Professor Laurence Mee will become the new director of SAMS , one of the oldest marine science organisations in the world. He will be taking up the new position in September. Professor Mee is currently the Director of the Marine Institute at the University of Plymouth and has an international reputation for his work in marine policy.

 Laurence’s current research focuses on the multidisciplinary study of coupled social and ecological systems and the use of this knowledge for decision making.

He received his PhD in Chemical Oceanography for the University of Liverpool following studies of tropical coastal lagoons in Mexico. He then worked for 10 years in the National Autonomous University of Mexico where he was instrumental in establishing ship-based research. For the next six years he was Head of the Marine Environmental Studies Laboratory of IAEA-MEL in Monaco where he developed assessment tools and standards and was engaged in policy development for UNEP. In 1993 he became the founding coordinator of the GEF Black Sea Environmental Programme in Istanbul before returning to academia in 1998. The same year he was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation. Laurence recently coordinated European Lifestyles and Marine Ecosystems, a €2.5M 14-country LOICZ associated EU project. He also continues oceanographic research in the Black Sea and other shelf seas as well as providing policy advice to governments and NGOs.