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Beth Dunstan
Sea cliffs and green headland disappearing into low mist
About

Beth Dunstan

Researcher · Explorer · [FIELD / SPECIALISM]

A lone figure carrying a heavy pack along a mountain trail

Approaching the upper camp on the [REGION] traverse — a photograph that is more honest about this job than any portrait I own.

01Introduction

[CURRENT ROLE], [INSTITUTION], working on [RESEARCH AREA ONE] across three ocean basins.

I came to this work sideways. A masters that was meant to be about modelling turned into six months counting things in the rain, and I have been arranging my life around field seasons ever since. Today I lead a group of nine at [INSTITUTION], where we run long-term monitoring programmes in places that are logistically difficult and scientifically under-sampled.

The through-line is consistency. Most of what we know about change in these systems comes from somebody having measured the same thing, the same way, for long enough that the noise settles out. That work is slow, frequently dull, and almost impossible to fund — so a lot of my job is making it possible for other people to keep doing it.

The rest of the time I am in the water. I dive on closed-circuit rebreathers for survey work below fifty metres, I have spent a season on the ice, and I write here about the parts of the process that never reach a journal.

Areas of interest
  • 01[RESEARCH AREA ONE]
  • 02[RESEARCH AREA TWO]
  • 03Remote and long-duration fieldwork
  • 04Scientific diving and survey methods
  • 05Open data and reproducible ecology
  • 06Community-led monitoring
  • 07Science communication and film
  • 08Polar and deep-water logistics
02The route so far

My Journey

Positions, expeditions, qualifications and the occasional lucky break, in reverse order. Entries marked in turquoise are the ones that changed the direction of the work.

  1. 2026Position

    [CURRENT ROLE], [INSTITUTION]

    [CITY, COUNTRY]

    Leading a research group of nine working on [RESEARCH AREA ONE], with a field programme running across three ocean basins. The current focus is building long-term monitoring that outlives any single grant cycle — and putting the resulting data in the hands of the people who live alongside these systems.

    A diver surveying a wall of yellow snapper on a coral reef
    Survey work on the outer reef wall, [LOCATION].
  2. 2025Expedition

    Deep-water survey, [EXPEDITION NAME]

    [REGION]

    Six weeks aboard a research vessel running the first systematic survey of a mesophotic reef system between 40 and 90 metres. Mixed-gas diving, ROV transects and a great deal of weather. We came home with 340 hours of footage and a species list nobody expected.

    Shafts of sunlight falling through clear blue water
  3. 2024Award

    Research Fellowship, [FUNDING BODY]

    A five-year fellowship to develop low-cost monitoring methods that local teams can run without external support. The first instruments went into the water eight months later.

    A hand writing up notes in a field notebook
  4. 2023Expedition

    Polar field season, [STATION NAME]

    [REGION]

    A full season on the ice as part of a multi-institution programme. Under-ice sampling, long days, and a hard lesson in how much of remote science is really logistics, patience and looking after each other.

    Expedition tents pitched in a misty field at first light
    Camp at first light, three days before the weather closed in.
  5. 2022Position

    Senior Researcher, [INSTITUTION]

    Moved from postdoctoral work to a permanent research position, taking on supervision of graduate students and the design of the group's field programme.

  6. 2021Publication

    First lead-author paper in [JOURNAL]

    Four years of survey data, one very long revision cycle. The paper argued that recovery in these systems is far patchier than regional averages suggest — a result that has held up since.

    Fluorescence microscopy of stained cells in magenta and blue
  7. 2019–2021Position

    Postdoctoral Researcher, [INSTITUTION]

    Two years splitting time between the lab and a field site reached by an eight-hour boat journey. Built the survey protocol that most of my later work still runs on.

    The bow of a small wooden boat pointed across still water
  8. 2018Qualification

    PhD in [FIELD / SPECIALISM], [UNIVERSITY]

    Thesis: “[THESIS TITLE]”. Fourteen field seasons, three research vessels and an enduring affection for very early mornings.

    A dense pine forest under heavy fog
  9. 2016Expedition

    First expedition as science lead

    [REGION]

    A small, badly funded, thoroughly formative trip. We answered almost none of the questions we set out with and found three better ones instead.

    Two tents lit from within among tall pines at night
  10. 2015Qualification

    Scientific diver certification

    Qualified for closed-circuit rebreather and scientific survey diving, which opened up the depths where most of the interesting questions were sitting.

    Soft corals silhouetted against the sun from below the surface
  11. 2014Qualification

    MSc in [SUBJECT], [UNIVERSITY]

    A masters that was supposed to be about modelling and turned, decisively, into a career spent outdoors.

  12. 2012Position

    Where it started

    A volunteer field assistant post, counting things in the rain for six months. Still the best job interview I ever had.

    Sea cliffs and green headland disappearing into low mist

Earlier history, publications and a full CV are available on request.

Get in touch
Aerial view of dense forest meeting pale turquoise water

Field notes, research and expedition write-ups are collected in the journal.

Read the journal