Daniel Hampton, a Marine Biology Masters graduate from the University of Southampton, was awarded the MBA Student Travel Bursary earlier this year to travel to Sri Lanka for the Sharks International 2026 conference.
Held once every four years, the conference hosted by Blue Resources Trust brought together around 800 attendees from more than 80 countries and provided an outstanding opportunity to engage with experts in global shark, ray and chimaera research and conservation.
Throughout the week, Daniel attended talks and workshops covering fisheries science, genetics, emerging technologies, conservation and community-based approaches to elasmobranch management.
Highlights for Daniel included participating in two pre-conference workshops. The first, led by Blue Resources Trust, focused on fisheries landings surveys at Negombo Fish Market, where they learned practical sampling and data collection techniques.
The second workshop, ‘Techniques & Technologies for Marine Ecology and Shark Research’, introduced new approaches including computer vision tools, pelagic shark tagging and low-cost non-invasive tracking methods.
Daniel said: “One of my biggest takeaways from the conference was the importance of working collaboratively with coastal communities and fishers in shark conservation.”
A particularly meaningful moment for Daniel was meeting Dr Alifa Haque in person. Four years earlier Daniel had read Dr Haque’s article on fisheries landings in Bangladesh in The Marine Biologist Magazine. “It was so special meeting her in person and the full circle moment given I was only able to attend the conference due to the MBA funding!” he said.
Following the conference, Daniel also visited the Blue Resources Trust research station, assisting with fisheries landings surveys and deep-sea shark and chimaera sample preparation.
Daniel, who has been an MBA Member for over six years has been conducting his Masters research on cryptobenthic fish – the tiny, hidden bottom dwelling fish that live in coral reefs. One of the benefits of MBA Membership for the marine biologists of the future is exclusive access to this valuable financial support.
Since graduating from the University of Southampton, he has been working as a Coastal Explorer Intern at Adonis Blue Environmental Consultants and the Crown Estate.
Daniel is also working with Sharks of Kent, a project which connects with recreational anglers to tag small shark species around the Kentish coastline to investigate their abundance, distribution and movement.
He is also on another project investigating the provisioning (feeding) rates of Sandwich terns and the predation rates on sandwich tern chicks by herring gulls in Rye Harbour Nature Reserve in Sussex.
Daniel thanked the MBA for the opportunity: “I am extremely grateful to the MBA for supporting my attendance through a student travel bursary and helping me access new skills, knowledge and networks as an aspiring shark ecologist. One of the benefits of attending the conference also gave me the connections/skills for my current role!”
To find out more and sign-up as a MBA Member, click here.
The MBA Student Travel Bursaries Programme offers financial support to Student and Postgraduate Members, by way of bursaries to aid attendance at conferences, workshops and networking events.
Applications are now open. For more information and to apply online, please visit the Student Travel Bursaries webpage.
