To coincide with the MBA's Marine Citizen Science Week, we ran an extended, themed Marine Biology Live Session, with talks by Seasearch National Coordinator, Dr Charlotte Bolton (Seasearch) ; The Marine Conservation society's Sea Champions Volunteer and Community Engagement Manager, Jules Agate (The Big Seaweed Search); and malacologist and naturalist Susan Hewitt (iNaturalist).

Talks by our guests were followed by a short Q&A session, included in this recording.
Speakers:

Dr Charlotte Bolton
National Seasearch Coordinator @the Marine Conservation Society
I am a diver and snorkeler who lives on the Isle of Portland in Dorset and have been fascinated by underwater life since I learned to dive in 2002 (far too late!) I record what I see underwater through the Seasearch project, where I started as a volunteer, became the regional Dorset Coordinator in 2012 and subsequently the National Coordinator in 2016.

Jules Agate
Sea Champions Volunteer and Community Engagement Manager, South West England Region @The Marine Conservation Society
I coordinate volunteer projects including citizen science activities for Marine Conservation Society across SW England. I love rockpooling, swimming and snorkelling. I grew up in London, not at all near the sea. I was inspired by fantastic BBC films showing marine biology, my love of swimming and by beachcombing with my Dad. I am passionate about nature and love working with people too, always learning more about our incredible planet, together. Volunteering doesn’t have to be a fixed activity or take a lot of time – whatever you do freely to help the ocean and planet could be called ‘volunteering’ and we especially need your help as citizen or community scientists.

Susan Hewitt
Citizen-scientist, malacologist and general all-round naturalist @iNaturalist
Susan is a life-long naturalist who has 56 publications, most of them peer-reviewed, and the majority of them are on marine mollusks. She is British, but lives on the island of Manhattan, New York City, in the Estuary of the Hudson River. She is a ‘power user’ on iNaturalist, and is number 1 on the leaderboards of numerous iNat projects. Affiliations: Volunteer Emeritus, American Museum of Natural History; Bailey Matthews National Shell Museum; Randall’s Island Park Alliance; Carl Schurz Park Conservancy; New York Botanical Garden, Conservation and Outreach Department.

"Marine Biology Live" is a series of regular online talks organised by the Marine Biological Association. Talks take place at 11:00 am (UK time) every other Thursday on Zoom and will cover a range of current marine biology topics by MBA members, researchers and invited guests.