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Staff Profiles
Dr Peter Evans established Sea Watch in 1991, and is the Charity's Director. He has worked on cetaceans for thirty years, and oversees the UK national cetacean monitoring scheme. He was founding Secretary of the European Cetacean Society, and later Chairman, as well as Editor for 21 years. He is a Director of Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust, a Trustee of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, and advisor to the government and various NGO's on cetacean matters.;)
Peter's field research concentrates upon ecological, behavioural and conservation biology studies of cetaceans in UK particularly harbour porpoises, bottlenose dolphins and minke whales, as well as the effects of human disturbance upon cetaceans. He has also worked extensively on seabirds in Britain, Ireland and the arctic, and was former Secretary of the Seabird Group and editor of its journal Seabird. He has written or edited 12 books and 120 scientific publications, and is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Bangor.
Mick Baines became Sea Watch's Database Manager in autumn 2002, working also on database structure refinement, error checking, and extraction procedures. Mick has been researching and monitoring marine mammals in Wales for over a decade, where he has functioned as Sea Watch's Welsh co-ordinator, collating sightings records, and producing the Welsh newsletter. In addition to work on bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises he has carried out surveys of the grey seal population in Wales and breeding seabirds following the Sea Empress oil spill.
Dr Pia Anderwald, from Switzerland, is Sea Watch's data analyst. After a Masters thesis from the University of Zurich on niche differentiation of cetaceans in the North Atlantic using the Sea Watch sightings database, she has recently completed a PhD at the University of Durham on the foraging ecology and population genetics of minke whales. Pia has extensive field experience of a number of cetacean species including minkes, bottlenose and Risso's dolphins, as well as harbour porpoises, conducting behavioural studies, photo-identification and line transect surveys. Her role involves analysing distribution patterns of cetaceans using GIS and statistical modeling, along with population trends. She also manages the Sea Watch Risso's dolphin photo-ID catalogue.
Daphna Feingold is our latest addition to the Sea Watch staff, having started in New Quay, Wales in April 2009, as the new Cardigan Bay Monitoring Officer. Daphna comes from Israel, and has a lot of previous cetacean field experience, having worked with IMMRAC (Israeli Marine Mammal Research and Assistance Center) as well as the Tethys Research Institute where she was involved in the research and conservation of cetaceans in the Northern Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea respectively. During her work she gained experience in photo ID techniques with both bottlenose dolphins and Risso’s dolphins. Daphna also participated in the international SCANS line transect survey in July 2005, aimed at estimating small cetaceans.
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Gemma Veneruso first volunteered for Sea Watch in 2007, focussng upon photo- identification of bottlenose dolphins in Cardigan Bay. Following a Research Masters degree in Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth, where she investigated the population genetics of a cold water coral, the pink sea fan, she has now become our Sightings Officer, based in New Quay and is responsible for managing the regional sightings network with the help of regional co-ordinators. She communicates with observers from all backgrounds and promotes public education and awareness by dissemination of environmental information. Gemma also trains new observers, coordinates National Whale and Dolphin Watch week and assists the Monitoring Officer in conducting cetacean research in Cardigan Bay.
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Michael Francis first volunteered his skills to SWF in 1999. A documentary Film and Video graduate, he has spent the last 12 years working at the Open University primarily as a cameraman and editor and, more recently, as director, producing a wide variety of broadcast quality educational programmes to support the University course materials. Alongside this, he has been employed for his camera work on a variety of television and video productions. He has specialist interest and experience in natural history and through his work at the OU, conservation organisations and personal projects, has spent over 10 years shooting wildlife primarily within the UK. Over the last six years, he has been closely involved with SWF and has developed specialist skills in working with UK cetaceans. He continues to assist the charity with its research, educational and promotional video projects in an ever-growing capacity.
Wendy Necar is responsible for raising awareness of the National Whale and Dolphin Watch by securing publicity on national and local TV and radio, as well as newspapers, magazines and websites. She experienced freelance journalist, and have a strong personal interest in environmental conservation issues.
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Emma Kaye is the Administrator for Sea Watch, joining us in March 2008. She is responsible for dealing with general telephone, postal and email communications to the charity, for sending out merchandise, and for running the Adopt a Dolphin scheme. She is the primary contact for all our enthusiastic adoptees, sending out packs, organizing the monthly newsletters, and answering queries. Emma has had a varied career working in many areas including research, customer service and IT. She has a Masters degree in Biochemistry and has a keen interest in nature and science as well as working with children which makes her perfectly suited to administer the Adopt a Dolphin Scheme.
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Julie Albray works as a communications officer helping to promote the National Whale and Dolphin Watch in the national and local media. A former journalist, Julie is an experienced public relations and media consultant with an interest in nature and the environment.
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Sarah Langford a Staffordshire-based Primary School teacher is producing a series of educational resources which are available for schools and other groups via the Sea Watch web site. Sarah has worked as a teacher in primary schools since 2000, taking Years 3, 4 and 5, and acting as a science co-ordinator and Modern Foreign Language co-ordinator. She has a long-standing interest in marine mammals and has developed and taught a Key Stage 2 educational project to Staffordshire Schools about the evolution and adaptation of species of the Galapagos Islands. Sarah has also worked with other organisations to develop science projects, such as Inland Waterways, SETPOINT, BAYS, INSPIRE and Staffordshire County Council.
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Roberto Gramolini is Sea Watch Foundation’s GIS Programmer. Roberto is from Italy and together with Giovanna Pesante (Sea Watch former Monitoring Officer) developed a Photo-Identification Database through programming a specific graphic user interface in order to insert, modify and analyse data relating to the SWF Photo ID catalogue. The database is linked to GIS allowing the production of maps representing the distribution of dolphins present in the SWF catalogue. In 2003, while collaborating with Dr. Simone Panigada from the Tethys Research Institute, Roberto also developed CR_Tools – these were specific GIS tools built to analyse cetacean effort data. Roberto has a degree in Marine Environmental Science from the University of Bologna, Italy, and has started a PhD in marine biology and ecology at the University of Ancona, investigting the success in transport of eggs and larvae of small pelagic fish species in the Adriatic Sea using individual based models. Roberto has also worked as a GIS and database expert for several institutions including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), for whom he has taught a GIS course in Split, Croatia in 2007 and developed a specific tool (ATrIS) to manage trawl survey data.
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Kirsten Hintner works with Sea Watch as filmmaker and media producer. She is Buckinghamshire based, training at the London College of Communication, then gaining wildlife filming experience at the BBC’s Natural History Unit before working for the Open University where she produced course material for distance teaching. Kirsten has experience in all aspects of filmmaking, from operating cameras, recording and editing audio, editing, vision mixing, voice over and many other techniques. She became freelance in 2000, began her own company called ‘Worldimg’, and has since worked for a variety of organisations ranging from the United Nations, BBC, NIACE, the Open University, the Community Channel and many charity organizations including Fauna & Flora International, National Phobics Society, Barnardos, as well as for Sea Watch.
Kirsten produces short films, documentaries & video journalism pieces for internet use and other media for marketing, educational, broadcast and fundraising purposes. She has been involved in community film making projects and has worked with young people, children, people with disabilities and hard to reach groups.