Meet the Team
Our team of researchers are making important discoveries in coastal science. While everyone is working on their own projects, our interdisciplinary and collaborative lab means that we are all working towards a common goal and foster a collegiate and helpful environment. Read on to find out more.
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Dr Julie Anne Hope
Group Lead
I am an interdisciplinary scientist interested in the interactions between benthic biota, sediment and water around our coasts. My research, and that of my lab group, is focused on understanding coastal ecosystem environments, particularly in the face of anthropogenic stressors. We aim to understand and quantify the role of benthic biota in ecosystem metabolism, carbon storage and cycling, nutrient cycles and sediment dynamics.
I am especially interested in the role that microorganisms and fauna play in the exchange of materials across the sediment-water and sediment-air interface. Microorganisms such as microscopic algae and bacteria and infauna that mediate the resuspension, transport and deposition of sediment, contaminants (such as microplastics) and organic matter (biostabilisation) as well as the exchange of dissolved carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
I collaborate with a wide range of scientists from ecologists, to sedimentologists and geoscientists and numerical modellers and supervise and mentor a variety of UG, MSc and PhD students and interns on their scientific journey. I am a advocate for women in science and one of my primary goals as a PI is to create an environment where individuals thrive, not just survive.
Open to postgraduate supervision and collaborations.
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Melanie Chocholek
Research Fellow (2024-2026)
Melanie is a research fellow working part time (0.5 FTE) in the Hope laboratory on a philanthropically funded microplastics and heatwave project supported by the Marine March Initiative. Melanie also supports related research projects in this subject area e.g. Michael Vail's project. She has a wealth of experience in setting up and running large scale mesocosm studies and is focusing on the effects on diatom community dynamics due to these combined stressors.
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Michael Vail
PhD Student (2023-2026)
Michael graduated from the University of St Andrews with BSc in Biology and Earth Sciences in 2023 and is a third year PhD student investigating the interactive effects of multiple anthropogenic stressors on soft sediment estuarine communities and their functioning. He is interested in the downstream effects of industrial and agricultural activities on important though frequently overlooked systems. His work mainly revolves around agrochemical pollutants, microplastics, climate change, biogeochemical cycling, and community structure and function. Michael grew up in Seattle Washington before moving to Scotland for his undergraduate program where he has lived since 2019. Outside of mud Michael enjoys cooking, running, woodworking, and gardening.
Supervisors: Primary Supervisor - Dr Julie Hope (Scottish Oceans Institute), Secondary Supervisor - Prof David Paterson (Scottish Oceans Institute).
Other projects Michael is involved in:
Transition St Andrews community garden leader/volunteer
St Andrews practical conservation volunteer
SOI Seminar coordinator and beach clean coordinator
Green Shores volunteer – salt marsh restoration
St Andrews Biodiversity working group member
Dreel burn river fly monitoring
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Lyra Burgess
UG Student (2024-2028)
As an Environmental Earth Sciences student, I joined the Looking After Eden Vertically Integrated Project in September 2025, run by the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.
This opportunity allowed me to design and lead a research project monitoring microplastics levels in the Eden Estuary, with the help of the Hope Laboratory. My work involves using depositional sediment tubes to collect samples in the mudflats, filtering the sediment, and using microscopy to analyse the fascinating and troubling world of microplastics pollution. My project establishes a new direction in the Looking After Eden VIP by investigating these plastic contaminants, thereby deepening our understanding of local and global anthropogenic pressures.
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Mohammad Asif
PhD Student (2024-2027)
I hold a bachelor's degree in Zoology from the University of Karachi and a master's degree in wildlife ecology from Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. Recognizing the importance of quantitative skills in the field of ecology, I completed a second master's degree in 2023, in Statistical Ecology from the University of St Andrews, UK. Apart from my academic career, I have had the privilege of working with conservation and science organizations the IUCN, Snow Leopard Foundation and Hima Verte in Pakistan and most recently with Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute in Scotland. Being a conservation enthusiast from Pakistan, a country ranked among the most vulnerable to climate change, I have always been driven to focus my research on protecting threatened species. My PhD research focuses on assessing anthropogenic threats facing engendered freshwater dolphins in the highly managed Indus River of Pakistan. This project will cover assessment multiple threats like microplastics, underwater noise and reduced water flow due to barrages and dams on river and their potential impact on river dolphins.
Supervisors: Principal Supervisor - Dr Gill Braulik (Scottish Oceans Institute), Secondary Supervisors - Dr Sophie Smout (Scottish Oceans Institute), Dr Denise Risch (Scottish Association for Marine Science) and Dr Hope (Scottish Oceans Institute).
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Lauren Carl
PhD candidate (from Oct 2025), Msc student (2023 - 2024)
Lauren completed her Msc dissertation project in the Hope Laboratory in 2024. This project investigated the influence of disturbance in mudflats on carbon storage, reactivity and its release from the bed over subsequent tides.
Lauren has recently been awarded a Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland (MASTS) PhD studentship to return to the Hope laboratory in October 2025 to investigate carbon dynamics in mudflat systems.
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Tamara Darbar
PhD Student (2025-2028)
I’m a PhD researcher in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews. My research focuses on the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Scotland, using a two-part approach: first, through explanatory case studies to explore management practices and key lessons; and second, by conducting a Delphi study to identify and evaluate key performance indicators. I hold an MA in Sustainable Development from the University of St Andrews and an MSc in Conservation from University College London (UCL). My research draws on interdisciplinary methods to better understand how policy, science, and stakeholder perspectives shape conservation outcomes.
Supervisors: Primary - Dr Stojanovich (School of Geography and Sustainable Development), Secondaries - Dr Hope (Scottish Oceans Institute), Amie Oman and Eunice Pinn (Nature Scotland).
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Cathilyn McIntosh
PhD Student (2024-2027)
Cathi is a PhD candidate at St Andrews University, funded by the Jane Livley Stewart PhD Scholarship. Her research focuses on organic carbon reactivity in natural and managed saltmarsh–mudflat ecosystems across the UK and Europe, aiming to elucidate how management decisions influence the vulnerability of carbon stores and their implications for long-term storage and climate mitigation.
Cathi will soon undertake an internship with Natural England, applying her methodology in a new setting to inform the inclusion of saltmarshes in UK greenhouse gas reporting and quantify coastal wetland contributions to net-zero by 2050.
Cathi previously obtained her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and her master’s degree from Villanova University, both in Biology.
Supervisors: Primary - Prof William Austin (School of Geography and Sustainable Development), Secondary - Dr Julie Hope (Scottish Oceans institute).
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Sasha Calvert
Website Manager, UG dissertation student (2024)
Sasha Calvert graduated from the University of St Andrews in 2024, with a first class BSc in Ecology and Conservation. For her dissertation, she studied the impacts of glyphosate (a common herbicide) on benthic flora and fauna and associated functions.
She is now working towards publishing her findings, which she hopes will encourage others to include macrofauna in their stressor experiments and how their presence and activity may mediate ecosystem function during stressor exposure.
Sasha has since completed an MSc in Science Communication and Public Engagement at the University of Edinburgh, which she hopes to use to make the public as excited about the natural world (and protecting it!) as she is.
She also runs an Instagram account sharing all sorts of weird and wonderful facts about birds!
Alumni
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Grace Cutler
Intergrated Msc student (2022 - 2025), St Andrews Research Internship Scheme (StARIS) intern (2024)
I am an undergraduate biology student interested in studying carbon management and coastal ecosystems. I participated in a StaRIS internship with Hope Laboratory the summer of 2024, focusing on microplastics and heat effects on microalgae communities as well as the effects of disturbance on carbon fluxes in coastal ecosystems.
Between 2025/26 I will be taking part in an integrated Msc placement for one year with Project Seagrass, to help understand the UK’s local seagrass communities. The main aim of placement is to help improve local outreach and community relations with these vital ecosystems alongside expanding our current knowledge on UK seagrasses. I will continue with Julie as my mentor during this placement, before embarking on my honours dissertation project the following year.
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Emma Forbes
Msc dissertation student (2024-2025)
Emma is developing and testing a low-cost multi-sensor tag for use in estuarine environments. This tag has been developed previously for use on fishing vessels and will measure light, turbidity, chlorophyll a levels, temperature, pressure, conductivity and current speed and direction.
Supervisors: Dr Julie Hope, Dr Mark James and Dr Rene Swift (Scottish Oceans Institute).
Antonia Eveleigh
Msc Dissertation student (2024-2025)
Antonia is investigating the capture and retention of microplastics on different macroalgae species using a small recirculating hydraulic flume and image analysis. She will alter various parameters such as different polymer types, organic matter in the water column and relate the capture to different macroalgae characteristics including their shape, and extracellular polymeric substances on their fronds.
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Charlie Risbey (Alumni)
Scottish Universities Partnership for Environmental Research (SUPER) DTP - Research Experience Placement intern (2024)
I had the pleasure of working in The Hope Laboratory during the summer following my second-year as a BSc Biology student at the University of Bristol (2024), supported by NERC SUPER DTP Research Experience Placement funding.
I investigated ‘The effect of microplastics and heatwaves on benthic microorganism diversity and function’, with a focus on diatoms from the Tay estuary. I processed over 60 biofilm samples via cleaning and digestion techniques to produce permanent microscope slides for identification and contributed to a diatom species atlas for the Tay. I was also able to engage in local rock-pooling outreach activities and a variety of ongoing MSc projects, reflecting the diversity of research conducted in The Hope Laboratory and broadening my scientific experience.
Furthering my interest in environmental science and my love for St Andrews, I am looking forward to returning to the university to begin an MRes in the School of Geography investigating the ‘Development of rapid low-cost tools to quantify soil organic carbon’ supervised by Dr Smeaton and Dr McCarthy.
Max Scarbrow
Msc Alumni, 2024
Msc dissertation:
Ecological impacts of nutrient enrichment from a sewage outfall: An exploration of the taxonomic and functional changes on rocky shore communities
Melanie Downer
Msc Alumni, 2023
Msc dissertation: Microplastic pollution in relation to tourist intensity on the Western Antarctic Peninsula