Samantha Garrard

I am a research scientist in the Sea and Society group based at Plymouth Marine Laboratory. My work focuses on understanding the impact of marine plastic pollution on ecosystem service provision of highly productive marine systems around the globe. My current projects include assessing the impacts of plastic pollution in South America and SE Asia, and understanding the impact of plastic litter hotspots in the North Atlantic.

I am a regular contributor in science-policy engagement. For example, through participation in sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, the UK Treaty Dialogues convened by the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network (OPLN), the UK government and Multistakeholder dialogues on the Plastics Treaty, and through reports such as reviewer of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report: A Compass to End Plastic Pollution: Pathways to a New Plastics Economy. I am a member of the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, an international network of diverse, independent scientific and technical experts seeking to contribute with summaries and interpretations of scientific knowledge to decision makers and the public involved in the negotiations towards a global agreement to end plastic pollution.

I gained degrees in marine biology and aquatic resource management before completing a PhD based at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (affiliated with the Open University) in Ischia, Italy, where I studied the effect of ocean acidification on plant-animal interactions in a Posidonia oceanica system, using CO2 vents as a natural laboratory. I have since worked as an ecologist and ecotoxicologist, before specialising as a marine ecosystem services researcher, bridging the gap between the environmental and social sciences. With experience working across the globe on a wide range of habitats such as seagrass beds, mangroves, coral reefs, and estuaries, I now apply this knowledge to developing ecosystem services assessments, which can assess both the risk of anthropogenic stressors and the benefit of interventions to restore habitats.