- Currently: Site Management Administrator, ICON
- Formerly: Post-doctoral researcher in the Changing Oceans Research Group 2019-2020
Biography:
I am a marine ecologist involved in the ATLAS European project (https://www.eu-atlas.org/).
I am working in different projects:
- Conduct sorting and taxonomic identification of deepwater macrobenthic collections from the west coast of Scotland: Logachev Mounds and Darwin Mounds. I use the taxonomy as a key to understand the ecological processes that take place in those habitats as well as linking them to hydrodynamic features of the area to understand the ecological dynamics.
- Collaborate with Dr. Vad in ATLAS on experimental methods and to develop hypotheses on ecophysiological responses of deep-sea sponges to oil spills. Studying the effect of MOS (Marine Oil Snow) on the model sponge Halichondria panicea, working on hydrocarbon analyses using GC-MS methods.
- Studying potential relationships between the cold-water Lophelia pertusa and its associated organisms.
I obtained my B.Sc. in Biology in 2012 at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain, where I specialised in Zoology. During my Bachelor I did a Erasmus year at Université Libre de Bruxelles (Brussels, Belgium) corresponding to the first year of a Master in Marine Biology. After graduating, I enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Nematology (EUMAINE) coordinated by the Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium). This program prepared me well for studying and working in diverse academic and cultural background since I followed courses at the Ghent University (Belgium), Universidade de Évora (Portugal) and Universität Bielefeld (Germany).
I did my PhD at Heriot Watt University (Edinburgh) studying the resilience and dynamics of MOS (Marine Oil Snow) and marine bacteria to a potential oil spill at the North Sea. This program belonged to the NERC Centre Doctoral Training in Oil and Gas and I thus received a privileged training in this area.
Dr. Laura Durán Suja
Contact: ldurans@ed.ac.uk
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Duran_Suja
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/laura-durán-suja
changingoceans.com 