Principal Investigator
Dr Shovonlal Roy
- Shovon is an Associate Professor in Remote Sensing in Ecosystem Sciences at UoR, and he leads the MarES group.
- He is the Research Division Leader (RDL) for Environmental Science at the University of Reading
- His research interests include dynamical systems theory and ecological modelling; satellite remote sensing and bio-optical algorithms; data assimilation in ecosystem models; modelling and remote sensing of marine plankton carbon and bio-diversity and fish dynamics, fisheries applications.
Doctoral, Post-doctoral and Visiting researchers
Olumayowa (Philip) Taiwo
- Doctoral researcher (2020 – present)
- Project: “Forecasting the influence of climate change on harmful algal growth through biogeochemical modelling“
- Philip is developing an advanced ocean biogeochemical models with explicit representation of toxic and allelopathic phytoplankton, and simulating in 1D their impact on phytoplankton and zooplankton dynamics
- The project is in collaboration with the biogeochemical modelling group at the UK Met Office.
Margarita Phylactou
- Doctoral researcher (2020-2024)
- Project: “Climate change and harmful algal growth using laboratory experiments”
- Margarita developed the lab culture protocol for harmful algae (Alexandrium) under different environmental conditions.
Dr. Mohammad Ashphaq
- Post-doctoral fellow (2023-2024)
- Project: “Tracking food quality at the bottom of marine food webs using machine learning and satellite remote-sensing“
- Funded by: RETF
- Developed an ML model for retrieving phytoplankton absorption at red peak from satellite remote sensing, which will be fully integrated into the ocean-colour retrieval algorithms developed by our group.
Dr. Lekshmi Krishnakumari (2024)
- Visiting Researcher (2024) from Plymouth Marine Lab
- Project: “Satellite-based observations of Carbon in the Ocean: Pools, fluxes and exchanges (SCOPE)“
- Funded by: European Space Agency
- Worked on the work package (WP) involving the development and intercomparison of phytoplankton carbon estimates from ocean colour algorithms.
Roweena Patel
- Doctoral researcher (2018-2022). PhD awarded 2023.
- Project: “Energy transfer in marine ecosystems based on phytoplankton size structure from satellite remote sensing“
- Funded by: NERC-SCENARIO DTP studentship with a CASE funding by Cefas.
- Roweena studied the energy transfer process in marine ecosystem based on phytoplankton size structure from satellite remote sensing, and used stomach analysis of small pelagic fish in the Celtic Sea. More about this project.
Joseph Watson
- Doctoral researcher (2017-2020). PhD awarded 2021.
- Project: “Predicting the numbers and location of seabass for sustainable management”
- Funded by: NERC-SCENARIO DTP studentship, CASE funding by Cefas
- Joe worked on sustainable management of UK commercial and recreational sea bass fisheries. He used modelling techniques to investigate sub-lethal impacts in a recreational fishery and to better understand commercial fishing pressure through fisher behaviour. More about this project.
- After PhD, secured a Permanent Scientist position at Cefas.
Prima Anugerahanti
- Doctoral researcher 2015-2019. PhD awarded 2020.
- Project: “Marine biogeochemical model with explicit representation of phytoplankton functional types.”
- Funded by: International student funded by Bakrie Centre Foundation studentship, Indonesia.
- Prima is a PhD student exploring structural uncertainties in the marine biogeochemical model, especially the interaction between nutrients, phytoplankton, and zooplankton. More about this project.
- After PhD, currently a Permanent Scientist at National Oceanography Centre (NOC)
Robin Boyd
- Doctoral researcher 2015-2019. PhD awarded 2020.
- Project: “Individual-based model of North Sea fish using satellite remote sensing”. More about this project.
- Funded by: NERC-SCENARIO studentship with CASE funding by Cefas.
- Boyd developed an individual-based bioenergetics model of marine fish populations. The model uses satellite remote-sensing data to represent spatial and temporal variation in food availability and temperature.
- After PhD, Boyd secured a Permanent Scientist position at Centre for Ecology and Hydrology(CEH)
Prof Bess Ward
- Academic Visitor (2019) from Princeton University, funded by a Royal Society of London International Exchanges grant
- Project: “Marine autotrophic biodiversity combining ocean colour and molecular genetics“
- Prof Ward facilitated the collaboration between her group at the Department of Geoscience in Princeton and MarES.
Dr. Aldo Barreiro
- Visiting Scientist from CIIMAR, University of Porto during 2014-2015
- Project: “Alleopathic effects on Phytoplankton dynamics“
- Dr Barreiro collaborated on building a mathematical model of interacting phytoplankton, based on experimental data involving allelopathic and non-allelopathic phytoplankton species.
Dr. Martina Ctvrtlikova
- Visiting Scientist from Institute of Hydrobiology, Czech Republic 2015-2016
- Project “Lake water acidification and temperature effects on Aquatic quillworts.”
- Dr Ctvrtlikova studied the effect of acidification and temperature effects on Aquatic quillworts growth using in situ data using statistical methods.
Post-graduate, Undergraduate and Placement students
Georgia Dixon (2024)- Student Placement from Plymouth University. Project: “Processing and analysing satellite remote sensing images for understanding algal bloom and fish movement”.
Cameron Herbison (2023) UROP, Project: “Developing a prototype machine learning model with satellite remote sensing to assess the quality of marine primary producers”
Emily Keenan (BSc 2021-2022), Project: “An evaluation on the impacts Tsunamis events have had upon algae levels within Japan and the Solomon Islands in relation to the Ring of Fire”
Megan Ward (BSc 2021-2022), Project: “A long-term study of algal bloom dynamics in the Arabian Sea, and the impact of Climate Change”
Charlotte Routledge (BSc 2021-2022) Project: “Identifying the environmental drivers for potential change in algal bloom patterns in South West UK coastal waters”
Rebecca Kent (BSc 2020-2021) Project: “The Validation of Satellite Captured Costal Sea Surface Temperature Using In Situ Data Recorded During Water Sport Activities”
Matthew Howe (BSc 2019-2020) Project: “Assessing the relationship between Aerosol Optical Thickness and Sea Surface Temperature and their impact on Chlorophyll in the South China Sea between January 2004 and December 2019”.
Natasha Cansdale (BSc 2019-2020) Project: “A remote-sensing investigation into volcanic products and their impacts on marine primary productivity, focusing on the 2014 eruption of Kelud, Indonesia”
Harriet Stokes (BSc 2019-2020) Project: “How does increasing pollution affect coastal communities in Eastbourne and Sydney?”
Mark Bramley (BSc 2019-2020) Project: “The impact that the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption had on Chlorophyll concentration and sea surface temperature within the North Atlantic, with inferences on Marine Primary Productivity”.
Leanne Rule (MSc 2018-2019) – Leanne was an MSc student who studied Using Sentinel Satellite Data to Track Algae Blooms in the Baltic Sea.
Xinyi Gao (MSc 2018-2019) – Xinyi was an MSc student who studied Algae growth and competition in controlled environments.
Mayu Tsujikawa (MSc 2018-2019) – Mayu was an MSc student who studied Relationship between oil spills and algal bloom in the North Sea -using MODIS aqua for tracking bloom phenology.
Liam Bamford (MSc 2017-2018) – Liam was an MSc student who studied Algal growth and competition in a controlled environment
Kate Hanley (BSc 2017-2018) – Kate was an undergraduate student who studied Impacts of aerosol particulates in the East China Sea, The Yellow Sea and South East China on Oceanic biomass.
Jack Taylor (BSc 2017-2018) – Jack was an undergraduate student who studied The changes in biomass density of zooplankton in the global ocean over the past 20 years; causes, consequences and future mitigation”.
Zainab Abdullahi Aminu (MSc 2016-2017) Zainab was a Masters student and studied the Change in pCO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere from 1997-2016
Wing Yan Chan (2015-2016) Wing was an undergraduate student and worked on Identifying oceanic regions affected by volcanic ash and comparing the surface ocean biology
Jinky Esin (2015-2016) Jinky was an undergraduate student and worked on How natural fishing effort and variables in the North Sea affect major fishes in the UK
Ieuan Donovan (2014-2015) Ieuan was an undergraduate student who studied Algal biofuel: A viable fuel source?
Kimberley Booth (2014-2015) Kimberley was an undergraduate student who studied Harmful algal blooms – An increasing risk to the UK in association with climate change?
James Sinclair (2014-2015) James was an undergraduate student and worked on “An assessment of the correlation between fish stock assessment made using trawl surveys and catch data with an assessment of ocean productivity utilizing remote sensing of ocean colour in the North Sea”
External and internal collaborators
- Dr Robert Thorpe, Cefas
- Dr Kieran Hyder, Cefas
- Dr Andrew Turner, Cefas
- David Ford, Met Office
- Professor Bess Ward, Princeton
- Professor Shubha Sathyendranath, PML
- Professor Keith Haines, Meteorology
- Professor Richard Sibly, SBS
- Mr. Alan Yates, IEA
- Dr. Kevin White GES
- Dr. Liz Shaw GES
- Professor Andrew Wade, GES