Rachael was born in Grimsby on Lincolnshire’s east coast.
Rachael joined BAS fourteen year ago to undertake research work on Antarctic plankton. She has now gained national and international recognition in this field.
She lives near Cambridge, and feels the best thing about living here is “rubbing shoulders with some of the best scientists in the world”.
The Role of marine biologist
Rachael’s role is to study all aspects of the life cycles and biology of key zooplankton species and linking this to their environment. The most fascinating part of her job is revealing these links though field and laboratory studies.
Life at BAS:
Rachael has spent two and a half years in total at sea. Most of that was deep sea, out of sight of any land and often in rough conitions. “You need a steady disposition and a good sense of humour to spend weeks at sea” Rachael said.
Rachael has mainly been involved with ship based research work and has enjoyed working with strongly motivated functioning teams. Ship work can often mean working night shifts and Rachael admits that this can be a negative part of the job.
“We need to research and understand the marine food webs from end to end if we are to help direct future marine harvesting from this area. This will happen as the world relies more and more on remote fish stocks.
The Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Sea region is one of the most interesting and complex marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean, one that is already feeling the effects of climate change. This is a fascinating area to work in and one that never fails to engage interest”.