SOLUTIONS BASED SCIENCE
at sea and on land
Our missions help to advance a better understanding of the plastics issue as a whole. Over the years research conducted during our voyages and by our community has evolved from understanding how much plastic is in the ocean, where it is accumulating and how it is impacting both our environment and our health to where it is coming from, so we can work with industry to pinpoint solutions and policy at a global level by addressing knowledge-gaps and delivering evidence to inform effective solutions.
Advancing Scientific Research
around plastic pollution
When the first eXXpedition set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 2014, most people around the world had no idea plastic pollution was an issue – it was three years before Blue Planet II’s famous last episode aired.
With each voyage, our crew set out to better understand the plastic problem and how it is visibly affecting our environment, while also studying what we can’t see: the microplastics and toxic pollution in our ocean.
Scientific Studies
Despite women occupying only 13% of the STEM workforce, the scientists we have had onboard eXXpedition have been working hard to not only advance our understanding of the causes of and solutions to plastic pollution, they are also shaping the industry along the way.
Among them we have had Environmental Scientists, Marine Biologists, Chemists, Anthropologists, Wildlife Biologists, Toxicologists, Microbial Ecologists, Archaeologists, and Data Scientists, just to name a few.
Below are some of the research papers that have been published by eXXpedition Ambassadors before and after their voyages.
Dr. Winnie Courtene-Jones et al 2022 | Synthetic microplastic abundance and composition along a longitudinal gradient traversing the subtropical gyre in the North Atlantic Ocean
La Daana Kanhai, Round the World 2019 | The status of marine debris/litter and plastic pollution in the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystem (CLME): 1980–2020
Dr. Winnie Courtene-Jones et al, Round the World 2019-2021 | Source, Sea and Sink – a holistic approach to understanding plastic pollution in the Southern Caribbean, 2021
Dr. Emily Duncan, North Pacific 2018 | The impact of plastic pollution on marine turtles, 2019
Dr. Emily Duncan, North Pacific 2018 |Diet-related selectivity of microplastic ingestion in green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the eastern Mediterranean, 2019
Dr. Imogen Napper, North Pacific 2018 | Marine plastic pollution: other than microplastic, 2019
Dr. Imogen Napper, North Pacific 2018 | Environmental deterioration of biodegradabl, oxo-biodegradable, compostable, and conventional plastic carrier bags in the sea, soil, and open-air over a 3-year period, 2019
Dr. Emily Duncan, North Pacific 2018 | The true depth of the Mediterranean plastic problem: Extreme microplastic pollution on marine turtle nesting beaches in Cyprus, 2018
Dr. Emily Duncan, North Pacific 2018 | Microplastic ingestion ubiquitous in marine turtles, 2018
Dr. Winnie Courtene-Jones, Round the World, 2019-2022 | Consistent microplastic ingestion by deep-sea invertebrates over the last four decades (1976-2015), a study from the North East Atlantic, 2018
Dr. Imogen Napper, North Pacific 2018 | Characterization, quantity, and sorptive properties of microplastics extracted from cosmetics, 2017
Dr. Winnie Courtene-Jones, Round the World 2019-2021 | Microplastic pollution identified in deep-sea water and ingested by benthic invertebrates in the Rockall Trough, North Atlantic Ocean, 2017
Dr. Imogen Napper, North Pacific 2018 | Release of synthetic microplastic plastic fibres from domestic washing machines: Effects of fabric type and washing conditions, 2016
Dr. Jenna Jambeck, Atlantic 2014 | Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, 2015
Science Blog
8th International Day of Women & Girls in Science
