Course Staff
Dr Victor Abbott (University of Plymouth)
Having studied land surveying, Dr Abbott has worked as a field surveyor with inshore survey/dredging companies before moving offshore on seismic survey support and other hydrocarbon exploration work (rig moves, site surveys). Dr Abbott has now been lecturing for twenty years, concentrating on the fundamentals of mapping and precise positioning, coastal zone management, and more recently on Geographical Information Systems.
Ross Compton (OceanEar)
A graduate of Ecology and Marine Science, Ross has previously worked as a Fisheries Observer and has been involved with cetacean research in the UK and Canada. In his current role as a Knowledge Transfer Associate, Ross is working with the University of Plymouth and the WGP Group on the development of the next generation of Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) hardware.
Mark Burnett (WGP)
Mark Burnett is Chief Operating Officer for the WGP Group. He has over ten year's experience within the geophysical industry gained both on vessels at sea and in a shore support/management role. Mark has prime responsibility for the operational and support management of company activities, which includes all aspects of geophysical projects.
Dr Richard Handy (UoP)
Dr Richard Handy is a Reader in Animal Physiology & Toxicology at the University of Plymouth, and teaches many areas of animal biology with a special interest in diving physiology of humans as well as marine vertebrates (cetaceans, diving birds, reptiles and fish). His research focuses on comparative physiology of fish and other animals, right through to hyperbaric medicine. Dr Handy is an expert histopathologist, and looks at the effects of pollutants on aquatic animals. Dr Handy has long experience in the field as well as the laboratory, with 20 years experience of piloting small boats, teaching seamanship/navigation, and various underwater skills to divers/biologists, and the safe handling of aquatic animals in the wild during field work.
Dr Lissa Goodwin (UoP)
Dr Goodwin is a cetacean biologist, with a general background in marine biology who works for a number of different organisations in both the academic and conservation fields. Principally, Lissa works for the Marine Connection, an international whale and dolphin protection charity as Fisheries & Policy Officer. Her principle work focuses on cetacean bycatch and mitigating it accordingly, but Lissa also works more generally in marine policy, feeding into the current UK debate as we get ever closer to a Marine Bill for UK waters. In addition to this role Lissa works as a Marine Campaign Researcher for The Wildlife Trusts and as an Associate Lecturer for the University of Plymouth, where she teaches cetacean biology, ecology and behaviour. On a voluntary basis Lissa is the West Devon regional co-ordinator for UK charity, British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
Mike Perry (WGP)
Many years in the marine geophysical industry and oilfield services, recently involved in the development and operation of independent airgun array monitoring systems and the development and operation of commercial PAM systems.
Experienced MMOs
The staff bring a variety of experience and expertise to the course, but this is incomplete without the key input from an experienced MMO. For each course, an MMO with considerable experience of a variety of operations within the UK sector and beyond is available to talk about their experiences and answer delegates queries about any issue associated with the work of an MMO. Previous guest MMOs have included Amanda Hyam and Michael Unwin.
Copyright © 2008 OceanEar Limited. All Rights Reserved. Last modified: 9 June, 2008.