Turning research into marine action

Born and raised in Germany, Verena Schrameyer’s career has taken her across the US, Australia and Europe, where she has contributed to both academia and applied marine projects. With a strong background in coral reefs, seagrass meadows and ecosystem-based management, she now drives initiatives at DHI headquarters that bridge science, innovation and sustainable marine management. Her work focuses on blue biodiversity – the variety and resilience of life in the oceans – and she aims to inspire local catalysts to drive the next chapter of ocean conservation at DHI.

You spent the early part of your career in academia, focusing on research in tropical ecosystems. What motivated you to transition from academia to applied environmental solutions at DHI? 

In my academic career, I always found myself in projects that were partially fundamental research-orientated but with a straight link to answering the question on how our changing world and how societal utilisation affects our marine ecosystems. It frustrated me that the academic output, most of the time at least, was delivered as a publication that was sent out ‘into the universe’ without knowing that it surely will make a difference. All the pieces of knowledge that academia is producing are inherently important – that is what the applied science world is built upon, but we need to push a bit more to bring the latest and greatest into action. That really motivated me to join DHI and leave my role in academia behind.

How has working across different countries shaped your approach to marine biodiversity and conservation?

I think it certainly shaped my awareness that actions and motivations surrounding marine conservation are partially culturally driven. It needs individualised approaches on how you can convince people to come onboard with it really. I got to know about different ecosystems in the various places where I joined fieldwork campaigns and learned how marine biodiversity-related problems could be assessed and managed. 

Can you share a project that has been particularly meaningful or memorable to you and why? 

I will never forget my experiences with TropWATER (James Cook University's Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research) in Queensland where we assessed deepwater seagrass meadows while writing up my PhD thesis (had to finance me somehow).

I measured multiple light parameters in deepwater seagrass meadows to define the optimal light environment and establish threshold conditions for dredging management. During low tide, I would be running my statistics and writing different sections of my PhD thesis. At the right tidal conditions, we were cramped on a tiny boat with gear and metres of cables, working long hours sampling various sites where I measured water column profiles around Lizard Island in Australia.

At one point, we had to hectically get our divers in the boat and retrieve all the gear in the middle of a campaign as a Tigershark was circling around the boat. But all these crazy data collections served well by defining light thresholds embedded in a feedback monitoring programme that was put in place to manage a large dredging project for a harbour development. It was truly fulfilling to know that all the efforts made it to the real world for marine conservation conscious management of a marine infrastructure project.

If you weren’t working in marine ecology, what’s something else you could see yourself doing?

I actually set up my own clay studio with the ambition to open it to the public but then Corona hit. I guess it is the creative side of me that is having great ideas for alternative paths sometimes. In times of true frustration (although limited), I am playing with the peaceful thought of opening a bakery. I am a sourdough lover and have a passion for baking crazy cakes.