Sarah Murty

I graduated from Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge in 1998 with a 2.1 degree in Natural Sciences (specializing in Zoology). I then decided to take a break from academic study; and for 6 years I worked in London for the multinational companies Arthur Andersen LLP and Deloitte & Touche LLP.

In 2004 I returned to academic life and completed with a distinction the taught MSc course in Oceanography at the University of Southampton, based at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). I carried out my MSc research project with Dr. Brian Bett and Dr. David Billett. During the project I investigated the effects depth and oxygen concentration in the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone has on the distribution and abundance of megafauna on the Pakistan Margin. The data I used came from seabed survey photography (WASP) and trawl samples collected during the Arabian Sea Cruise Programme.

In October 2005 I started a PhD with Dr. Lawrence Hawkins, Dr. David Billett and Dr. Ian Hudson as part of the DEEPSEAS group at NOC. The title of my PhD is ‘Deep-sea ecophysiology – experimental approaches with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)’. This PhD project aims to explore the application of established physiology and ecotoxicology studies on shallow-water marine organisms to the deep-sea, using both in-situ (via SERPENT ROV access) and laboratory methods. In addition to developing deep-sea research techniques, it may be possible (through comparison with shallow-water studies) to obtain a better idea of how accurately shallow water organisms can be used as representatives for deep-sea animals.