About
Emily Cunningham is an independent Marine Conservation Consultant based in England.
Emily works with a number of local and national organisations on various aspects of marine conservation practice. She specialises in engaging the public with the wonders of British seas; with a particular focus on growing marine stewardship and ocean literacy through the development of pioneering projects, campaigns and digital communications.
Emily is a passionate and knowledgeable ocean advocate, as comfortable speaking to a school group as to a TV crew or the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Environment. She has appeared on national TV & radio and in various magazines discussing the marine issues of the day.
Away from the “day job”, Emily is an independent researcher with interests in cetaceans, the role of citizen science, ocean literacy and public perceptions of the marine environment. She shares her marine science adventures on Marine Biology Life.
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Key Achievements & Recent Work
- Exciting new announcement coming very soon!~
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- Developed UK’s first marine Landscape Partnership Scheme
SeaScapes – a £5m programme of marine conservation, education and heritage projects in North East of England.
Emily led the programme development process, securing match funding and writing the successful Stage 1 application. She is now an advisor to the Partnership Board.
~ - Developing a transnational £600k programme with a partnership of NGOs, focussing on more aligned governance and the conservation/celebration of estuarine habitats and species.
~ - In 2018: Emily worked on a national campaign for more and better managed Marine Conservation Zones, wrote the marine content for a national NGO’s new website and completed a regional review of evidence for Natural England.
~ - Co-led research expeditions to Sicily and the Azores to collect samples for the study of population genetics of Bottlenose Dolphins and Yellowmouth Barracuda.
~ - In 2018, Emily presented her work at the 5th International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC5) in Kuching, Sarawak (Borneo) and at the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) conference in Newcastle (England). She currently has a research paper under review.
