Meet the Office

Marie-Lise Schläppy, Science Operations Manager

Marie-Lise Schläppy joined Reef Check Australia as the Science Operations Manager in January 2009. She is a marine biologist with an Honours degree from James Cook University (Australia) and a PhD from Bremen University (Germany). Marie-Lise has been involved in coral reef monitoring projects since 1998 in Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Fiji. She has also worked in several areas of research and aquaculture on sponges and sponge-associated microbes, giant clams and pearl oysters.

Having been a volunteer herself Marie-Lise is committed to helping volunteers develop their skills while ensuring that the science at Reef Check Australia remains of the best possible standard. She spends much of her time collaborating with coral reef scientists and managers interested in using the Reef Check data for scientific purposes.

Jennifer Loder, SEQ Co-ordinator

Jenn is the newest member of our team and she will head up our SEQ regional office, based in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Whilst managing the regional survey monitoring, she will also develop and market Reef Check Australia business and education opportunities and support the expansion of our programs.

Jenn holds a GDipSci in Marine Biology from James Cook University and a MSc in Environmental Science from Florida International University. Her master's research analysed the effectiveness of different communication techniques to increase public awareness about local marine conservation issues in South Florida and prompt participation in simple, concrete actions to limit personal impacts. Inspired by her first Indo-Pacific diving experience in Palau, Jenn moved to Australia to expand her marine biology knowledge and to pursue a career that blends science and education to protect coral reefs.

Paul Markey, Project Officer

Paul Markey has recently taken on the role of project officer for the 2010 survey season. Paul graduated from Colorado State University with a BSc in wildlife biology. When free from study he logged hours diving in the Denver aquarium whilst cleaning, feeding, and performing dive shows.  In 2007 Paul was involved in coral monitoring projects in the Seychelles collecting coral and invert data for the local MPA. Paul’s last position in the dive industry was working as a DM on Ningaloo reef and volunteering his spare time to help out with manta research. Paul is excited about the developing survey season and the opportunity to collaborate with RCA’s elite volunteers and work as part of the Reef Check Australia team.

Agnes Rouchon, Office Volunteer

Agnes holds a BSc in Marine Biology from Laval University, Canada. She is currently doing her Masters in Conservation Biology at James Cook University. Meanwhile she is volunteering some of her time to help us with office jobs such as survey reports and website management.

Daniel and Robbie Wisdom, Office Volunteers

Daniel is helping us with our photos database. He uses Lightroom to organize and improve survey photos so we can use this huge ressource more efficiently. While Robbie is of invaluable help by identifying which grants we can apply for.

Meghan Kidd and Simone Sheela, Office Volunteers

Meghan and Simone are both 3rd year journalist students at James Cook University. They are helping us with everything related to communication and marketing.

Dave Henry, Office Volunteer

Dave's main task is to maintain the contact database and the volunteer certification database but he is also helping with many other tasks

Louise Yates, Office Volunteer

Louise tracks lost members from the contact database for us. She also helps with Reef Check data quality control.

Wei Xian Yang, Office Volunteer

Yang is our IT savior and takes care of the surveys database as well as any other IT matters.