SuMMeR CDT PhD: Utilising trait-based approaches to understand offshore wind impacts on benthic ecosystem processes and services

Student Name:

Bridget Sparrow-Scinnoca

Student Bio:

I am a doctoral researcher in the second year of my Ph.D. at Bangor University, where my research focuses on utilising trait-based approaches to understand the potential impacts of offshore wind farms on the benthic ecosystem. I also currently work as a foundation year tutor and demonstrator for both undergraduates and master’s students. I have presented my PhD work at symposiums in London and Bristol, the EcoWIND 2024 Annual Impact Meeting and at the Environmental Interactions of Marine Renewables Conference in Orkney, Scotland.

Having grown up in Canada, I graduated with an Honours BSc in Animal Physiology and Ecology & Evolution from the University of Toronto. I then went on to graduate with an MSc in Ecology, Evolution & Conservation from Imperial College London. I completed thesis research at the Zoological Society of London, studied the use of deep-sea imagery to understand ecosystem dynamics and identified a vulnerable marine ecosystem in the Davis Strait, Greenland. Prior to my PhD, I completed deep-sea contract work for Cefas, JNCC and the Department of Fisheries & Oceans Canada. During that time I was also working as a bat conservation ecologist at the Toronto Zoo.