Our all-star
CAsT
Learn from the best there is!
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Deeper Blue boasts an all-star crew of innovative, smart and ocean-focused professionals, who are making an impact in their field.
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Join our webinars to meet and greet our stars, and to gain exclusive insight to their knowledge and experiences.
PETE
CEGLINSKI
SEABIN CO-FOUNDER & CEO
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Paddling out to a once-pristine surf break, New South Wales man Pete Ceglinski shook his head at the rubbish floating past. Lately, as he’d ventured to exotic locales to surf, free dive, scuba dive and paddleboard, he’d noticed more and more rubbish marring the seas.
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It got Pete and his business partner Andrew thinking - we’ve rubbish bins on land, why not in the water?
So, in 2016 Pete and Andrew devised a plan to commercialise Seabin technology.
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“Seabin technology is innovative but simple at the same time,” he says. “It’s a cross between a pool skimmer and a rubbish bin - water comes in from the top and we pump it out the bottom and in the middle we catch the plastics and marine litter with a filter. Our theory is, if you’ve got rubbish bins on the land, why don’t we just put one in the water?”
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So far Seabins have been deployed in 53 countries, each day capturing more than 3.6 tonnes of marine litter and filtering over 500 million litres of water for microplastics, oil and more.
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Pete dreams of Seabins collecting rubbish in every harbour across the globe and, eventually, to remove the need for Seabin technology. But ultimately, Pete hopes his business will one day become redundant.
SID
HANDE
KABADIWALLA CONNECT FOUNDER & CEO
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Dream: To reduce the volume of waste sent to landfill by 70 per cent across the Indian subcontinent.
Dealing with waste in a highly wasteful world requires big ideas and creative solutions. Which is exactly what the award-winning social enterprise Kabadiwalla Connect aims to provide.
Siddarth Hande founded Kabadiwalla Connect to apply circular economy principles to waste management. His aim? To clean up developing city beaches and other areas while at the same time improving the lives of the cities’ most destitute.
Kabadiwalla Connect harnesses the work of the ‘street pickers’ who trawl through trash to sell, by mapping and formalising their work, and guaranteeing them outlets for the sale of the waste collected.
The result is more waste collected and higher earnings for those who need it most.
Siddarth is based in Chennai, India and is also a GIS expert, experienced in delivering high-quality data-driven research. He has held leadership roles in varied projects related to Urban Governance, Sustainability, Environment, Informality and Social Entrepreneurship.
JULIA
REISSER
OCEANOGRAPHER & FOUNDER OF ULUU
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Dream: A world free of plastic
When then-student oceanographer Julie Reisier stumbled across 20 dead turtles on a beach in Brazil, she was horrified to discover their stomachs were riddled with plastic. While devastated to imagine the suffering of the animals, she determined not to despair but to act.
That determination has seen her embark in education, research and work that has taken her across the globe. At each stage of her journey she’s learned more, deepened her scientific understanding and taken new approaches to the problem. Now she’s launched a startup with a bold vision - to rid the world of plastic.
Julia’s search for a biodegradable alternative to plastic saw her look to the sea for a solution, which she found through science, and in an unlikely place - seaweed.
She has launched the start up venture Uluu to produce a biopolymer from seaweed that she hopes will replace fossil-fuel-produced plastic with a biodegradable alternative.
“My career has given me the opportunity to participate in lots of adventures and really be on the frontline of creating a better future,” she says.
ANDREW
OUTHWAITE
FOR BLUE FOUNDER
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Dream: A healthy and thriving ‘Blue Economy’
Andrew Outhwaite dreams of a world where our oceans are not just a pretty playground or a resource from which to make a profit. In his dream future, the ocean is the source of meaningful, sustainable and planet-friendly jobs.
This long-time surfer and entrepreneur founded For Blue to foster a positive future for both the WA economy and the ocean itself. He hopes to steer us in the direction of a ‘Blue Economy’ by creating a culture of caring that maximises the long-term potential of both people and the sea.
Andrew believes science is key to reimagining a positive future for the ocean.
“The most amazing thing about the ocean is that there’s still so many questions there, and the way to investigate those questions is science,” he says.
“It’s the way of discovering what’s really out there, and what is the impact of our actions, and how can it be healthier.”
NICK
VEITCH
GEO OCEANS OPERATIONS DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER
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Imagine a job where you get to design, make and deploy mini submersible robots to work among fish, sharks and corals in remote seas. That’s everyday stuff for Geo Oceans operations director Nick Veitch.
Nick helped found Geo Oceans after a circuitous path of study and employment in marine science, business, aquaculture and chartered accounting.
The concept for Geo Oceans arose when Nick and two fellow marine scientists considered how best to survey, map and monitor the ocean floor, without using a human diver.They started small, simply towing a camera behind a boat to monitor seagrass.
But, with innovative thinking and daring, they’ve gone on to manufacture subsea remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that are disrupting the market with their nimble nature, small size and operating efficiencies. Their work ranges from checking and maintaining deep-sea infrastructure on oil-rigs, to working out the biomass of cryptic and camouflaged marine creatures like cuttlefish.
Nick relishes the challenge and diversity of his work.
“We might be minimising the amount of impact on coral habitats over in south-east Asia and the next day we might be preparing to do inspection work in west Africa or deploying a really small, low cost solution in South Australia,” he says.
STEPH
GABRIEL
OCEAN ZEN FOUNDER
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When Steph Gabriel got a gig working on a boat in the Caribbean she relished the chance to swim in the ocean every day.
But it wasn’t long until she began to worry about human impacts on the ocean. She saw rubbish floating by, and witnessed firsthand its devastating impacts on marine life.
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She wanted to make a difference to the ocean she loved so, back home in Australia and in the final year of a Environmental Science and Conservation degree, Steph launched OceanZen with the aim of ‘saving the ocean, one bikini at a time’.
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The OceanZen swimwear collection is made from a sustainable fabric that supports the removal of marine debris from our oceans. Using science and technology, the fabric is formed from nylon waste such as recycled plastic bottles and fishing nets that have been recovered from our oceans and recycled.
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“By regenerating waste, we’re not only making it new again but we’re saving a whole heap of precious, finite resources and energy whilst also reducing carbon emissions,” Steph says.
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“Our label is committed to our mission; to inspire, influence and empower our community of women to become conscious consumers and passionate about our ocean life.”
MADELINE
GREEN
MARINE SCIENTIST & FOUNDER OF OTLET
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Dream: To see an equitable ocean; one where ecosystems and species are adequately protected, livelihoods thrive and there is enough food for all.
As a marine ecologist Madeline Green noticed biological samples used for scientific research often went to waste at the end of a project. Imagine, she thought, if she could not only save them, but share them.
She was determined to take action. The result was the launch of Otlet - an online database that helps scientists, source, share and request biological samples.
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As a marine scientist Madeline never dreamed she’d found a company. Her research had focused largely on where and why sharks and rays move and using genetic tools to unravel the mystery.
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Following her passion for science and sea enables her to run a start up, while also working as a marine scientist.
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“Life’s too short to not do something you love and do something you’re passionate about,” she says.
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Madeline is convinced that science offers a wealth of career opportunities for people looking for careers in our seas. "Science plays a huge and critical role in how we manage, understand and conserve all species and ecosystems.”
JOHNNY
DEBNAM
TERRA AUSTRALIS PRODUCTIONS CO-FOUNDER
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Dream - Capturing and share stunning vision of the ocean deep.
As a deep sea-diver and ocean fan, Johnny and his best mates loved all things sea. So they started mucking around with cameras, venturing to far flung locations and obsessing over sharks and shipwrecks to film the world they loved.
The hobby sparked a passion that saw them launch an underwater filmmaking company whose vision has appeared on Discovery Channel, BBC and, among other things, a David Attenborough-narrated documentary.
As they’ve filmed, the Terra Australis' crew realised the role filmmaking can play in ocean science.
They’ve sent up drones to film mass schools of shark and monitor their response to electronic shark deterrents.
They tested the theory that sharks are attracted to increased heart rates by engineering a pig’s heart, placing it shark-infested water at the Abrolhos Islands and filming the sharks’ reactions. Spoiler alert - the sharks got up close and personal when the heart increased to mimicked that of a panicked prey.
For Johnny, working with technology in the ocean is a dream come true.
PLASTIC FREE JULY FOUNDER & PLASTIC FREE FOUNDATION
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Dream: A world free of plastic waste
You’ve heard of Plastic Free July right? It was the brainchild of Fremantle woman Rebecca Prince-Ruiz and is now recognised as one of the world’s leading environmental movements empowering people to reduce single-use plastic.
Rebecca’s work with the not-for-profit Plastic Free Foundation aims to bring the public and business together with the vision of a world without plastic waste.
She has a Bachelor of Science with 25 years of experience in environmental and waste management, community engagement, and sustainability behaviour change.
She believes we all can all take action to reduce our impact.
Rebecca is a regular media commentator, public speaker and co-author of Plastic Free: The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why It Matters.
She lives near the sea in Fremantle with her family.
REBECCA
PRINCE-RUIZ
ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ENGINEER AT MITIGADO
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Sarah Woods researches the marine environment all across the globe looking at what regulations are in place to protect the ocean.
She also develops environmental impact assessments and and conducts studies looking at the effects of the offshore industry’s activities on the marine environment.
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By developing procedures that can be implemented to prevent or minimise environmental impacts, Sarah assists companies with gaining environmental approvals from the government required to undertake their offshore activities, and helps them meet their environmental obligations.
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Sarah’s advice to young people at school or who are just starting out their career: work hard, look for new opportunities, embrace them, and you will be rewarded with choices.
SARAH
WATSON
HIVE VISUALISATION MANAGER & CURTIN UNIVERSITY RESEARCH ENGINEER
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Andrew Woods helps us to see underwater, using complex technologies to reveal long-forgotten shipwrecks or deep-sea oil and gas infrastructure.
Andrew uses visualisation, stereoscopic 3D imaging, 3D reconstruction, 3D cameras and displays, video electronics, underwater vehicles (ROVs), and engineering software development to both reach and reveal underwater locations.
The Curtin University research engineer for the Centre for Marine Science and Technology uses the complex mix of technological applications for the offshore oil and gas industries, and for maritime archaeology.
He was the technology lead on the Sydney-Kormoran Project which surveyed the wrecks of HMAS Sydney (II) and HSK Kormoran in 2015, which sank off Shark Bay after a infamous World War II battle.
He also worked as imaging lead for the survey of the wreck of HMAS AE1 in 2018 and, in 2017, he was recognised as one of Australia's Most Innovative Engineers by Engineers Australia.