Profile

Professor Alan Jamieson

Started at UWA: 2021

BSc (hons) Design for Industry, PhD Zoology

Founding Professor of the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research centre

I am a deep-sea scientist and explorer. I specialize in what, where and why organisms live in the very deepest parts of the oceans. I use some pretty unique technologies to record these data including diving in a full ocean depth submersible.

I record the biodiversity, habitats and genetic connectivity of the deepest living animals. I am currently working on expanding this work into the Indian Ocean. My team works on everything from described many new species, molecular adaptation to high pressure, technologies for exploring these depths and how all these deep species are related to one another and their shallower counterparts.

I am most passionate about going to sea, diving in submersibles, and seeing all these wonderful things first hand and for the first time.

My first activity as a UWA professor was to do multiple dives in a submersible to over 6 kilometres deep in the Wallaby Zenith Fracture Zone off WA.

I wrote the book The Hadal Zone: Life in the Deepest Oceans that documents everything we know about life greater than 6km underwater.  I have also published about 120 scientific papers on deep-sea biology and technology.

My current work at UWA is support by a multi-million dollar award from the Minderoo Foundation.

Achievements and awards

Awards include the Eurythenes plasticus plastic project “Call it plastic” in collaboration with BBDO Dusseldorf, GmbH and WWF-Germany that won a series of high-profile awards at:

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Cannes Lions Festival for Creativity 2021

1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze

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German Advertising Industry Gala 2021

3 gold, 8 silver and 5 bronze

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2020 EPICA awards for creativity judged by the press

2 gold and 1 bronze

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2020 EuroBest awards for creative and effective branded communications

Grand Prix, 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze

In the media

Geib, C. (2021) Going Deep With Hadal Zone Expert Alan Jamieson
Jul 2021 – Nautilus
World’s deepest octopus captured on camera.
May 2020 – BBC
Victor Vescovo: Adventurer reaches deepest ocean locations.
Sep 2019 – BBC
Microplastics found in stomachs of deep-sea creatures – study.
Mar 2019 – Sky News
Scientists discover 3 new species of snailfish in oceans deepest depths.
Sep 2018 – Sky News
The last of the great explorers
Sep 2019 – The Economist
The World’s deepest ocean trenches are packed with pollution.
Feb 2017 – The Economist
Creatures in the deepest trenches of the sea are eating plastic
Feb 2019 – National Geographic

Contact