People
Heike Vester Biologist, coordinator and founder of Ocean Sounds, specialized in Bio-acoustics of marine animals.
Born in 1969 in Germany, studied Biology at the FU in Berlin until 1998, when she decided to immigrate to Northern Norway. 1999-2003 studied Arctic Biology and Physiology at the University of Tromsø and worked as a seasonal whale watching guide. Received her Masters of Science at the University of Tromsø, Norway in 2003.
She moved to Henningsvær on Lofoten in February 2004 and founded Ocean Sounds in August 2005. During the winter months 2003-2008 she studied Killer Whales in northern Norway. Currently, she is working on the vocal behavior of killer whales and other whales/dolphins in Lofoten- in cooperation with the Cognitive Ethology Group at the University of Göttingen in Germany, the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and behaviour of whales and dolphins in Patagonia/Chile - in cooperation with CIEP.
Her main interest is to preserve life on this planet by trying to minimize human destruction…..
Prof. Dr. Julia Fischer
- 2004 Head Research Group “Cognitive Ethology” German Primate Center
Heisenberg fellow German Science Foundation
Habilitation University Leipzig - 2000 Post-doctoral fellow, MPI Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
- 1997 Post-doctoral fellow, Dep. of Psychology, U Pennsylvania
- 1996 Visiting Scientist, Harvard University and NIH
- 1996 Ph.D. Free University of Berlin
- 1993 Diploma in Biology, Free University of Berlin
Member of “Die Junge Akademie”
Scientific societies: German Primatological Society (board member), Ethologische Gesellschaft, International Primatological Society, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
Editorial board: Folia primatologica
Consulting Editor: Animal Behaviour
Dr. Kurt Hammerschmidt
- 2005 Senior Scientist, Research Group ‘Cognitive Ethology’, German Primate Center
- 2004 Senior Scientist, Section of Addiction Research, Department of Psychiatry,
University Hospital Tübingen - 2001 Senior Scientist, Department of Neurobiology, German Primate Center
- 1996 Visiting Scientist, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH
- 1994 Scientific Assistant at the FU Berlin, Institute of Behavioral Biology.
- 1991 Ph. D. in Zoology, FU Berlin: Vocal communication in Barbary macaques
- 1988 Knowledge Engineering: Development and support of AI software, GNB (Siemens & Nixdorf) and Expertise.
- 1986 Computer Science, TU Berlin.
- 1985 Diploma in Biology, FU Berlin: Acoustic communication in Nightingales
Scientific societies: Gesellschaft für Primatologie, International Primatological Society
Grethe Hillersoy
Grethe comes from Sogn og Fjordane, on the west coast of Norway. She did her Bachelor of Science with Honours in marine biology, zoology and genetics at James Cook University, Australia. Her honours research-project comprised of a study on population genetics and thermal adaptation of Coral trout in the western Pacific. In 2008 she worked as a Wildlife Education Officer for the English charity Organisation Cetacea (Orca), which is involved in education, awareness raising and conservation of the marine environment. During the summer of 2009 she worked as a wildlife guide and research assistant at Oceans Sounds, and in January 2010 she will be doing fieldwork on killerwhales along the Norwegian coast for Ocean Sounds. Grethe is currently doing her masters in ‘Natural resource management’ at UMB in Ås.
Fredrik Broms
A marine biologist and received his Masters of Science degree at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2003 where he specialised on marine plankton ecology and marine environmental monitoring. After working several years as a marine biologist in northern Sweden, Norway and in the European Arctic, Fredrik is now living on Kvaløya outside Tromsø in Northern Norway, where he runs the small business company “Northern Lights Photography” as a freelance biologist and nature photographer. His main focus is to increase public awareness about environmental issues. He has written scientific articles about zooplankton, fish and seabirds and has also worked as a whale watching guide and with cleaning up after the “Full City” oil spill in southern Norway together with WWF and NOW (Norwegian Oiled Wildlife Network). As a photographer, he has published his pictures in several well renowned magazines, held art exhibitions and also combines his photography with research and is currently working on OceanSounds scientific photo-ID catalog of pilot whales (Globicephala melas) in the North East Atlantic. He will also work as a guide and skipper for OceanSounds.
ASSISTANTS:
Maria Hultman
began her marine biology studies in high school, 2001. After graduation she started study Biology at University of Gothenburg. In January 2008 she earned her bachelor’s degree in marine ecology. Her thesis was conducted in Maputo bay, Mozambique on “Lysosomal membrane stability of the clam, Meretrix meretrix”, a biomonitoring study conducted in Maputo bay. She will in February 2008 begin her Masters degree in Ecotoxicology.
Maria´s first encounter with Orca´s was in Tysfjord, 2003 through marine biology studies. In January 2007 she meet Heike for the first time and has since the beginning of December 2007 to middle of January 2008 been working with Heike.
She is currently writing a paper on Toxins biomagnification between herring (Clupea harengus) and Norwegian Killer whales (Orcinus orca).
Martin Lee Mueller
received a bachelor’s degree in literature and languages of the North and the Anglo-American world after studies at the University of Greifswald (Germany) and the University of Bergen (Norway).
He is the co-founder of the Deep Ecology Workgroup, Oslo (2006), which attempts to revitalize the ideas of deep ecology by applying them to educational projects.
He currently works on his thesis for a Master’s of Philosophy in the programme ‘Culture, Environment, and Sustainability’ at the Center for Development and the Environment (SUM), Oslo (Norway). His thesis intends to contribute an interdisciplinary perspective to a largely unexplored angle within ecological philosophy, multicentrism. Multicentrism’s central tenets are personal involvement and direct observation. Martin assisted at Ocean Sounds during November 2007 to do precisely that: to become personally involved, and to experience with his own senses what it is like to encounter killer whales in their homes. It was a beautiful time.
Emelie Lindquist
earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) in 2006, having also fulfilled parts of her studies at the University of Uppsala (Sweden). Her thesis investigated the possibilty hermaphrodism in perch (Perca fluviatilis).
She is currently enrolled at the University of Gothenburg for a masters’ degree in ecology and zoology.
She has been an active member of Fältbiologerna - Sweden’s largest youth organization for nature and the environment - for many years. Having initially worked at a local level, she will be a member of the national board from 2008 on.
Her fascination with killer whales has grown through repeated visits to Lofoten in years prior, and her work at Ocean Sounds from late October until mid-December 2007 has given her yet another chance to study killer whales, this time from a more scientific point of view.
Kerstin Haller
Diplom Biologist, studied Ecology, Marine Biology and Geology at the University of Bremen (Germany). She is mostly interested in Behavioural Ecology and did her Diploma thesis about the influence of anonymity on human behaviour. In the 2006/2007 season, she worked as assistant for Ocean Sounds and wrote a project thesis about the influence of whale watching boats on killer whale behaviour.
She is interested and engaged in environmental protection in different projects and has been working for Greenpeace Germany on a local level for more than 10 years.
In the summer of 2009 she will again be working for Ocean Sounds.
Robert Eriksson
holds a M.Sc. in Marine biology, as well as a M.Sc. in Environmental science from Gothenburg University, Sweden. He is working as skipper/field assistant for Ocean Sounds.
Grethe comes from Sogn og Fjordane, on the west coast of Norway. She did her Bachelor of Science with Honours in marine biology, zoology and genetics at James Cook University, Australia. Her honours research-project comprised of a study on population genetics and thermal adaptation of Coral trout in the western Pacific. In 2008 she worked as a Wildlife Education Officer for the English charity Organisation Cetacea (Orca), which is involved in education, awareness raising and conservation of the marine environment. During the summer of 2009 she worked as a wildlife guide and research assistant at Oceans Sounds, and in January 2010 she will be doing fieldwork on killerwhales along the Norwegian coast for Ocean Sounds. Grethe is currently doing her masters in ‘Natural resource management’ at UMB in Ås.