Emma Cavan

Dr. Emma Cavan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London’s Faculty of Natural Sciences. Her research focuses on marine ecosystems' role in the global carbon cycle, particularly how climate change and fishing impact ocean carbon sinks. She leads the Cavan Lab (www.thecavanlab.com), investigating Antarctic krill, zooplankton fecal pellets, and fisheries' effects on carbon sequestration.

Education: PhD in biological oceanography (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, 2016), followed by postdoctoral research in Australia and the UK before joining Imperial’s faculty in 2024.

Key research interests include polar ecosystems, blue carbon habitats, and fisheries management strategies. Current projects include NERC-funded PARTITRICS (particle respiration modeling) and ERC-funded SEA-Quester (polar carbon cycling). Collaborations span institutions like the University of Birmingham (Enhanced Rock Weathering) and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies.

Notable contributions include quantifying Antarctic krill's carbon sequestration equivalence to coastal blue carbon systems and analyzing fisheries' disruption of ocean carbon sinks. Her team includes PhD student Stephanie Zhang and postdocs like Sam Macaulay.

Labs/Teams: Cavan Lab (Silwood Park Campus), part of Imperial's Grantham Institute and Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet. Active in interdisciplinary research networks like Earth Observation Network and Ecosystems & Environment initiatives.