for the identification of plankton and epibiota with the North Atlantic Marine Biological Analytical Quality Control scheme, and looked at the impacts of plastic pollution. In my current role I provide support for the Ocean Biomolecular Observation Network (OBON) UN Decade programme, overseen by the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO). OBON aspires to increase our understanding of the oceans by looking at biomolecules, such as DNA, and will bring together scientists from all over the world to generate an image of how stressors such as pollution, climate change and human impacts have an impact on our marine and human environment.

I am a marine biogeochemist and the co-ordinator of the Pacific Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey. My research covers a range of topics from the marine carbonate system to ocean plastics. I have worked closely with the CPR dataset since my undergraduate project at Swansea University where I analysed changes in copepod abundance and distribution across the North Atlantic. My PhD was based at the University of East Anglia where I investigated how the activity and abundance of plankton may influence the variability of carbon dioxide flux in the North Atlantic. This work led to the development of a method for estimating Net Community Production (NCP) using volunteer ships of opportunity and oxygen optodes and piqued my interest in instrument development and sampling enhancements for the CPR. I have been involved in numerous syntheses reports and working groups, covering topics such as the operationalization of ecological indicators for European marine policy, ocean warming, and ocean acidification. I am an active member in the UK Pelagic Habitat Expert Group, the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON), Gulf Watch Alaska and The North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES).

I am the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Laboratory Manager, responsible for managing the analysts’ workloads, ensuring that the programme runs smoothly. I am also a member of the analysis team and have gained considerable taxonomic experience, analysing both CPR and non CPR plankton samples from the Arctic, North Sea, Irish Sea, North Atlantic, Southern Ocean and Pacific. Since 2020, I have taken on the role of Technical Secretary for the NE Atlantic Marine Biological Analytical Quality Control (NMBAQC) Scheme, developed to provide a source of external quality assurance for organisations and laboratories engaged in producing marine biological data. I have gained considerable experience of organising and hosting several international taxonomic workshops and was previously part of the silk production team, producing pairs of high quality silks for the CPR to capture plankton.

I am Senior Plankton Analyst for the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey. Having worked for the organisation as a Plankton Analyst since 2002, I have a wealth of experience in phytoplankton and zooplankton identification from around the world. My taxonomic expertise is regularly used to teach plankton identification to a wide range of learners, from complete beginners to other research scientists.  I am co-author on a plankton guide to the North Atlantic and, in collaboration with the NE Atlantic Marine Biological Analytical Quality Control Scheme (NMBAQC), I am lead developer of an international zooplankton quality assurance scheme. Never one to miss an opportunity to spread my passion for plankton, I give regular talks and interviews on the importance of plankton.