riley elliott
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Communicating Science at a public entertainment level to improve our understanding of the world around us
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Biography
My entire life has revolved around nature and my fascination with it. This has taken me from a school kid playing with pet animals, to a traveller of over 60 countries, for fun, research or exploration. After 10 years of tertiary education, my specialty now revolves around sharks, currently through a PhD at the University of Auckland NZ. I have worked and help run the South African Oceans Research Institute, teaching undergraduates and marine enthusiasts the skills required for marine research, particularly shark research on Great Whites. As an avid surfer and diver, I have always been on the forefront of the shark world. The inherent fear we have of sharks, drove me to explore their world, resulting in a skill set not only involved with research, but also ecotourism, free diving without cages amongst 25 different species of shark around the world. My understanding of the marine environment through tertiary education, combined with my passion for the wild, has resulted in a desire to share the underwater world and its inhabitants with the general public. A large majority of my time now is dedicated to public communication of science. I regularly speak at schools, conferences, corporate events, social events, have given a TedX speech, done two Discovery Channel Shark Week documentaries, filmed my own 10 part TV series on sharks (now selling internationally), published an autobiographical book on my life and sharks, have several social media sites sharing live feeds of my tagged sharks and continual shark research, established my own charity to fund shark research (www.sustainableoceansociety.co.nz), have displays at several aquariums, provided content for Microsoft, ESPN, Discovery Channel Daily Planet, National Geographic and many more public forums, all with the aim of changing the mass appeal of fear around sharks. WHY? Well sharks are key apex predators that have maintained the health of our marine ecosystem for over 400 million years, yet we have wiped out 90% of the worlds sharks in just 30 years because of the shark fin trade. I want the next generation to have an ocean full of fish, like our generations have been lucky enough to utilize.
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Areas of Expertise (3)
Sharks
Marine Research
Documentary Natural History Film
Affiliations (3)
- University of Auckland
- University of Otago
- Sustainable Oceans Society Charity
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Languages (1)
- English
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