Mr Daniel Wise BSc MSc

Founder of the Orkney Skate Trust

Dan is a marine biologist with expertise in the field of diving, remote video and marine ecology. Dan has over 10 years experience in scientific and commercial diving projects.

Professor Jon Side BSc PhD FRICS

Advisor to the Orkney Skate Trust

Jon was Head of the Safety/Policy Section of the Institute of Offshore Engineering before leading the establishment of ICIT as its Director in 1989. Jon has a first class honours degree in Marine Biology and a PhD in Marine Resource Management from Heriot-Watt University. Jon is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and was responsible for the design and development of the MSc course in Marine Resource Management that is accredited by the RICS.

Jon's research interests are centred around environmental conflicts and conflicts between sea-users. He has been responsible for a number of research awards and industrial contracts from a wide range of industry, government and EU sources. Current research is trying to establish a clearer understanding of the influence of science, economics and societal values in the development of policy and environmental decision-making. In these areas Jon is active in considerations of environmental risk assessment methodologies and of the determinants of policies for sustainable development. 

Dr Daniel Jones BSc MSc PhD

Advisor to the Orkney Skate Trust

SERPENT Project Management Office
Room 496/02
DEEPSEAS Group
Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems
National Oceanography Centre

Dan is currently a senior researcher in the DEEPSEAS group at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and has ran the SERPENT project since 2006. Dan has a PhD in deep-water polar community ecology from the University of Southampton, a MSc in marine resource management  from Heriot-Watt University and a BSc in marine biology from the University of Wales, Bangor.

Dan specialises in gaining ecological information from seabed imaging, principally through photographs and video. Dan developed and evaluated methodologies for image analysis from a variety of platforms to successfully investigate aspects of megafaunal communities throughout the world's oceans. His current work on broad-scale assessment and characterisation of marine communities uses acoustic and conventional imaging (habitat mapping and landscape ecology).