Meet the 2019 Ocean Talks Speakers

Dr Mark Spalding

Senior Marine Scientist, The Nature Conservancy and Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Doctor Mark Spalding is a Senior Marine Scientist for The Nature Conservancy and is leading a series of projects to model and map the value of nature to people. At the same time, Dr Spalding has a fellowship at the University of Cambridge and is the Chief Science Advisor to the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration.

In each of these roles, and for more than 30 years, Dr Spalding has sought to improve our understanding of marine ecosystems. Among over 100 publications, are 8 books which describe the worlds of coral reefs, mangrove forests, protected areas and marine conservation. Dr Spalding has an unparalleled understanding of our reliance on the sea; of the many threats to marine life; and of the opportunities to turn things around. This big-picture vision is also grounded in a real-world understanding: Dr Spalding has undertaken marine research and expeditions in many remote ocean settings. For him the connection between large scales and real places is essential – field-scientists often fail to see the bigger pictures, while the makers of maps, models and theories, grounded in universities, can be very clever, but they can also be wrong.

Oliver Steeds

Founder, Chief Executive & Mission Director, Nekton

Oliver Steeds is the Founder, Chief Executive and Mission Director of Nekton Oxford Deep Ocean Research Institute (Nekton), dedicated to the exploration and conservation of the deep ocean. He is a leading explorer, submersible pilot, and a critically acclaimed, former broadcast journalist with NBC, ABC, Discovery Channel and Channel 4. Nekton’s current Mission First Descent 2019-2022 is operating in the Indian Ocean, the least explored and least protected ocean. Oliver is also the Co-founder of the educational non-profit, Encounter EDU and the Ocean’s Academy.

Professor Andrew Brierley

Professor of Marine Biology, University of St Andrews

Professor Andrew Brierley is a Professor of Marine Biology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, where he leads the Pelagic Ecology Research Group. His research focusses on ecosystem processes in the pelagic – the watercolumn, away from the sea bed – and addresses questions to do with spatial and temporal patchiness, and how predators interact with prey in the vastness of the open ocean.

Professor Brierley has ongoing research projects in the Arctic, Antarctic and tropics. He is a UK delegate to the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) Fisheries Acoustics Science and Technology Working Group, a UK representative on the International Arctic Science Committee’s Marine Working Group, and a member of the UK delegation to the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee.

Professor Brierley convened the Third International Symposium on Krill in 2017, and in 2018 proposed to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) a Krill Action Group, which was adopted. His most recent research is using scientific echosounders to sample fish in the ocean’s ‘twilight zone’ (the mesopelagic; depth range 200 to 1,000m). There may be 1,000 Million Tonnes of fish there (the present total global commercial fish catch is about 100 MT) and it is vital that we develop a good understanding of this little-known ecosystem before commercial fishing develops.

Erika Gress

Marine Ecologist

Erika Gress has close to 7 years of research and conservation experience with her current focus being on mesophotic reefs (30 – 150m depth reefs) and black corals. She recently led a book review chapter on Mesoamerican mesophotic reefs for the ‘Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems, Coral Reefs of the World’, a Springer book. Additionally, she holds some experience working in the deep-sea (>200m depth)on invasive lionfish.

In recognition of her early career commitment to marine conservation, she was awarded the ‘Marine Conservation Leadership Award 2018’ by Fauna and Flora International and the Marsh Trust. Her work on mesophotic reefs and black corals spans different areas in the Mesoamerican Reef, Madagascar and Indonesia. Erika seeks to follow up this year with her work achieved in Mexico and plans to conduct research in the Indonesian reefs for consecutive years.

Dr Dominic Andradi-Brown

Marine Scientist, World Wildlife Fund

Doctor Dominic Andradi-Brown is a Marine Scientist at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), where he works on the monitoring and evaluation of marine conservation projects. He works closely with WWF teams and other partners in Indonesia, Fiji, and Mexico to incorporate best-practice science to inform marine protected areas.

Dr Andradi-Brown completed his PhD in the Ocean Research and Conservation Group at the University of Oxford, researching fish ecology on mesophotic coral reefs (reefs 30-150m depth). During his PhD, he worked as part of a team supporting the inclusion of these deep reefs into reef management plans and conservation actions in Honduras and Mexico. He has over 20 scientific publications, and his previous academic background includes a masters degree and a undergraduate degree in ecology from Imperial College London.

Dr Andradi-Brown is a member of the Reef Conservation UK steering committee, and in the past, has worked for organisations such as the Zoological Society of London and Operation Wallacea.

Dr Rob Hall

Senior Lecturer in Physical Oceanography, University of East Anglia

Doctor Rob Hall is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Oceanography at the Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of East Anglia. He uses autonomous underwater vehicles to measure subsurface ‘internal’ waves in the ocean worldwide, from the shallow seas around the United Kingdom to the deep Southern Ocean. These internal waves, which can be hundreds of metres high, affect the strength of ocean currents and therefore the Earth’s climate. They also impact marine biology by supplying key nutrients from the deep ocean to photosynthesising organisms in the photic zone and resuspending organic material around deep-water coral reefs.

Dr Hall started his training in oceanography as an undergraduate student at the University of Southampton, followed by a PhD in Physical Oceanography at Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory and the University of Liverpool. He then spent three years working as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Hawaii before returning to the United Kingdom to become a lecturer at the University of East Anglia. He now teaches oceanography to students at a range of levels, from first year undergraduates to master’s students, including hands-on experience of ocean measurement during a field course in Scotland.

Bec Atkins

Director of Operations, Manta Trust

Bec Atkins is the Director of Operations for the Manta Trust. She has been working with the Manta Trust since 2011, having joined the Maldivian Manta Ray Project (MMRP), the Manta Trust’s founding project, to conduct a research study as part of her Master’s degree. The study looked at manta tourism, and more specifically, human interactions, behavioural impacts and management implications; this would later be used to help inform a Code of Conduct for manta ray tourism. After completing her MSc, Bec worked in marine conservation as a Researcher and later as a Marine Lead Adviser for Natural England. She remained involved with the Manta Trust as a member of the charity’s Board of Trustees for several years, before taking on the role of Director of Operations in 2016.

As an experienced diver and dive instructor, Bec has always been fascinated by the marine world but her first encounter with manta rays in Western Australia in 2005 had her hooked on these majestic and graceful creatures. As one of six members of the Core Operations team, Bec works to support the Maldivian Manta Ray Project and over twenty other affiliate manta and devil ray research and conservation projects worldwide.

Alexander Flemming

Co-CEO, Greenwich Maritime

Alexander Flemming is currently the Co-CEO for Greenwich Maritime, part of the philanthropic OceanX program, whose mission to explore the ocean and bring it back to the world. With a background engineering and construction, Alexander’s career took him to sea working on various vessels completing several circumnavigations with adventurous owners, until stepping ashore over 25 years ago. He then continued a path of surveying and vessel refit/project management, usually for slightly discerning owners with difficult and complicated projects. This hands-on experience of both the high-end uber luxury work of the super yachting industry mixed with more adventurous global cruising has subsequently allowed Alexander to be uniquely placed with vessel owner’s looking for something a little different, including innovative projects like the Pegaso, a hybrid research vessel/yacht built in Vigo with its 5 PAX diver lockout submersible, and the Alucia which brought us some of the vivid images of giant squid, and the haunting views seen on recent BBC, Blue Planet II.

Tom Hutton

Director of Operations, Cookson Adventures

Tom joined the British Army and over a six year career lead soldiers in multiple combat tours of Afghanistan and overcame complex leadership and logistical challenges. He now applies those skills to his role as Director of Operations at Cookson Adventures, where he’s overseen multi-yacht expeditions to the remote fjords of Patagonia and arguably the most complex private Antarctic expeditions of modern times. He has been at the forefront of pushing the company’s boundaries and has engaged with local authorities to gain access to some of the least visited locations on earth for their guests.

Dr Jessica Wade

Research Associate, Department of Physics, Imperial College London

Dr Jessica Wade is a British physicist and early career researcher in the Blackett Laboratory at Imperial College London. Her research investigates polymerbased light emitting diodes (LEDs). She also carries out public engagement work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), particularly in the promotion of physics to girls. Dr Wade won the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining Robin Perrin Award for Materials Science in 2017, the Institute of Physics Daphne Jackson Medal and Prize in 2018 and was included in Nature’s 10 people who mattered in science in 2018.

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