Sarah Wanless
{{short description|English ornithologist and research ecologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox academic
| honorific_prefix = Professor
| name = Sarah Wanless
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE|FRSE}}
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| birth_place = Scarborough, England
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| alma_mater = University of Aberdeen
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| discipline = Marine ecology
| workplaces = Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
}}
Sarah Wanless {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE|FRSE}} is a British animal ecologist. She is an expert on seabirds; she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is Honorary Professor at the Universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Education and career
Wanless was born in Scarborough, England and moved to Aberdeen, Scotland in 1969 for her undergraduate degree and then her PhD at the University of Aberdeen, which focused on northern gannets over three seasons on the island of Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde.{{cite web |title=Sarah Wanless |url=https://www.saltiresociety.org.uk/sarah-wanless |accessdate=15 July 2019 |website=www.saltiresociety.org.uk}}
She worked at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, the Nature Conservancy Council and the British Antarctic Survey before joining the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) permanently in 1996 as a Higher Scientific Officer.{{cite web|url=https://nerc.ukri.org/skills/careers/imp/impcs/imp-timelines/|title=Individual Merit Promotion case studies and timelines|last=NERC UKRI|date=2010|website=|accessdate=6 February 2020}} She rose to Individual Merit Scientist and retired in 2016 but is still involved with research{{cite web|url=https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/news/pioneering-ceh-scientist-named-outstanding-woman-scotland|title=Pioneering CEH scientist named as an 'Outstanding Woman of Scotland'|last1=Williams|first1=Simon|date=24 October 2018|website=Centre for Ecology & Hydrology|accessdate=16 July 2019}} as Emeritus Fellow at CEH.{{cite web|url=https://bna-naturalists.org/conference-2019/|title=Conference 2019 – British Naturalists' Association|accessdate=6 February 2020}}
Research
In the 1980s, Wanless began one of the first radio-tracking studies into seabirds in the Northern Hemisphere, which helped to identify the foraging areas and the dangers that seabirds face due to climate change,{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180405095844.htm|title=Climate change also threatens the survival of seabirds|website=ScienceDaily|accessdate=6 February 2020}} pollution, fishing and off-shore wind farms;{{cite web|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/richard-collins/gannets-facing-wind-farm-risks-332633.html|title=Gannets facing wind farm risks|last=|date=25 May 2015|website=www.irishexaminer.com|accessdate=6 February 2020}} much of this research was conducted on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. She was the first female visiting scientist to the British Antarctic Survey's research station on Bird Island in South Georgia, where she studied the diving behaviour of South Georgia shags for two southern summers. Wanless also studied gannets on Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire{{cite news|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/Do-Birds-Have-Emotions-/131761|title=Do Birds Have Emotions?|last=Birkhead|first=Tim|date=6 May 2012|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|accessdate=6 February 2020|issn=0009-5982}} and researched the foraging of puffins outside of the breeding season.{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190717105315.htm|title=How puffins catch food outside the breeding season|website=ScienceDaily|accessdate=6 February 2020}}
Over her career, Wanless has published over 250 papers,{{cite web|url=https://pacificseabirdgroup.org/achievement-awards/sarah-wanless/|title=Sarah Wanless|website=Pacific Seabird Group|accessdate=16 July 2019}} her bird tracking data was contributed to the Global Seabird Tracking Database.{{cite web|url=https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/world’s-biggest-seabird-tracking-database-shows-their-incredible-journeys|title=World's biggest seabird tracking database shows their incredible journeys|author=BirdLife International|website=BirdLife|accessdate=6 February 2020}}
Honours and awards
Wanless was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to seabird ecology.{{London Gazette|issue=63918|supp=y|page=N25|date=31 December 2022}}
- Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2006{{cite web |title=Professor Sarah Wanless FRSE |url=https://www.rse.org.uk/fellow/sarah-wanless/ |website=The Royal Society of Edinburgh |accessdate=16 July 2019 |date=5 July 2019}}
- Awarded the Marsh Award for Conservation Biology by the Zoological Society London and the Marsh Christian Trust in 2007{{cite web|url=https://www.marshchristiantrust.org/award/marsh-award-for-conservation-biology/|title=Marsh Christian Trust – Marsh Award for Conservation Biology|website=www.marshchristiantrust.org|accessdate=6 February 2020}}{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
- Gave the British Trust for Ornithology's Witherby Memorial Lecture in 2012{{cite web |title=Witherby Memorial Lectures {{!}} BTO - British Trust for Ornithology |url=https://www.bto.org/about-bto/governance/ornithology-awards/witherby-memorial-lectures |website=www.bto.org |date=8 December 2010 |accessdate=16 July 2019}}
- Awarded the Godman-Salvin Medal by the British Ornithological Union in 2015{{cite web|url=https://www.bou.org.uk/about-the-bou/governance-and-administration/medals-and-awards/|title=Medals and awards|website=British Ornithologists' Union|accessdate=6 February 2020}}
- Named one of the Outstanding Women of Scotland in 2018 by the Saltire Society{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/bird-woman-who-saw-the-sea-warm-dhtkk25r7|title=Bird woman who saw the sea warm|last=Linklater|first=Magnus|newspaper=The Times |access-date=6 February 2020|issn=0140-0460}}
- Awarded the Peter Scott Memorial Award by the British Naturalists' Association in 2019{{cite web|url=https://bna-naturalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Scott-award.pdf|title=Peter Scott Memorial Award|last=British Naturalists' Association|date=May 2019|website=|accessdate=6 February 2020}}
- Received an honorary Professorship in the Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Glasgow and an honorary Professorship in the Department of Zoology at the University of Aberdeen
- Given lifetime achievement awards from the UK [http://www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/ Seabird Group] and the Pacific Seabird Group
Bibliography
Wanless wrote The Puffin with Mike P. Harris, published in 2012 by Bloomsbury {{ISBN|978-1-4081-0867-3}},{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-puffin-9781408108673/|title=The Puffin|last=Bloomsbury.com|website=Bloomsbury Publishing|accessdate=6 February 2020}} a revised version of the original 1984 Poyser monograph.{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005KYGRIU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1|title=The Puffin|last1=Harris|first1=Mike P.|last2=Wanless|first2=Sarah|date=21 November 2011|publisher=T & AD Poyser|edition=1}}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:British women ornithologists
Category:English ornithologists
Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Category:British women ecologists
Category:21st-century British scientists