Duration of Internship: July – September 2026

Qualifications
B.Sc. Marine Biology, University of Plymouth, England (2018 – 2022)

Thalia completed an 11-week internship with MERLab, participating in a wide range of activities across multiple ongoing projects, allowing her to further develop abilities as a scientific diver, improving boat/field skills and gaining more experience in the lab and in computer analysis.

She assisted in restoring Posidonia oceanica meadows through the RESPOSCY project, creating coconut fibre mats and scientific diving to collect, sort, transplant and monitor the sites. Also, monitoring the health of the meadows in the lab through measuring biometrics. Other scientific diving activities included monitoring sponges for the IASUS project and taking photo-quadrats for the INVASIVES project. She also analysed photo-quadrats using CPCe software for the CLIMAREST project.

Thalia also assisted in BRUV surveys, surfcasting surveys (testing the use of magnets to reduce bycatch), creating lionfish traps to support management of invasive species and writing a literature review for the Life PROMETHEUS project.

She also regularly participated in boat surveys, deploying oceanographic instruments such as CTDs, mobile PAM systems, turbidity sensors and collecting water samples. And an important part of her internship involved macrofauna sorting in the lab, for ecological monitoring of aquaculture.

On the last day of her internship, she participated in turtle dissections, carrying out gut-content analysis to monitor the ingested marine litter. She also created social media content about various tasks and projects, further confirming, for her, the importance of science communication and public engagement.

“This internship has been an incredible experience, I enjoyed every minute and it has strengthened my passion for marine research and conservation as well as my confidence as an early career scientist. It has also been lovely getting to know, learning from and collaborating with the MER team and fellow interns. Thank you for such a wonderful experience — I hope to see you all again soon!” – Thalia.

Contact: thalia.rossmb@outlook.com / @thalia_marinebio