Marine scientist named on prestigous BBC’s 100 Women 2023 list

Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth completed her PhD in Biological Sciences in 2007 before going on to pioneer research into seagrass systems and their ecosystem value across the globe.

The flowering marine plants provide vital nurseries for fish and other underwater species – but have been hit hard by poor water quality and coastal development.

Seagrass meadows provide vital nutrition for close to 3 billion people by supporting healthy fishing grounds.

Through these fishing grounds, seagrass helps to provide 50% of animal protein to 400 million people in the developing world.

Sadly, is estimated that we have lost nearly one third of our global seagrass meadows in the last century.

Dr Cullen-Unsworth is using the skills she began to hone at Essex to spearhead charity Project Seagrass, which aims to highlight and help the under-threat habitat.

The co-founder says if it wasn’t for a trip whilst studying for her PHD she would never have stumbled across the issue and dedicated her professional life in fighting for protection.

She said: “My seagrass journey actually started during my PhD research out of the University of Essex.

“I connected with seagrass accidentally, back in the early 2000s researching marine resource use patterns in the Wakatobi in Indonesia for my PhD.

“I had no idea that seagrass was relied on by so many people, and that it sustained life and lifestyles to such an extent.

“Everywhere there is seagrass, there are people that depend on it.

“Seagrass delivers wellbeing across its range in so many different ways.”

She added: “Now is the time for us to work even harder at sharing our message on the importance of nature for humanity and why we need to do more to protect and repair our beautiful world.

“Seagrass for me is an ideal example of a habitat that we can use to clearly demonstrate human-nature compatibility, because we’re not something separate from nature, we are a part of it.

“With Seagrass we have a huge opportunity to drive change.

“Through Project Seagrass I work on the science that’s needed to improve methods, on the education and outreach that’s needed to bring people on this journey with us, on the advocacy that’s needed to allow us to scale up, and on the collaborations across sectors that are so important to achieve all of this by sharing knowledge and pooling resources for net gain.

“It blows my mind a little bit how far we’ve come in the past ten years, and how much the profile of seagrass has been raised since my PhD days.

“I'm now driven to keep fighting for our beautiful world by my own children, and their generation who continually inspire me.”