CV
Alexander Robertson-Jones CV: Extended Edition
About Me
- PADI Dive Master, scientific diving contractor and underwater photography experience.
- First class BSc Hons Marine Biology.
- Temperate and tropical biogenic reef restoration experience.
- Experience Driving 4X4s and towing medium sized loads.
- Experience driving small boats and deploying divers.
- Trained in the use of various diving compressors.
- Drone piloting experience.
- Proficient in R and general computing (made this CV using the “vitae” R package). Have tutored other students in R.
- Basic static web development (Jekyll, HTML, CSS, markdown etc), currently building my own webstite from scratch.
I have just completed my degree in marine biology and am eager to get back into the world of research and conservation. I have had the opportunity to take part in scientific diving work in both temperate and tropical waters. An area I am Particularly passionate about, and one which most of my work and own research has focused on, is restoration of biogenic reefs. I beleive restoration is a vital tool in limiting the damage caused by climate change and reversing damage from other anthropogenic sources. I also have wider interests in technology and computing solutions used in the marine biology industry and believe that it is a great time for people with the right skills and vison to develop novel cost-effective solutions to conservation issues. I am a stickler for details but also realise there is a time and a place for just getting things working to get the job done. I enjoy working with and learning from others but I also work well on my own.
Relevant Work and Academic History
St Abbs marine station, 30th Jul 2018 – 7th Sep 2018 (volunteer)-website link
Duties: General maintenance of aquariums, setting up and taking apart tanks for new arrivals. Raising European lobster larvae Homarus gammarus. Conducting shore surveys of juvenile brown crab Cancer pagurus. Assisting in the design and construction of experiments. One of the projects I enjoyed the most was a multi-stressor experiment on the combined effects of marine noise and heavy metal exposure on Nephrops norvegicus which has sinse shown some interesting results.
Herriot watt university scientific dive team, 5th Dec 2018 -Present (paid)-website link
Duties: Deployment of European flat oysters in the Dornoch firth for a reef restoration project. Survey and sample collection dives in Loch Creran. Collecting deep sediment cores. Video transects and drift surveys of Limaria hians and Serpula vermicularis biogenic reefs. Field surveys of natural European flat oyster reefs in loch ryan by video transects, photo quadrats and MNCR surveys.
Biosecurity for DEEP project- Sep 2018, present (paid)-website link
Duties: Cleaning oysters of epifauna and maintaining them in lab-based aquaria. Developing new protocols designed to improve the scalability of the project. Communicating our research to journalists and funders was also a key part of the job. I was also involved in transporting the oysters. I have also attended the 2019 NORA (Native Oyster Restoration Alliance) conferance and university open days as out reach for the project.
NORA (Native Oyster Restoration Alliance) conferance staff(paid) 19th May 2019 - 24th May (paid)-website link
Duties: I assisted in the planning and logistices the 2019 NORA (Native Oyster Restoration Alliance) conferance and university open days as out reach for the project. I was part of the team in charge of registering attendees and asisting the chairs of sessions. We also ran an excursion at the end of the last day of the conferance where we presented oyster related history information at several relevent locations in the area. Social media was another task i assisted with, curating photos from the photographer and working with other staff to showcase the conferance, mostly on twitter. I learened a lot about running such an event and thouroughly enjoyed the chance to meet people and see talks.
Tengah island conservation, 28th May 2018 - 24th Jul 2018 (volunteer)-website link
Duties: lead surveys of reef fish and invertebrates conducting video and diver identification based transects. Turtle nest patrols (by foot and boat) and collecting eggs for the hatchery. Turtle necropsies and nest excavations to determine stage of development of un-hatched eggs. Communicating the importance of our research and conservation work to guests of the resort. Leading beach clean-ups with guests. Relocating snakes and centipedes away from inhabited areas. We were also responsible for constructing and maintaining a tree nursery (developed a methodology for cultivating mangroves). One of the most rewarding parts of my time at Tengah island conservation was finding species that were previously unknown on the island and identifying some of the common residents which had not yet been identified. I also gained experience in the running of a dive shop and compressor operation.
Education
BSc Marine Biology
Honours Project 6th Sept - 29th Feb pdf link
Grade 78%
My dissertation focussed on the restoration of Limaria hians biogenic reefs on the west coast of scotland. It involved surveys of wild reefs in Port Appin and laboritory based experiments to inform restoration attempts. Work in port appin further supported previous work showwing a continued decline in the reef. Lab based work included the development of a programmable camera system to record long time lapses of behaviour under infrared light over multiple days. The lab experements also included substrate prefferance experements to see where disturbed L. hians specimens would preferentialy settle.
Grades
Classification - 1st class, overall grade 74%
4th year average 70% |3rd year average – 76% | 2nd year average – 79% | 1st year average – 70%
Other work history
Deliveroo and Uber eats bike courier, Oct 2018 – present
Duties: Delivering food to customers. A physically demanding job which keeps me fit for diving medicals!
Kitchen porter at “steak” restaurant, July 31st 2017 – August 28th 2017
Duties: washing dishes, cleaning, basic food prep, maintenance / repair of dishwashers and other equipment. I gained experience working in a high-pressure environment and optimising my work flow to support the rest of the kitchen. 50 – 60 hours a week.
Cashier at Chinese restaurant, September 2014 – September 2015
Duties: Answering the phone, taking customers’ orders and cleaning. I developed skills in dealing with busy situations and difficult customers. I also learned to communicate effectively with people of limited English speaking ability.
Reptile husbandry, UK exotics, September 2011 – September 2015
Duties: I worked mostly with snakes (P. regius) but also have experience with other reptiles. My reasonability’s include cleaning, feeding and monitoring breeding. I am also involved in giving advice to customers and other keepers on problems they may be having.
Personal inerests
From an early age I have been facinated by the ocean spending much of my childhood freediving on the south coast of england. I am now a keen SCUBA diver and would dive every day if my finanicial, and physiological limits would alow me! Climbing is another pass time I enjoy and I love to be outdoors. I am also an amateur photographer venturing into the world of underwater photography. I believe photography is an essential part of communicating conservation and research to the public and its a skill I enjoy developing. In my spare time I enjoy tinkering with various things, I have repaired several vintage game consoles and am self-taught in programming (Python and R). I also enjoy working on all things mechanical, cars, bikes etc. Plants are another interest of mine and I grow all sorts on the windowsill in my flat.
I hope to continue my progression in diving by completing trimix and advanced nitrox training with IANTD. I also plan on completing my RYA powerboat level 2 in the very near future.