WHO
WE ARE

We are academic researchers and scientists from around the world who come together to promote ocean conservation

MISSION & HISTORY.

The idea of Wings & Dives was born in 2017 in Halifax, Canada, when the founding members met for an international conference on Conservation of Marine Mammals around the world. The science presented was of impressive quality but the link between pure science and conservation was still secondary. In addition, most of the research effort was done in areas where funding for environmental science was more readily available, i.e. in western areas.

This is when these researchers decided to mutualise their diverse expertise and experience to help research projects with a strong focus on marine conservation around the world, and with a special interest in Peruvian waters where the Humboldt current brings an incredible biodiversity of species but where intensive fisheries and global warming are greatly stressing the ecosystem.

Wings & Dives has grown with the involvement of new researchers, mostly early-career women, and is still looking at expending its network of men and women interested in getting involved in marine conservation initiatives. Wings & Dives is also very committed to values of equality, diversity and inclusion, and of empowerment of women in science by promoting and supporting women-led projects.

We are an international collective with active board members currently located in Canada, in Peru and in France.

FOUNDING MEMBERS.

Ruth Joy, PhD

Assistant Professor

Dr. Ruth Joy is a faculty member in the School of Environmental Science at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Dr Joy's research focuses on computational and statistical tools that help to manage and minimize anthropogenic stress in both marine and terrestrial species. This involves quantifying the consequences of an individual's behavioural responses as well as the impacts of changes in size, density and distribution of a population in response to natural ecological dynamics and human-linked sources of disturbance and competition. Through quantifying changes in ecosystem function at the individual level, the aim of her work is to better understand the population consequences of anthropogenic disturbance, and incentivize mitigations and habitat restorations.

LEARN MORE

Dr. Jeanniard du Dot is a Research Scientist at the Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chize - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique -, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department for Biological Sciences at La Rochelle University in France. Her research focuses in understanding interactions between environmental parameters, foraging ecology, energetics, and life history of free-ranging seals worldwide in a management and conservation perspective, with a strong biologging and biotelemetry (and related statistical and mathematical methods) component. She is a member of the Pole of Excellence in Biologging in France, as well as a member of the Specialized Committee on Innovating and Transverse Instrumentation (CSIIT) and of the Animal-Borne Ocean Sensors network within the Global Ocean Observing Services (GOOS-AniBOS) Ethics committee.

Tiphaine

Jeanniard-du-Dot,

PhD

Research Scientist (CRCN)

LEARN MORE

Research Scientist & Program Director

Susana
Cardenas-Alayza,
PhD

Susana is researcher at the Center for Environmental Sustainability (CSA) of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) where she directs the Punta San Juan Program. She specializes in ecology of top marine predators such as marine mammals and sea birds, and their interactions with fisheries in Peruvian waters. As Program Director, she coordinates operational plans, inter-institutional collaboration agreements with Peruvian government agencies, research projects with national and international collaborators, fundraising and relations with funders and stakeholders. Susana is also Auxiliary Professor at the Faculty of Science and Philosophy at UPCH where she teaches and supervises students, and is actively involved in Women in STEM activities. She is also on the IUCN specialists panels for fur seals and sea lions, a corresponding member for Pacific Seabird Group and is portrayed as one of the Peruvians portraits of Peru’s Bicentennial anniversary. Interview on nexos digital magazine & short documentary by CREA of Universidad de Lima.

Program director

Rowenna is a PhD Candidate at the University of British Columbia, Canada (Statistics and Geography). She has over 15 years of experience conducting analysis using biologging data, oceanographic data, and fisheries data to understand species foraging and habitat use, assessing critical habitat, and overlap with fisheries. Her PhD is focused on using Bayesian statistical methods to combine different types of data to develop better informed habitat suitability models for conservation and management of species. She has extensive experience in managing large projects, marine mammal tagging, and effective communication of research with communities and policy makers.