The audience clapped as my colleague finished his talk. I took a few deep breaths and waited to be called. “Chloe Nunn is a sustainability scientist and will talk to us about community resilience in Greenland….Welcome Chloe” Claire McNulty, director of National Geographic Europe introduced me as I took the stage. Somehow my 3 minutes […]
Explorers Exploring Read More »
It was very calm. The humidity draped around me like a blanket, and I looked off the stern into the darkness. It was like a black velvet curtain. Nothing was there. And then a glimmer, a passing ship, a twinkling star. A few minutes passed, all was well with the equipment ticking away off the
A horseshoe crab. A prehistoric organism with an incredible life story, now facing adversity up and down the East coast of the United States. Prentice Stout, to whom this article is dedicated, pointed to the female’s tail, carapace, eyes, and then showed me its legs, highlighting the difference between the male and females. We were
A Weird and Wonderful Creature Read More »
“We need to show customers that we aren’t a faceless corporation, we are actually a collection of individuals” said a colleague at a recent meeting. This happened to be in relation to how we can provide ‘value added’ services, but I think it’s an incredibly important sentiment for everyone to remember, especially when it comes
Sustainable Strategies Read More »
Did you know that there are deep-sea coral reefs in Irish waters? Not many people know that there are corals hundreds to thousands of metres underwater. These corals form huge reefs and gardens and support a diverse range of commercial fish species. Unlike tropical coral reefs, they do not have the symbiotic zooxanthellae to feed,
Diving Deep: The life of a cold-water coral scientist. Read More »
Job descriptions tend to be fairly emotionless and frequently on the hyper-professional end of the spectrum. However, applying for said job is invariably full of emotion for the applicant. Personally, these emotions range from stress and frustration to hope and excitement. Cover letters, letters of interest, personal statements, whatever you want to call them are
The Conundrum of Cover Letters Read More »
After writing 20,000 words on coastal community resilience for my master’s dissertation I never thought that I would struggle to put down to paper the non-academic side of my research. When I was awarded my National Geographic Society grant in 2018, I had agreed to produce an ArcGIS Storymap as an output. Well that was
Uummannaq, Greenland: A Month in the Arctic Read More »
As part of my postgraduate dissertation I used the seven principles of resilience set out by researcher Reinette Biggs and her colleagues. They were designed to assess ecosystem services, but I was able to adapt them for my own purposes of assessing a community situated in a remote marine environment. I travelled to Greenland to
Using my Powers for…Something Read More »
I will be presenting on Thursday at 2pm EDT (6pm GMT) for an Explorer Classroom livestream. Join me to learn all about deep-sea amphipods. It’s a great opportunity for those who might be going stir crazy at this time and want a little science content to brighten their day! To see the other topics and
Explorer Classroom on Thursday! Read More »
mentor (n): an experienced and trusted advisor mentor (v): advise or train Being mentored was never something I shied away from, whether I knew who was mentoring me or not. From a young age, and at a significant distance, the likes of Sir David Attenborough even mentored me – shaping my view of
On Sunday I will be travelling to Munich, Germany, to join a group of National Geographic Explorers for a science communication workshop! One of the benefits to being part of this international community has been the motivation to continue learning and improving. I have been able to complete five of their online courses introducing me
What does an environmental compliance advisor do, I hear you say? Well, let me explain. My job title is very broad and could refer to a whole host of activities. The one thing it does make clear is that my work has to do with legislation governing environmental related policies. In my case,
