Lyndsey Dodds
Lyndsey is a Research student at NERC's Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Dunstaffnage, Scotland.
I went straight from school to Glasgow University to study zoology. During my time there I carried out my honours research project on sea turtles in southern Cyprus. I graduated with an upper second class degree (2:1) and then decided it was time to do some travelling. I headed off to south-east Asia and Australia and did lots of voluntary conservation work as I went. One of the highlights was working at a university research station on one of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The scuba diving and the scenery there were spectacular.
"One of the highlights was working on one of the islands of the Great Barrier Reef."
I worked for a fish farming and smoking company in the Outer Hebrides and then decided it was time to get back into research. I went to Aberdeen University to study for a masters degree (MRes) in Marine and Fisheries Science. My research project was on deep-sea corals at SAMS (Scottish Association for Marine Science) in Oban, and I'm still here now as I then took up a PhD on deep-sea corals! I have now completed my PhD and I am beginning to get excited by some of the results coming from my research. These animals are very challenging to work on due to the difficulties of collection and keeping them alive in our aquarium, but this makes the results of my labours even more rewarding!