Who We Are

Who we are?

We are a group of people who care deeply about improving the rapidly declining state of our global marine environments and putting in a lot of work to bring positive changes!

We are developing methods with renowned scientists and experts, to protect and restore climate change adapted marine ecosystems and combine field research with inference based machine learning.

The Oceans Project Team

Andy Lange

I am Andreas Lange, founder of the OCEANS Project platform.

Having started scuba diving in 1986 I was fortunate enough to find my “calling card” and passion early on in life. I have spent a lot of my life on exploration trips and filming expeditions. Over the last 35 years I’ve worked as a freelance underwater cameraman, dive operations counsellor, trip director, captain and professional diver in Australia, South-East Asia, Central America, Africa, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Antarctica and north of the Arctic Circle in Russia. During all this time I was able to observe the decline of our Oceans first hand.

I was always fascinated by the strange and mesmerizing underwater world and after a 12 year stint in the corporate world it is time for me to give back to nature and to help protecting it.

I am on a several year long circumnavigation expedition on my sailing vessel “OCEANS”. The OCEANS Project Team and I will be conducting marine projects along the way, that are supposed to bring positive environmental changes to our Oceans. My personal passion is with sharks and all cetaceans, which will be at the center of many of our projects.

The Oceans Project team and I will do this with the help of local communities, partners, companies, financial donors and members with whom we share the same vision.

Sophie Schoenherr

My name is Sophie Schoenherr, and I was crew on SV Oceans for 7 months. Now I am supporting the Oceans Project as a scientific advisor.

I joined the OCEANS Project in the Canary Islands in December 2020. Never having been on a sailing boat before, 7 months and more than 6000 nautical miles later I am confident to say that life beyond the horizon is truly fascinating and adventurous!

The Ocean has always fascinated me. When I was a kid my biggest dream was to live underwater one day. This dream became partially true through scuba diving, which allowed me to dive into this beautiful and secluded blue world.

I have had the chance to dive in various places around the world including the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Caribbean and the Great Barrier Reef and I am now a certified Divemaster.

I am currently completing my Masters in marine science. I have worked and volunteered in various fields of marine biology such as fisheries, marine mammal research and coral restoration.

Being part of the OCEANS Project team constitutes an exciting new challenge. I am looking forward to contributing to the protection and conservation of marine life and supporting the OCEANS Project mission goals.

Laura Preveato

My name is Laura Preveato and I am currently crew on SV Oceans. My great passion is with nature, especially the Oceans. I’m an enthusiastic swimmer, free diver, scuba diver, sailor and professional Yoga teacher.

Being on SV Oceans allows me to live out my dreams and on top of that I feel really good to help restoring reefs, protecting sharks and helping with setting up marine protected areas.

It also allows me to learn more about the underwater world. I completely fell in love with it and I’m really looking forward to our next projects, helping and showing local communities who depend on fishing how to protect and restore their reefs.

It feels so good to know that I am an active part in the battle for climate change.

Amelia Cody

My name is Amelia Cody and I am a marine biologist who specialises in reef restoration. I recently joined The OCEANS project as a scientist to help aid the projects coral restoration practices as well as ecosystem conservancy.

I have been encapsulated by the ocean since I started diving age 11. I knew after my first underwater experience I wanted to study and help aid the conservation of this incredible environment.

I studied at Newcastle University and gained a deeper understanding of future climatic change and the adverse effect it is causing on our oceans coupled with the growing anthropogenic threats. I became very interested in coral reefs and was able to apply this interest volunteering in a number of different locations across the world.

I have worked on reef restoration in a number of places in the Caribbean and have most recently been working in the Maldives on reef restoration with local communities as well as large hotel chains and NGOs.

When I connected with Andy Lange and The OCEANS Project I realised that I wanted a new challenge. The concept of sailing, connecting with multiple projects and organisations worldwide and working together for the same cause of ocean conservation was something I knew I wanted to be involved in.

Claire Rocuet

My name is Claire Rocuet and I am currently part of crew on SV OCEANS after joining Andy and the OCEANS project team in Tahiti in early July 2022.

I fell in love with the ocean at an early age when we lived 500m away from the lagoon in Réunion Island and I have not looked back since. My love for the Ocean and problem solving led me to complete a Bachelor of Science in Physical Oceanography in 2020 at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney. In 2021, I undertook a year long Honours research program at the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre looking at historic marine heatwaves in the Atlantic Ocean.

Unsure of the direction I wanted to head towards, when I finished my Honours year, I decided to take a gap year and follow my family from Australia to French Polynesia. Having always wanted to go sailing, I started researching sailing vessels looking for crew around French Polynesia. I found out about Andy Lange and the OCEANS project and immediately knew it was the perfect opportunity for me, blending sailing with marine conservation research and science communication. I am excited to be part of the OCEANS project future plans and to hopefully find my niche and the direction I would like to pursue in my scientific career.

Ezequiel Alvarez

My name is Ezequiel Alvarez. I do research in Machine Learning and Theoretical High Energy Physics. In my Machine Learning side, I try to do applications that help people have better lives. In particular, I’m embarking into this fantastic project to contribute to such an important topic as Coral Restoration.

Enhancing Corral restoration through Machine Learning techniques, in particular Causal Inference, is a very attractive goal to pursue.

I’m confident that this great team will make decisive contributions in the field.

Leila Asplanato

My name is Leila Asplanato. I am a physicist working on causal inference and, as of September 2022, just starting my collaboration with the OCEANS Project Team.

Having a body of water nearby has consistently enhanced my experiences; I find the open waters fascinating and feel they always have more to uncover and understand. I value being able to aim my academic pursuits towards the study and improvement of our environment and can’t think of a better subject than coral reefs.

Andy Lange and his team’s passion for the project was palpable from the first online meeting, and I felt a deep sense of connection from that moment forward. For these reasons, I jumped at the opportunity to collaborate and support coral restoration and conservation as a branch of my doctorate path. We aim to identify the main causes of corals’ health and the effect multiple variables have on their growth and decay. With this information, we hope to determine the most idoneous actionable steps we can take to enhance coral systems.

Javier Ciancio

My name is Javier Ciancio and I am a marine biologist passionate about the sea. Since I was a kid, I felt the ocean as my source of energy and it became an inspiration for my career. I practice free and scuba diving, surfing and also founded a sailing school at the University, for which we built a 12 feet wooden sailing boat.

The foci of my research are marine vertebrate bioenergetics, ecophysiology, and trophic relationships, for which I use marine reef fish and birds as model species. My toolbox includes thermodynamic and bioenergetic models and stable isotope analysis, which I couple with environmental and behavioural data recorded by loggers, such as accelerometers, to assess a variety of biological and conservation questions. While living in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, I am involved in projects in many other regions including Mediterranean, Patagonian, and Brazilian MPAs.

Enrolling me in OCEAN projects will let me learn about pacific reef ecosystems and share my reef fish ecology background.

Roberta Canepa

My name is Roberta Canepa and I´m a professional editor.

I signed my first documentary back in 1988; it was shot in 16mm and was about India. Since then, I have collaborated with countless authors and production companies.

I have edited feature films, short films, music clips, many art documentaries for museums and galleries, and worked for television thematic channels. I have also edited many arthouse documentaries and have received awards at festivals such as Turin, Sulmona, Milano Filmmaker, Festival dei Popoli in Florence and others. For many years I´ve been working with BIM distribution (big Italian distribution company) and the thematic channel RaiSatCinema. I specialized also in trailers and promos for fundraising, as well as film projects at festival pitches, meetings with producers and crowdfunding campaigns.

My passion is nature, especially the sea. I have been a long time sailing enthusiast and was looking to combine my skillset with my passions and found the solution with the OCEANS project.

I am proud to be part of the team!

Sarah Hight

My name is Sarah Hight, and I have joined the Oceans Project as their Grant Applications Manager.

As a child, I loved nature and dreamt of being a conservationist to help protect wildlife. At University, I completed degrees in Zoology and Science Communication with an endorsement in Natural History Filmmaking. I then worked as an Assistant producer on an Orangutan TV show for a couple of years before transitioning to tour guiding at an Albatross Colony.

In 2021, I moved to the Maldives for my favorite role yet: 9 months as a biologist and science communicator for a Coral Reef Restoration project. I fell in love with the Maldivian culture, diving and all things OCEAN.

Being part of the OCEANS Project team provides me with an opportunity to support an exciting conservation venture that protects marine life. I am particularly passionate about sharks, cetaceans and corals. My current job has me behind a desk doing research and applying for grants but I look forward to joining the crew onboard soon for some diving and supporting the OCEANS Project mission in person!

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