Description of expertise and work

I support those within the Scottish Marine Institute studying the interactions between marine mammals and marine renewable developments, with particular focus on tidal energy capture devices.

I am funded under MaREE (a collaboration between ERI, Thurso and SAMS) by EU European Regional Development Fund, Scottish Funding Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

My role demands attention to various aspects of the Scottish Marine Institute's capabilities. My experience and qualifications enable me to operate offshore as a Marine Mammal Observer as well as maintain, operate and manage a small survey RIB; organise logistics for survey fieldwork deployment around west coast Scotland; care for and where required fault-find/fix the diverse equipment utilised by the team. When not in the field, I am responsible for maintaining our database of research and commercial data; represent the Ecology department within the running of the Ships Store facility and prepare for the next season of fieldwork.

At the Scottish Marine Institute, I am a member of:

• Marine Renewables Research Theme
• Centre for Smart Observations (Drifting Ears)
• Ecology Department
• Ships store operations team

List of research projects involved in

• MaREE
• Dr Ben Wilson
  
• Dr Steven Benjamins
• Caroline Carter: Underwater acoustic interactions between emerging tidal-energy technologies and marine mammals (Funders: SNH/SEPA)
• Nienke van Geel: Understanding Scottish bottlenose dolphin movement patterns: Can visual and acoustic cues be used to ensure that dolphins and construction of marine renewables don't coincide? (Funders: Harper Lacleod LLP and MASTS)

Education / Career