I studied my undergraduate degree in Oceanography at the University of Southampton, graduating in 2016. Throughout this time, I developed a strong interest in anthropogenic impacts on ocean life, and subsequently gained over 3 years of experience coordinating marine wildlife and energy projects across the UK.

I later undertook my master’s degree in Marine Environmental Protection at Bangor University, graduating in 2020. Here, I studied the relative influence of tidal currents and weather patterns on cetacean presence. This has led to my current research focus, combining my interests in oceanography, marine predator ecology, and environmental impacts of marine energy as part of my PhD research.

My research project aims to examine changes in the distribution and abundance of marine top predators in the North Sea associated with present and future wind farm developments. The project will utilise multiple large-scale datasets that will be assembled and enable the biophysical links between environmental changes and top-predator communities to be investigated; namely, physical processes, fish, and cetaceans/seabirds. The project will also involve the development of species distribution models, which will identify critical habitats for marine predators, and provide a further-developed knowledge base for the growing offshore wind sector in the North Sea.

This project is funded through the INSITE PhD Scholarship Programme.