OUR TEAM
We are a multidisciplinary group of researchers currently based within the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society of London. We strive to be an inclusive, supportive and productive working environment, focussing on the professional and personal development of our staff and students. If you are interested in joining the group or collaborating with us, please see our contact us page.
Dr David Curnick
Head of OPL
David has a PhD in marine ecology from University College London and is a Fellow of the Bertarelli Programme in Marine Science. His research seeks to understand the impact of anthropogenic actions on the behaviour and distribution of marine predators and assess the subsequent implications for ecosystem health and management effectiveness. He aims to conduct innovative and impactful research through a multi-disciplinary approach including the application of telemetry tagging, remote sensing, chemical tracers and fisheries analyses. He is a strong advocate of stakeholder engagement and strives to ensure that his research translates into management and policy action.
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Dr Claire Collins
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Claire Collins is a post-doctoral researcher based at ZSL and the University of Exeter, having recently completed her PhD on social dimensions of illegal fisheries in the Indian Ocean. Her research seeks to understand human dimensions of conservation problems, with a key focus on behavioural reactions to management and policy. Claire's research frequently combines understanding from different social science methods, with a focus on informal, participatory approaches to generate understanding. Key current research interests include understanding drivers of spatial footprint of fisheries and using a value-chain approach to understand incentives for trade in endangered species.
Dr Rosie Williams
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Rosie has a PhD from Brunel University and specialises in ecotoxicology. Her research seeks to understand the impacts of exposure to chemical pollution on marine apex predators. Rosie currently works in collaboration with the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) to assess the health of UK cetacean populations using information collected as part of post-mortem investigations on stranded animals. Rosie uses these data to assess the ecotoxicological status of cetaceans in several ways including: assessing the spatiotemporal trends of pollutant burdens; investigating relationships between burdens and indices of health (e.g., immune and reproductive system suppression) and assessing toxicity and risk in relation to other anthropogenic stressors. Rosie hopes that her work can be used to ensure remediation and mitigation policies are adequate to protect UK marine apex predators from chemical pollution.
Nick Dunn
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Nick has a PhD from Imperial College London and is based as the Institute of Zoology, ZSL. He is interested in using environmental DNA (eDNA) to monitor biodiversity in marine ecosystems and focuses on developing methods for the detection and monitoring of shark and ray species. Nick uses both multi-species eDNA metabarcoding and species-specific quantitative PCR approaches to investigate elasmobranch diversity in the Chagos Archipelago Marine Protected Area, Indian Ocean and is also working closely with Angel Shark Project:Wales to investigate the presence of the critically endangered Angelshark in UK waters. Nick has a particular interest in determining how the survey design and the molecular methods used can impact the detection of rare and elusive species such as sharks and is currently working on using particle tracking methods to predict the movement of eDNA particles in the ocean.
Jason Lynch
PhD Student
Jason is a PhD Student on the London NERC DTP and in collaboration with University College London. Jason is contributing to the Biome Health Project where he is investigating the impact of human pressure on coral reef health across the Great Sea Reef in Fiji. In collaboration with WWF-UK, WWF-Pacific and the University of the South Pacific, Jason is quantifying fish communities, benthic habitat structure and complexity using stereo-video diver surveys and photogrammetry, respectively. These are interwoven with a governance analysis creating an interdisciplinary project that hopes to aid local management of coral reef fisheries.
Ben Williams
PhD Student
Ben is a PhD student with University College London, ZSL and the University of Bristol and funded by the Fisheries Society of the British Isles. His key research interests are focused on the conservation and restoration of coral reef habitats. Much of his work to date has focused on supporting these efforts through advancing the field of passive acoustic monitoring with new recording technology and machine learning. His interests have grown to understanding the response of reef assemblages and their functioning to human interventions, especially restorative measures. His current work forms parts of the Biome Health Project and Mars Global initiative, who have established the world’s largest network of active reef restoration projects with the aim to restore degraded reef habitats and their fish communities.
Francesca Mason
Postgraduate Research Assistant
Francesca (Chessie) is a post-graduate research assistant based at the Institute of Zoology, ZSL for Project SIARC (Sharks Inspiring Action and Research with Communities) in Wales. Her current role looks to assist with data analysis work packages using fisheries data collected from current, historical and fisher-integrated research efforts to address critical knowledge gaps in the ecology of elasmobranchs in Wales. Chessie has an MRes from Cardiff University where her research investigated ecotoxicology of elasmobranchs and their parasites. She has a particular interest in science communication and developing working collaborations between fishing communities and researchers.
Alumni
Melissa Duflot
MRes Student
2022
Determining the thresholds for detecting elasmobranchs using environmental DNA
University College London
Hannah Lintott
MSc Student
2022
Investigating the impact of recreational fishing on lutjanid species in Diego Garcia, Chagos Archipelago, with implications for management
Royal Veterinary College
Grace Horberry
MSc StudentÂ
2020
The effect of seabird nutrient subsidies on the spatial ecology of reef sharks in the British Indian Ocean Territory Marine Protected Area
University of Edinburgh
Hannah Green
MSc Student
2020
Quantifying the ecological impact of a recreational fishery around a remote tropical atoll
Imperial College London
Emma Deeks
MRes Student
2020
An analysis on the effectiveness of the BIOT MPA enforcement vessel in overlapping with endangered elasmobranch species
Imperial College London
Jonathan Greenslade
MSc Student
2019
Visual versus stereo-video based fish community assessment methods on the Great Sea Reef, Fiji
Imperial College London
Collaborative Network
Dominic Andradi-Brown
WWF-US
Jonathan Barber
Cefas
Barbara Block
Stanford University
Taylor Chapple
Oregon State University
Mariel ten Doeschate
University of Glasgow
Sebastian Hennige
University of Edinburgh
David Jacoby
University of Lancaster
Heather Koldewey
ZSL
Ronan Roche
Bangor University
Steve Simpson
University of Bristol
Brett Taylor
University of Guam
Ruth Williams
Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Samantha Andrzejaczek
Stanford University
Joanna Barker
ZSL
Andrew Brownlow
University of Glasgow
Nick Davison
University of Glasgow
Francesco Ferretti
Virginia Tech
Phil Hosegood
University of Plymouth
Kate Jones
University College London
Tim Lucas
University of Leicester
Melita Samoilys
CORDIO East Africa
Brian Smith
Natural History Museum
Sam Weber
University of Exeter
Mike Williamson
Kings College London / ZSL
Andrew Baillie
Natural History Museum
James Barnet
Cornwall Marine Pathology Team
Chris Carbone
ZSL
Rob Deaville
ZSL
Tristan Guttridge
Saving The Blue
Nigel Hussey
University of Windsor
Peter Jones
University College London
Matt Perkins
ZSL
Vincent Savolainen
Imperial College London
Simon Spiro
ZSL
Mat Westfield
Marine Environmental Monitoring
Chris Yesson
ZSL