Profile – Ruthenium Zone

Education:

Devonport High School for Girls (1998-2005), University of Plymouth (2005-2008), University of Southampton (2008-2009), University of Cape Town (2010 – now)
Qualifications:

I have a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science, a MSc in Oceanography and I’m a qualified PADI rescue diver!
Work History:

Mostly I’ve been at University, but at the same time I’ve worked at Pizza Hut and Tesco!
Current Job:

Oceanographer

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I’ve always loved the oceans and wanted to ‘save the planet’ when I was a little girl in Plymouth. As I got older I realised that to save the planet, we need to understand it. Using pictures taken from space we can understand how our oceans work – how they move and what lives in them. Now, because of my work, I get to live in South Africa! It’s a very interesting place with beautiful mountains, lots of wildlife and amazing people.
My Typical Day:

I get up, drive to my office which is on the side of Table Mountain and use my computer to look a pictures taken by cameras in space! Sometimes I get to go on boats too.
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A lot of my days are spent looking at pictures on my computer – but they are pretty cool pictures like this.

But other days I get to go out on boats and measure the ocean waters with cool instruments. Quite often we get to meet amazing animals too – like this dwarf minke whale.

South Africa is a very special place, but unfortunately not all children here get to go schools like the ones you guys have in the UK, so I also spend a lot of time teaching – here’s me talking about the oceans at the Cape Town aquarium.
What I'd do with the prize money:

I would use the money to take some children from one of our local schools to the beach to learn about the ocean – many are very poor and have never been.

Hayley Evers-King