Phone:

(023) 8059 6465

Email:

jtc@southampton.ac.uk

Dr Jonathan Copley BSc(Hons), MSc, PhD

Associate Professor in Ocean Exploration & Public Engagement

Related links

Personal homepage

Dr Jonathan Copley is Associate Professor in Ocean Exploration & Public Engagement (part-time) within Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton at the University of Southampton.

No human eye had glimpsed this part of the planet before us, this pitch-black country lighted only by the pale gleam of an occasional spiralling shrimp (Otis Barton, The World Beneath The Sea, 1953)

I am a marine biologist and 'bathynaut' who went on the first minisub dive to the world's deepest hydrothermal vents (5 km down on the ocean floor) and took part in the first minisub dives to 1 km deep in the Antarctic. I am also an award-winning communicator, educator, writer, and co-founder of a company that provides training for scientists to share their work with wider audiences.

My research explores colonies of animals on the ocean floor to understand patterns of life in the deep sea that covers most of our world. By studying marine life in "island-like" seafloor habitats such as hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, and whale-falls, my work examines interactions between ecology ("who does what"), biogeography ("who lives where"), and evolution ("who is related to whom") in the deep ocean.

I have more than twenty years of experience in exploring deep-ocean environments, including leading expeditions aboard research ships and discovering new species of deep-sea animals. My work has contributed to consultations by policymakers to guide the protection of deep-sea habitats, and I produced a 4* 'Impact Case Study' in the UK's REF2014 assessment based on a programme of public engagement with research.

I have taught undergraduate and Masters students in marine biology and oceanography since 2000, including creating new modules in degree programmes. I was Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes in Ocean & Earth Science, and I have provided training for research students and early career researchers across the University. I was also Lead Educator in the development of the university's free online course (a 'MOOC' - Massive Open Online Course) about 'Exploring Our Oceans'.

I work with TV, radio, and online documentary-makers to share the exploration of the deep ocean with people worldwide, for example as a science advisor for the BBC's Blue Planet II series, and I routinely interact with news media to raise awareness of deep-sea issues and my team's discoveries. I am the author of 'Ask an Ocean Explorer', published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2019, and I occasionally write "popular science" articles about marine science and technology for media outlets, having been a Reporter and Assistant News Editor at New Scientist magazine.

I teach courses in popular science writing, presentation skills, media interviews, and online engagement for scientists at universities and organisations across the UK and in Europe. In 2006 I co-founded SciConnect Ltd, a company that has so far trained more than 12,000 researchers, from PhD students to Profs, in how to share their work with wider audiences, with the goal of enhancing the contribution of science to society (and vice-versa).

Awards and Prizes:

Shortlisted for Vice-Chancellor's Award for Public Engagement 2019
Highly Commended in Projects category of The Ocean Awards 2016
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Postgraduate Training 2011
Royal Society of Biology Science Communication Award for Established Researchers 2008
Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Award 2007
British Science Association Charles Lyell Lecture Award 2007

Other roles:

Scientific Associate of the Natural History Museum, London (since 2014)
National Geographic Explorer
Previously Co-Chair of Interidge, the international organisation co-ordinating research at mid-ocean ridges, 2010-2012