Scientific expedition to the world's
deepest undersea volcanic rift

Our team aboard the RRS James Cook consists of 28 scientists and engineers from seven nations, in addition to the ship's officers and crew.

Dr Doug Connelly: a geochemist from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) and our expedition leader. Doug has discovered and investigated deep-sea vents around the world, and also leads the EU SENSEnet project, developing novel sensors for marine environments.

Dr Jon Copley: a marine biologist from the University of Southampton and leader of the research programme overall. Jon's research examines the patterns of life at deep-sea vents to understand the web of life throughout the deep ocean. He is also Co-Chair of the InterRidge international organisation.

Dr Bramley Murton: our expedition chief geologist, from NOCS, specialising in the formation and evolution of oceanic crust, and Chair of InterRidge. Bram is a veteran of hydrothermal vent discovery, and has a keen interest in developing new technology for deep-sea work, including the HyBIS vehicle.

Dr Kate Stansfield: an oceanographer from NOCS, leading the expedition's physical oceanography team. Kate's research focuses on the physics of the ocean in both deep and shallow water, and from mesoscale (kms) to fine-scale (cms). Kate also has an interest in techniques for obtaining ocean physics measurements in unexplored deep areas.

Prof Paul Tyler: a deep-sea ecologist from the University of Southampton and our senior biologist. For the last thirty years Paul has specialised in analysis of the reproductive patterns of invertebrates living at depth, on continental slopes, canyons, abyssal plains, and at deep-sea vents around the world. Paul is also Chair of the Census of Marine Life ChEss programme.

Click here for details of all the other members of our scientific party aboard the ship (there are just too many to list on one page here!), and colleagues with whom we are working ashore.

Click here to meet members of the Underwater Systems Laboratory who designed and are operating the Autosub6000 vehicle during the expedition, and the Sea Systems engineering team who are running the CTD, TOBI and mooring operations.