Profile

I grew up in a village in Somerset, and now live just outside Plymouth with my wife, three kids and army of stick insects. As well as working at the Marine Biological Association in Science Communication and outreach, i also work part time as a professional artist, illustrator and writer.

I can play the ukulele a bit and enjoy zombie films, swimming and anything that involves being in, on or under the sea.

My pronouns are he/him.

Much of my role includes organising, planning and delivering events and outreach activities. This includes a number of regular annual events, such as work experience programmes, BioBlitz events and open laboratory days. I also develop and run citizen science projects such as Crab Watch and Marine invaders. I use a range of skills to schedule, develop and promote these activities safely, effectively and within budget.

I am always looking for new ways to bring people in to the world of marine biological science and share how important and amazing it is.

I love working collaboratively with creative people as well as other scientific disciplines to explore different ways to approach challenges and ways to engage new audiences through events, projects and resources and am particularly excited by the potential for citizen science to increase participation in and support for science.

I must say (and it’s not very glamorous) that I do spend a lot of my day – particularly in covid times- working on a computer, organising and running online events and planning new initiatives for the future. Whilst this was still a big part of my job pre-covid, I would typically spend the equivalent of a day or two of each week (I work 4 days a week currently) running activities and events. These may involve travel, usually around the UK but sometimes further and sometimes early mornings or late evenings and weekends. The types of event might include shore-based surveys, BioBlitz events, training workshops, school visits and activities at community events.