Roland Proud is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of St Andrews and a member of the Pelagic Ecology Research Group (PERG). He holds a PhD in Marine Ecology, MPhys in Physics and Astrophysics and an MRes in Ecosystem based Management of Marine Systems.
Roland carries out research on the ecology and biology of zooplankton and micronekton that live in the open ocean (the pelagic realm). This relies on sampling zooplankton/fish using both scientific echosounders and netting techniques. Gathered data are analysed to map the distribution of zooplankton and fish and to make estimates of their abundance/biomass.
In the MiMeMo project, Roland is a postdoctoral researcher. He will collect, collate (via a collaboration with AWI) and analyse hydroacoustic data, to make inferences concerning the vertical distribution of mesopelagic fish and plankton. Acoustic data will be used as either fitting data (parameter optimization in models) or as driving data for the models (i.e. directly forcing or prescribing change in distribution). These data will also be linked with animal tracking data through collaborations with the UK Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU).
