Sarah Hughes – physical oceanographer

I work at the Fisheries Research Services of the Marine Laboratory, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. We research and monitor in order to keep the seas around Scotland clean and safe, healthy, biologically diverse and productive. And that means we want the seas to be full of wildlife in all its forms.

My main work involves monitoring and understanding the effects of climate change on the marine ecosystem in Scottish waters.

I came to work at the Marine Laboratory six years ago. When I started, my main role was quite practical. It involved spending time at sea on our research ships, making measurements directly from the ship and putting monitoring equipment on the seabed, which we return to every six months or so.

These days, I have chosen to spend less time at sea and more time doing research. So now my job is mainly office-based, although I spend some time travelling in the UK and abroad to scientific meetings and conferences.

When I was younger, I lived in Anglesey in North Wales where my parents ran a school to teach people sub-aqua diving. I always liked the sea, enjoying diving and lots of other watersports, and it was there that I met oceanography students who were studying at the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales in Bangor.

I studied for my degree at Southampton University. During my university holidays I got a job working in the oceanography department. I worked there for a year after I graduated and this gave me some excellent work experience and I spent lots of time on research cruises.

As I was also interested in other aspects of the marine environment, I studied for an MSc and then I worked for a commercial sea monitoring company.

If you want to be an oceanographer and to get involved in fieldwork, it really helps if you enjoy spending time at sea, either on large ships or small boats.

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