Welcome Edel to the Sea Alarm Team!

We are very happy to announce a new arrival to the Sea Alarm Team, Edel Shanahan has joined us in Brussels as of September.

Edel is originally from Ireland and holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Trinity College Dublin and a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Germany. She also spent time working and conducting research at the Benthic Ecology Unit at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel.

She began her career working as a project manager for Nature Trust (Malta), leading the sea turtle rehabilitation centre which gave her hands-on experience of how to deal with injured turtles, as well as dolphins and other wildlife. Upon moving to Brussels in 2018, she deepened her knowledge of environmental policy and campaigning by working for the WWF European Policy Office. There she focused on communications for biodiversity and agriculture both in Europe and beyond.

Edel joins us from IUCN Europe, where she was responsible for communications, policy and stakeholder engagement with the EU institutions, authorities, industries and NGOs. She organised a number of events and workshops which brought together voices from all sides of the debate, particularly in the areas of global deforestation, biodiversity policy and food and farming systems. She represented IUCN on the European Commission’s Expert Platform on Deforestation and Forest Degradation and also took the lead on communications for IUCN Europe.

We are very excited to start working with Edel, whose varied experience in different fields will be a great benefit to our team. With her appointment, the Sea Alarm core team is restored to 4 people after the departure of Christophe Blazy earlier this year.

A warm welcome Edel!