Above’s Destructive Shadow

Dr. Bethan Lang is a Senior Sycomore scientist and our Lead Marine Scientist. Bethan is a marine biologist from the UK, who completed her PhD a stone’s throw from the Great Barrier Reef in Townsville, Australia. Here, Bethan studied the impacts of climate change on the infamous coral-feeding crown-of-thorns starfish, while also assisting with research projects on the ecology of epaulette sharks and other fishes.

Bethan has also worked on kelp and seagrass restoration and seahorse conservation projects in Sydney, as well as coral reef conservation projects in Indonesia, Madagascar and Honduras. Bethan is an avid diver, sailor, and general ocean lover.

Xiaoyan Zhou holds a Ph.D in physical geography from the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research at East China Normal University. She’s currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Padova, where she focuses on coastal environmental studies.

Her addresses key environmental challenges in coastal regions, which play vital roles in filtering pollutants from land, buffering extreme marine events, and providing essential habitats for aquatic life. She applies an interdisciplinary approach, combining fieldwork, hydrodynamics, experimental analysis and biodiversity assessment.

Her work has resulted in 14 publications in peer-reviewed journals in the related field. With a strong scientific foundation and the ability to synthesize knowledge across disciplines, she is committed to addressing pressing marine environmental issues and to contributing meaningfully to diverse marine science projects.

Dr. Keerthi Sasikumar is a Climate Scientist with a PhD focused on understanding ocean-atmospheric interactions under warming scenario, particularly how ocean warming drives large-scale climate variability and extreme events. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral researcher at the School of Atmospheric Sciences, SYSU, China, where she studies how atmospheric changes affect solar radiation patterns to better understand and harness renewable energy potential.

Beyond academia, Keerthi has worked extensively on climate risk and climate finance projects, collaborating with corporate clients to quantify potential financial impacts of future climate scenarios. As a climate risk analyst, she has supported businesses develop models to assess the potential business implications of climate-related risks and opportunities.

She is particularly interested in environmental challenges where marine systems intersect with human decision-making. Her work centres on translating complex ocean and climate science into clear, actionable insights that drive practical solutions through interdisciplinary collaboration.

I’m a Physical Oceanographer with a strong background in climate science and environmental research, with a particular focus on polar regions. My expertise spans sea-air-ice interactions, ocean dynamics, and climate data analysis, contributing to both academic research and applied oceanography.

My oceanography background has equipped me with broad knowledge of marine science across diverse disciplines, including Biology, Geology, Physics, Chemistry, and Human-Ocean interactions.

Dr. Esther Uzoma Kadiene is one of Sycomore’s Marine scientists. She is a marine and environmental biologist from Nigeria who holds dual PhDs in Marine Biology from National Taiwan Ocean University and in Environmental Biology, Population Biology & Ecology from Université de Lille, France. Her doctoral research examined heavy metal toxicity (especially cadmium) on calanoid copepods, comparing species and sex-specific sensitivity, bioaccumulation pathways (including a novel demonstration of oral uptake from water), life-history traits, gene expression patterns, and multigenerational effects. The work resulted in multiple publications in Q1 journals including Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Chemosphere, and Scientific Reports.

Dr. Kadiene has led applied field projects on seaweed resource exploration and identification in Nigerian coastal waters and the development of sustainable aquaculture and fisheries in Delta State, involving community surveys, water and sediment quality analysis, and practical recommendations for local fish farmers. In 2025 she completed the UNESCO-IOC International Traineeship (Italy) on satellite-based monitoring of coastal and inland water quality for climate resilience, ecosystem management, and sustainable ocean governance. She is also a certified Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) Operator and JNCC-certified Marine Mammal Observer (MMO).

As a Lecturer in the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria, she supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students and has established international research collaborations with institutions in Taiwan, France, Italy and the United States of America. Dr. Kadiene is passionate about bridging rigorous science with real-world marine conservation, pollution assessment, and blue-economy solutions. She is a diver currently in training and an ocean advocate.