Staff

Education Officer & HWDT Administrator

Gemma has been working within the education team at the Trust since April 2008. Gemma runs all aspects of the education and outreach programme. Her role also includes fundraising and overseeing the day-to-day running of the HWDT office.

Prior to working with the Trust, Gemma gained an MSc in Ecology at the University of Aberdeen and was employed in the south of England in the field of marine environmental education. She has most recently completed her PGCE in secondary science at the University of Leicester.

Contact Gemma

Biodiversity Officer

Olivia Harries graduated from St Andrews University where she gained a MRes in Marine Mammal Science. Her interests lie within population biology and ecological and environmental modelling. Her Masters thesis analysed data collected from whale watching operations and assessed whether such platforms of opportunity could contribute to the data required for conservation and management. It was based in the Inner Hebrides and concerned harbour porpoise distributions and densities. She has conducted marine mammal based field work in Honduras, Central America; Plettenberg Bay, South Africa; Florida, USA and in Cardigan Bay, Wales which is her native country.

Contact Olivia

Volunteer Coordinator & Marketing Officer

Morven became the Trust’s Volunteer Coordinator and Marketing Officer in April 2007.  As well as completing various marketing and administration tasks, Morven recruits and manages both land and boat based volunteers.  She is also responsible for keeping in touch with supporters.   

In 2006 Morven gained a BSc in Environmental Management and Technology from Heriot Watt University.  She has also worked with local marine wildlife operators Sea Life Surveys.

Contact Morven

Development Consultant

Cally initially started at the Trust as Director in 1998 and since then has managed the Trust’s development and co-ordinated the wide variety of operations in the Trust. Work includes a wide range of management responsibilities, fundraising and raising the profile of the Trust.

Prior to joining the Trust, Cally gained an Honours degree in Marine Biology and a Marketing Diploma, and has considerable experience working in Scotland’s west coast rural tourism industry.

Contact Cally

Biodiversity Consultant

Nienke van Geel worked for the Trust in 2009 and 2010 as Biodiversity Officer. She is a marine mammal scientist, especially interested in species’ distributions and habitat preferences. She has a M.Sc. (Honours) in Natural Resources Management from Utrecht University (Netherlands), performing her final Masters thesis on whales and dolphins of the Azores in relation to water depth and slope gradient. Before joining HWDT, she worked on IFAW’s RV Song of the Whale on acoustic detections of beaked whales. Currently she is doing a PhD with SAMS on bottlenose dolphin movement patterns in relation to marine renewables and remains working for HWDT as a research consultant.

Biodiversity Consultant

Susannah Calderan is a marine mammal scientist, with a particular interest in cetacean ecology. Having graduated from the University of Wales, Bangor, with an MSc in Marine Mammal Science, she worked on visual and acoustic surveys around the British Isles, including for offshore windfarm sites, before joining HWDT in 2006. She ran the field research onboard Silurian for three years, and now works as a research
consultant for HWDT.

Sightings Consultant

Laura worked as Sightings Officer with HWDT between 2005 and 2009. She was also the principal photo-identification researcher, maintaining the Trust's catalogues for minke whales, killer whales, bottlenose and Risso's dolphins.

She is an MSc marine biology graduate from Aberdeen University and has worked on projects in France and Greece before moving to the Hebrides.

Laura is currently available as a research consultanat.