Profile

Leaving college I had no idea what I wanted to do – so I worked for a year saving up money to travel. I spent a year in Thailand where I worked as a scuba dive instructor. This is where I fell in love with marine conservation and eventually headed home to pursue a career in it. I was never exceptional at school always did the minimum to get good enough grades (I am also terrible at spelling which you may see in my profile!)….however when you find that one thing you’re passionate about, you’ll find a work ethic you never knew you had! I worked tirelessly at university, gaining as much experience as possible to make a career in marine conservation work. I have spent time in Cambodia and Vietnam conserving seagrass meadows and coral reefs – however where I found my real passion is sustainable fishing and aquaculture. I never thought I would go into social science (which my PhD is in now), however understanding how to feed the world in a sustainable way which allows equitable development worldwide is one of the biggest questions facing the world today. Human rights abuses are common in fisheries and aquaculture, and understanding how to stamp this out is a real passion of mine.

Away from work I have always played football and supported my beloved Leicester City FC. I also enjoy snorkelling, kayaking and anything else on the water.

I conduct interviews with many different people involved in fish farming to understand how workers are treated, and how big companies relate to local communities. Aquaculture takes up space, restricts local peoples access to the sea and in some cases has a record of poor treatment of workers. My work aims to understand how to make the industry more sustainable, and how we can assess each farm to ensure they are socially sustainable.

Average workday:

Check emails

Check ‘undercurrent news’ for latest aquaculture news

Write some of the research project, highlighting the latest research in my areas

Online interview with local communities or aquaculture workers

LUNCH!!

Plan visits to either Scottish salmon farms or Honduran Shrimp farms

Analyse interview and write up notes

Compare interview responses to previous ones

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