School of Biology

Dr Nicola Quick
Research Fellow

I am currently an honoury research fellow at the University of St Andrews and a senior research scientist at SMRU Ltd and the Scottish Oceans Institute (SOI). I gained my PhD in 2006 working in the lab of Dr Vincent Janik at the University of St Andrews and the Sea Mammal Research Unit. My work focused on the vocal behaviour of bottlenose dolphins in St Andrews bay and looking at how animals use their sounds in the wild to communicate.  I began my PhD in 2002 after completing two research contracts, one for the Fisheries Research Services in Pitlochry and the second for the Lighthouse Field station in Cromarty. I gained a masters degree in marine and fisheries science at the University of Aberdeen in 2001 and an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at the University of Wales, Swansea in 1997. Between my first two degrees I gained research experience in a number of marine biological projects as well as working as an activity and field studies instructor at a kids residential camp in the UK. My experience ranges from tagging and tracking juvenile sharks in the Bahamas to population studies of Hectors dolphins and Sperm whales in New Zealand and acoustic behaviour and population estimation of bottlenose dolphins in Scotland. I have also been involved in a number of applied research projetcs, including assessing levels of anti-predator devices on marine fish farms, modeling trends in cetacean populations with respect to oil and gas exploration sound and looking at behavioural responses of cetaceans to sonar sounds.