Dr Matt Wale

Biography	Matthew Wale PhD FHEA is a Lecturer in Life Sciences within the school of Applied Sciences. As a marine biologist, he has focused his career progression towards understanding the ways marine invertebrates interact with their environment and how these interactions are affected by anthropogenic drivers. He has used the information gained through this research to communicate human impacts on the marine environment and to influence the generation of policies to protect these animals and their ecosystems. Following a BSc(Hons) in Marine Biology from the University of Plymouth, Matt completed an MSc via research at the University of Bristol studying the effects of shipping noise on the shore crab Carcinus maenas (supervised by Prof Andy Radford and Prof Steve Simpson). In 2018 he attained his PhD from Edinburgh Napier University, supervised by Prof Karen Diele and Prof Rob Briers, investigating the effects of anthropogenic noise playbacks on marine invertebrates. In 2019 Matt became a postdoctoral researcher for the Microlanding project, a collaboration between Edinburgh Napier and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, investigating crustacean gill microbiomes at the water-air interface and their role in the evolution towards terrestrialization. He joined Napier’s teaching staff in 2022 as a university tutor and became a lecturer later that year. RESEARCH Matt’s research interests centre around the interactions between marine invertebrates and the changing environment, with particular emphasis on the effects of anthropogenic stressors. He an advocate for multimethod, interdisciplinary research where an organism’s responses are assessed at multiple levels of biological organisation. Performing research in this way highlights cryptic responses, reveals response interactions, and provides a more complete understanding of the organism’s response pathway. Additionally, he strongly supports multiple-driver research, where responses from many organisms to multiple drivers are combined to gain the most accurate representation of how marine communities are responding to environmental change and anthropogenic drivers. Matt’s research has mainly focused on the effects of anthropogenic noise which he began researching during his MSc(R) at the University of Bristol. Since then, he has published actively on the effects of noise on marine life, several papers reaching high impact and regard within the scientific community. He has established himself as an expert on the effects of noise on marine invertebrates, regularly contributing as a reviewer to international publications and government documentation, and as a member of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland Aquatic Stressor Forum Steering Group. TEACHING Matt is currently a Lecturer in Life Sciences and a member of the Centre of Conservation and Restoration Science. He teaches a variety of modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across the School of Applied Sciences, with a current focus on marine biology and human-environment interactions. He leads the 3rd year Marine Biology module, and the MSc module Humans and Wildlife.

Biography

Matthew Wale PhD FHEA is a Lecturer in Life Sciences within the school of Applied Sciences. As a marine biologist, he has focused his career progression towards understanding the ways marine invertebrates interact with their environment and how these interactions are affected by anthropogenic drivers. He has used the information gained through this research to communicate human impacts on the marine environment and to influence the generation of policies to protect these animals and their ecosystems.

Following a BSc(Hons) in Marine Biology from the University of Plymouth, Matt completed an MSc via research at the University of Bristol studying the effects of shipping noise on the shore crab Carcinus maenas (supervised by Prof Andy Radford and Prof Steve Simpson). In 2018 he attained his PhD from Edinburgh Napier University, supervised by Prof Karen Diele and Prof Rob Briers, investigating the effects of anthropogenic noise playbacks on marine invertebrates. In 2019 Matt became a postdoctoral researcher for the Microlanding project, a collaboration between Edinburgh Napier and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, investigating crustacean gill microbiomes at the water-air interface and their role in the evolution towards terrestrialization. He joined Napier’s teaching staff in 2022 as a university tutor and became a lecturer later that year.

RESEARCH

Matt’s research interests centre around the interactions between marine invertebrates and the changing environment, with particular emphasis on the effects of anthropogenic stressors. He an advocate for multimethod, interdisciplinary research where an organism’s responses are assessed at multiple levels of biological organisation. Performing research in this way highlights cryptic responses, reveals response interactions, and provides a more complete understanding of the organism’s response pathway. Additionally, he strongly supports multiple-driver research, where responses from many organisms to multiple drivers are combined to gain the most accurate representation of how marine communities are responding to environmental change and anthropogenic drivers.

Matt’s research has mainly focused on the effects of anthropogenic noise which he began researching during his MSc(R) at the University of Bristol. Since then, he has published actively on the effects of noise on marine life, several papers reaching high impact and regard within the scientific community. He has established himself as an expert on the effects of noise on marine invertebrates, regularly contributing as a reviewer to international publications and government documentation, and as a member of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland Aquatic Stressor Forum Steering Group.

TEACHING

Matt is currently a Lecturer in Life Sciences and a member of the Centre of Conservation and Restoration Science. He teaches a variety of modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across the School of Applied Sciences, with a current focus on marine biology and human-environment interactions. He leads the 3rd year Marine Biology module, and the MSc module Humans and Wildlife.