Senior Project Scientist
At the ripe old age of 6 years, Stephanie was already convinced that she would one day become a marine biologist. She went on to study biology at the University of Kiel and spent her summers working as a volunteer at the sea turtle conservation project La Tortuga Feliz on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica between 2007 and 2009.
Stephanie’s fascination for the shelled sea creatures took her to Cape Verde in 2011, were she conducted field work for her master thesis dealing with the population structure of the local loggerhead population and its associated parasites.
Between 2010 and 2017, Stephanie worked at the Zoological Museum Kiel as a collection specialist and PhD student. To share her knowledge and passion for any living creature, she taught different zoology classes, engaged in exhibition planning and science communication events.
After finishing her dissertation in the area of functional morphology in 2017, Stephanie joined the Olive Ridley Project Team as a sea turtle biologist to study the sea turtle population in Lhaviyani Atoll, retrieve ghost gear in the area and engage in education of local communities and tourists alike.
Following her one year in the field in Maldives, Stephanie moved back to Germany to focus on research project development with a special interest in sea turtle behaviour, and external parasites and epibionts of sea turtles. She is currently the Senior Project Scientist, managing the ORP databases and research projects, as well as working with resort marine biologists, raising awareness and consulting with the Maldivian government on issues of turtle conservation.