Shannon has just started her MSc which will be investigating the effect of flipper bands on the African penguin on Robben Island. Her supervisors are Les Underhill (ADU), Peter Ryan (Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology) and Samantha Petersen.

Qualifications and experience

Shannon graduated from UCT in 2004, with zoology honours, specialising in Marine Biology. Her two projects were on rocky shore invertebrates. The first was on the invasive crab Carcinus maenas, and the second was an assessment of the competition between the invasive Mediteranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and our local limpet Scutellestra granularis for primary rock space in the intertidal zone.

She is a volunteer at the Two Oceans Aquarium, and recently, at SANCCOB. She is also an advanced diver. She also volunteers as a field biology teacher for Stone Dragon Education, a non-profit teaching organisation.