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Team Details
Steve
Simpson
is a Research Fellow interested in the behaviour and
population dynamics of coral reef fishes. His work has focussed on reefs and fisheries in the Caribbean,
Australia, East Africa, and over the past four years, Oman. Steve
is a BSAC Dive Leader and Open Water Instructor with over
540 logged dives.
Steve plans to use population genetics as a new and exciting way to study
the influence of behaviour on dispersal.
Mark
Priest,
affectionately known as ‘Sparky’, completed his BSc in Biology at the
University of York in 2003. He has
just returned from a year long stint in Madagascar, where his time was spent
teaching conservation to volunteers and English to the Malagasy people. He has a
penchant for anything aquatic, vintage guitars and vanilla slices.
Oman offers Mark the perfect chance to escape the impending task of
writing up a years worth of field data.
Elisabeth
Rochel
Elisabeth
is an undergraduate student studying Genetics with Serges Planes in Perpignon.
Caroline
Simpson has over five years of experience in
communications and has worked as a consultant for clients in the UK and abroad.
She has considerable expertise in the professional services sector and
has delivered quality projects in FMCG. With
first-class writing and excellent client communication skills, Caroline has
spent the last few years regularly writing, editing and project managing global
publications for a variety of private and public sector clients.
Along with a first-class degree in English Literature from the University
of Liverpool, Caroline has an MA from the University of Manchester. She
is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Ed
Sykes
is a final year PhD student and Open Water diving instructor.
He has experience of previous
science expeditions in Indonesia and Sri Lanka that include diving to gather
data. One aspect of his PhD has
required using DNA from parasitoid wasps to determine their population
structure. This expedition will
enable him to gain invaluable experience needed to secure a postdoctoral
position.
Tabi Innocent
- Or
is she?
Matt
Robinson
is a third year PhD student conducting research within the areas of quantitative
genetics and ecology. The
opportunity to conduct novel research and gain practical experience in a new
system will compliment the analytical skills gained during his PhD. Previous field work has included research on butterflies,
malaria in a natural system, Soay sheep as well as survey work for the Marine
Conservation Society and
the Forestry Commission. A
Dive Leader and Assistant Instructor, he has
conducted over 500 dives in varying
conditions.
Juan
Carlos Ruiz Guajardo, or ‘JC’, is a third year PhD student working on the
ecology and evolution of animal-plant interactions and their implications for
structuring communities. As a
biologist, he has taken part in several other expeditions working with a range
of organisms from the Jaguar (Panthera
onca) in Central American rainforests, to endemic cave-dwelling insects in
the Mountains of North America, passing through savannahs in Africa and coral
reefs in Mexico. He is a certified
Open Water scuba diver with a keen interest in marine conservation and ecology. This
expedition will allow him to gain important skills that undoubtedly will help
him to expand his horizons as a biologist and perhaps to apply for a
postdoctoral position working with marine organisms in the future.
Tom
Reed is a
third year PhD
student at the University of Edinburgh studying the evolutionary ecology of
seabirds. His field research takes
him to the wilds of a remote Scottish island famous for its seabirds and grey
seal population. He
has previously worked on coral reefs as part of a large scientific expedition in
Honduras, which included regular diving to collect data and has field ecology
experience in tropical forests in Africa and Costa Rica.
The
expedition to Oman is a fantastic opportunity for Tom to gain experience
conducting fieldwork in a novel (i.e. warm) and challenging environment and to
try his hand at working with an altogether different class of organism (i.e. one
that doesn’t snap at, or defecate on, you).
Dan
Bayley
recently
graduated from Edinburgh with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences
(Ecology). He is a PADI Divemaster
and has previous experience of coral reef and fish research expeditions in
Madagascar, Indonesia and Honduras. These
projects included training in Indo-Pacific, Indian and Caribbean tropical fish
and coral species identification, Reef Check, and baseline surveying techniques.
He has also worked on a game
conservancy in South Africa. Dan
hopes to gain valuable further experience of scientific fieldwork techniques and
methods before starting a marine ecology masters degree next year.
Mike
Parker is a fourth year Geology student with a keen interest in the under water
world. He is an experienced diver
with two summers spent working as a Divemaster in Malaysia. With experience of previous excursions in his field he looks
to forward to working in a different scientific area.
Ruth
Elphinstone is a fourth year Veterinary student and a BSAC Sports Diver. She
has recently intercalated and completed a BSc in Preclinical Veterinary Science,
which has given her valuable experience in creating and managing experiments. Ruth has an interest in the welfare and life histories of
exotic animals including fish and this expedition will help link her research
interests and a veterinary career.
Ian
Stewart
Ian graduated with an Ecological Science degree this year, and is a PADI
Advanced Open Water diver. He
gained experience of tropical marine science expeditions in Indonesia whilst
undertaking his dissertation project "Fish community structures on reef
flat coral bommies". Whilst
predominantly a snorkel-based project, some data collection was performed while
SCUBA diving. The expedition to
Oman will hone his project planning skills, enhance his understanding of fish
population dynamics, and further strengthen his chances of undertaking a PhD.
He is currently working for the Forestry Commission.
Emma
Burnett has just graduated in Ecology from the University of
Edinburgh, and is now studying for a Masters in Sustainable Environmental
Management at Plymouth.
She has dive training to the level of PADI Advanced Open Water and has
previous experience of diving and coral reef ecology from a previous expedition
in Indonesia. Whilst at Edinburgh, Emma took part in lots of voluntary activities
including working with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, the Marine
Conservation Society and the Forth Estuary Forum. She is interested in
marine ecology and hopes to gain more experience in this area.
Hugo
Harrison graduated in
Biological Sciences (Genetics) from the University of Edinburgh this summer. He
spent the summer in Perpignon, France, developing
microsatellite markers for the analysis of population structure in A.
omanensis. He hopes to continue using genetics tools to study
connectivity in marine population and has applied for a Masters program at James
Cook University, Australia. Project
NEMO has already provided Hugo with a valuable insight on organising expeditions
and he feels confident that participation will give him the necessary skills for
future field work.
Clare
Nisbet graduated this summer with a degree in Zoology
and Management. She has previous
experience of fund raising for various charity events and a conservation
expedition to Borneo, where she helped plant rainforest canopy trees. She
is currently training to become a BSAC Sports Diver with the University Sub Aqua
Club.
Rachel
Colville
recently graduated from Biological Sciences (Evolutionary Biology)
and hopes to study Medicine. She
has previously taken part in expeditions to Morocco (trekking) and Kenya
(teaching), but is excited about taking part in a research-based project. She gained a PADI Rescue Diver qualification in Thailand in
2006. Project NEMO would provide an
ideal opportunity to combine scientific research with diving abroad.
Harriet
Salomonsen
Harriet is a fourth year Zoology student with a BSAC Sports Diver
qualification. She has had previous
expedition experience in Malaysia and the Arctic; the latter involved ringing
barnacle- and pink-footed geese, gathering data required for migratory
population studies. The expedition
will provide her with greater experience in a field she wishes to pursue in the
future.
Adam
Kiploks is a fourth year Zoology student. He
is a BSAC Ocean Diver who is training for Sports Diver. As
Adam is looking to go into postgraduate study, this trip to Oman will provide
him with knowledge and experience that will be important in the future.
Aidan
Hulbert is a fourth year student studying Biological Sciences with honours in
Evolutionary Biology. He is
interested in marine biology and is keen to gain scientific experience that will
help him in postgraduate studies. He
has worked in a laboratory under GLP and GMP conditions and hopes to gain new
experience obtaining experimental data in the field. He is very enthusiastic about the rich variety of marine life
that will be encountered during the expedition.
Vicky
Robinson
is a fourth year vet student who intercalated last year in Preclinical Vet
Sciences. She is working towards
BSAC Sports Diver and is Social Secretary of Edinburgh University Sub-Aqua club.
She has a variety of work
experience, including time in Ghana spent in a vet practice and at Accra Zoo,
which provided a fantastic opportunity to understand more about conservation and
its importance in the changing world. This expedition provides a fantastic
opportunity to become involved in important scientific research.
Catriona
Ferguson is
currently in her fourth year of veterinary medicine. She
has also completed a BSc in Preclinical Veterinary Medicine, which gave her
valuable experience in planning and carrying out research projects. She
is an active member of Edinburgh University Sub Aqua Club and is currently the
Expeditions Officer for the club. Catriona
has worked in Greece for the Sea Turtle Conservation charity, Archelon, where
she helped with research and informing tourists and locals about the charity. Participating in the NEMO Expedition will allow her to develop
her research skills and gain more experience of diving in warm water.
Steve
Czuprynski,
also known as ‘Shakey’, is a
third year student at the University of Edinburgh studying a Mechanical
Engineering degree in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering.
He has been diving for over five years and is a qualified Dive Leader.
Steve is looking forward to working and living in foreign country,
although he will miss the occasional haggis supper and the cold water diving
Scotland has to offer.
Fraser
Niven is
currently in his final year reading towards an honours degree in evolutionary
biology. This expedition will enable him to experience the diversity of
reef life that he finds fascinating and provides
an excellent opportunity to partake for the first time in a qualified scientific
study. He was a key player in the
fundraising events, organising five highly successful nights at a local student
club.
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