Professor Alex Rogers
Alex is a Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. He has a Bachelor of Science and PhD in marine biology from the University of Liverpool and 20 years experience in research.
Alex is internationally recognized for his expertise in deep-sea ecology. He has also worked extensively with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations on impacts of human activities and climate change on marine ecosystems, particularly the high seas, deep-water ecosystems and coral reefs. Dr Rogers has published 59 peer-reviewed papers, 12 book chapters, and 35 reports for various bodies including: Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA), UN Division of Oceans and Law of the Sea (UN-DOALOS), UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the G8 Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE International). At present, Alex is undertaking research and fieldwork exploring seamount, coral and chemosynthetic ecosystems around the world. He is also Scientific Director of the International Programme on State of the Ocean (IPSO), an NGO that is specifically analyzing current impacts on marine ecosystems globally.
On Synchronicity Earth:
“I think Synchronicity Earth’s role is really trying to connect funders, foundations, donors and anyone who has the financial means to support work on the oceans and other ecosystems with people who really need funding to try and make a difference in many of these areas of conservation. What I particularly like is that Synchronicity Earth really think about what they are supporting and funding and the result of that has been a focus on some areas which other people have neglected – in terms of funding – but which are incredibly important.”
An Interview with Alex
“One of the major problems we have is that people don’t recognise the relevance of the oceans to them: they don’t know what’s in there, they have no idea that there are these hugely diverse ecosystems which are performing very important functions and essentially supporting the whole of the Earth’s life support system. This is something we constantly come up against, certainly when dealing with things like deep-sea bottom trawling, climate change impacts on the ocean, and a whole variety of other issues.”