Our World-Underwater Scholarship

The Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society is a non-profit, educational organisation whose mission is to promote educational activities associated with the underwater world. It has offered scholarships for over 35 years. owuscholarship.org

INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN SCHOLAR HANNAH DOUGLAS

Iam thrilled to have been selected as the 2022

European Our World-Underwater Scholar. Growing up in the seaside village of Kilcoole on the east coast of Ireland, I had a childhood filled with adventure.

We spent our free time as a family, exploring rockpools, kayaking with the local club and hiking in the mountains. While snorkelling as a child, I found a tiny sea-gooseberry, a spherical comb jelly with lines of iridescent hairs along its sides beating in rhythm. The pulsating light that it produced hinted at the existence of a luminous, magical world in the deep sea. Seeing it floating just in front of my mask was like meeting an alien for the first time.

At 15 I completed my Open Water course with Willie Siddall from Ocean Divers in Dunlaoghaire, at the end of which I experienced my first boat dive off Dalkey Island. That dive changed my entire perspective on life. I realised that my experience of the airy, gravitybound terrestrial world was incredibly limited. Looking out to sea, I no longer saw a flat, barren expanse of water, but a transparent film separating this world from a vibrant underwater realm. There, I could glide weightless, soaring over boulders with one steady inhalation.

This connection between movement and the breath fascinates me. During my gap year, I spent time in India training as a yoga teacher and gained a deeper understanding of the importance of the breath in movement and mindfulness, also a fundamental concept in scuba.

My next experience of diving was in the crystal-clear waters off Gozo. On a night dive in Marsalforn Harbour, I was selectively approached by an inquisitive octopus. Looking into its eyes as it wrapped a tentacle around my finger, I felt more the observed than the observer. We encountered five octopuses on that dive and each one moved around my companions to reach out to my hand. Surfacing in the darkness, my instructor dubbed me the ‘Octopus Whisperer’. I was completely in awe and baffled by the experience. Later, I realised that as the only cold-water diver in my group, I had been the only one not wearing gloves and the octopuses were likely attracted to the heat from my hands.

The following year, having survived the rigours of Rescue Diver training in the November Irish Sea, I travelled to Thailand to train and work as a Divemaster. In and around Koh Phi Phi Ley I saw not only the staggering beauty of tropical marine life but also the delicate balance of these ecosystems and the negative impacts of pollution and overfishing. I resolved to work towards the protection and conservation of marine areas.

Returning to Ireland, I began my Marine Science degree in NUI Galway and joined the university scuba club. From Galway docks, on calm days, we could take a RIB out to the Aran Islands to dive among the kelp forests that circle the sea cliffs. Last summer I worked as a science communications content creator for the Marine Institute and completed my Open Water Instructor training in Kerry. During university I also was lucky enough to get to train as a Scientific Diver, subsequently using this training to conduct research on Fireworks anemones, Pachycerianthus multiplicatus for my thesis project.

I hope someday to conduct research into benthic ecology and marine microbiology. However, I have come to realise that many of the problems faced by our oceans don’t necessarily stem from a lack of scientific understanding. For this reason, I intend to plunge into the world of science communication and policymaking and learn more about sharing the marine world with others and how to inspire the protection of it. However, right now, I am finishing my degree and starting the exciting process of planning for my year as the European OWUSS Scholar. n