Ceri Lewis

College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter

Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology

 

 

 

© Martin Hartley

Session: THE FUNDAMENTALS OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION/REACHING OUT TO THE PUBLIC 

Ocean acidification in the Arctic: the other CO2 problem

Abstract: Dr Ceri Lewis is a marine biologist working on the impact of ocean acidification on marine invertebrates. As part of her research she took place in the Catlin Arctic Survey, camping at minus 40 to collect important data on ocean acidification under the sea ice. Here she share her stories about this exciting expedition and her experiences since returning of communicating this important work to a wide range of audiences.

“Our oceans are currently changing at an unprecedented rate as a result of human activities yet many people are not aware of the challenges that our oceans are facing or why they should care about these issues. Communicating both the wonders of our oceans and the effects we are having on them has never been so important if we want to have healthy oceans in the future.”

Brief curriculum vitae: Ceri Lewis obtained her PhD in marine Biology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. For the moment she is senior lecturer in Marine Biology at the School of Biosciences of the University of Exeter, coordinating undergraduate courses and supervising several master and PhD students. Her research interests lie in understanding how marine invertebrates adapt and survive in a changing and increasingly polluted marine environment, and the potential impacts of environmental change on their reproduction, larval ecology and life history evolution.  Her current research focuses on 2 main areas: 1) the potential for environmental disruption of sperm function in broadcast spawning invertebrates and its ecological consequences; 2) the interactions between chronic pollution and ocean acidification on fitness parameters in adult and larval marine invertebrates. As a key member of an international team of biologists and oceanographers she conducted ocean acidification research in the Canadian High Arctic as part of the Catlin Arctic Survey, joining expeditions in 2010 and 2011.  Ceri Lewis is also active in public and educational outreach, teaming up with an educational charity to get research findings fed into UK and international schools and working to increase public understanding of our oceans.