Prof. Alex David Rogers

Photograph of Prof. Alex David Rogers
Site
Southampton
Email
Alex.Rogers at noc.ac.uk

Alex’s scientific work has focused on understanding what structures the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. This includes natural environmental drivers, interspecies interactions, connectivity, longer term-evolutionary processes and human impacts. Over more than 30 years he has focused particularly on deep sea ecosystems, including seamounts, cold-water corals and chemosynthetic ecosystems and also shallow water and mesophotic tropical coral reef ecosystems.

Alex’s deep-sea work has a strong exploratory element as many of the geographic areas he has worked in are poorly studied. This has inevitably demanded work on identification and taxonomy of marine species, in some cases resulting in the discovery of tens of new species. Highlights of this work have included the discovery of the first deep-sea, high temperature hydrothermal vents in the Antarctic, exploration of seamounts on the South West Indian Ridge and the discovery of the deepest methane hydrate site in the ocean, located in the Arctic. This work has typically taken place from large research vessels and has included the use of submersibles, ROVs and over-the- side sampling equipment such as sleds, corers and towed cameras. Work on shallow and mesophotic coral reefs has included the use of SCUBA divers, technical divers and submersibles.

All of Alex’s work has an applied aspects in terms of development of policies related to the management and conservation of marine ecosystems particularly with respect to biodiversity. This has included studies on the implementation of new guidelines and agreements in the high seas as well as the implications for science of such policy developments. This has included studies related to the development of the sustainable blue economy particularly in low income nations. Alex has undertaken projects for the UN International Seabed Authority, UN Division of Oceans and Law of the Sea, the IUCN, the G8+5 Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), the Global Ocean Commission, the World Bank and the Panel for The High Level Panel for the Development of a Sustainable Ocean Economy. Alex has also worked for NGOs and Foundations including the WWF, Greenpeace, the Pew Charitable Trusts (Global Ocean Legacy) and the Deep-Sea Conservation Coalition.

Alex has joined the National Oceanography Centre as the Deputy Director of Strategic Science Programmes and Partnerships. This position is aimed at fully realising the science potential of NOC as an organisation with internationally leading capabilities in autonomy, sensor development, seafloor ecology, physical oceanography, biogeochemistry, environmental modelling and data management and digitisation. He will be establishing strategic science programmes with partners both within the U.K. and internationally including from academia, industry and civil society. He will also play a role in the management of NOC strategic science missions. Alex also enjoys representing NOC science at international meetings and for a related to the ocean.

 

Alex is currently working on the Future Marine Research Infrastructure (FMRI) programme for the U.K. and on a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Sargasso Sea. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Dept. of Biology, University of Oxford and Senior Research Fellow at Somerville College, University of Oxford.

Alex's list of publications (pdf).

April 2024        Accepted as a member of the UK Deep-Sea Mining Environmental Science Network, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, U.K.

Jun 2022-         Appointed Chair of the Science Advisory Group of the Future Marine Oct. Oct 2024 Research Infrastructure programme; FMRI).

April 2022        Appointed to the Advisory Committee for the Jarislowsky Chair in Marine to present Ecosystem Forecasting, Dalhousie University, Canada.

Mar 2021- Mar 2023       Selected as an expert for the High Seas Treaty Dialogues organised by the Nobel Foundation and states of Belgium, Costa Rica and Monaco (to 2023 when the High Seas Treaty was successfully agreed). Foundation and states of Belgium, Costa Rica and Monaco (to 2023 when the High Seas Treaty was successfully agreed).

Aug 2020- Mar 2022       Member of the Steering Committee for the Report on Net Zero Oceanography Report.

Feb 2020          Selected for the SSC for the IPBES-IPCC Workshop on Synergies and Tradeoffs for Biodiversity Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.

Feb 2019          Nominated as lead on Blue Paper 10 on Biodiversity for the High Level Panel on a Sustainable Ocean Economy.

Oct 2018          Member of the Expert Group of the (Norwegian) Prime Minister’s High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.

Feb 2017- Nov 2018        Board of Trustees Nekton Foundation.

Jan 2016 - Nov 2018         Chief Scientist Nekton Foundation

Oct 2015 - July 2017        Director of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College, University of Oxford.

Jan 2015           Scientific Advisor to the Blue Planet II Series, BBC.

June 2014        Appointed to the Marine Advisory group of WWF.

Feb 2014          Appointed to the Programme Committee of WWF.

Aug 2013          Appointed Chair of the Working Group on Deep‐Sea Research for Societal Challenges and Policy Needs – European Marine Board, Oostende, Belgium.

May 2013         Advisory Committee Indira Gandhi Centre for Sustainability Research, Somerville College, University of Oxford.

Mar 2013         Scientific Advisor, Global Ocean Commission Somerville College, University of Oxford.

Jan 2013           Member of the Advisory Board for Synchronicity Earth.

Oct 2010 - Nov 2018          Member of the Governing Body of Somerville College, University of Oxford.

 

Nov 2008         Commissioner for the International Commission on Land Use Change and Ecosystems, Globe International (G8+5).

Nov 2007         Invited to become Chair of the SCOR Technology Panel on New Technologies for Observing Marine Life.

Sept 2007        UK representative on InterRidge Steering Committee.

May 2007         Marine Invertebrate Red List Authority for the IUCN Red List (Species Survival Commission). Also member of the Marine Conservation Sub- Committee and Invertebrate Conservation Sub-Committee of the SSC.

April 2007        Scientific Director of the International Programme on State of the Ocean.

July 2006          Invited to become Vice-Chair of the SCOR Technology Panel on New Technologies for Observing Marine Life.

June 2006        Member of the NERC peer-review college

Nov 2004         Invited to join SCOR Panel on New Technologies for Observing Marine Life

Jan 2004           Chief advisor on high seas marine biology – World Conservation Union.

May 2002         Elected to Council of the Linnean Society of London.

Awards and Projects

Honours and Awards

June 2013                      ZSL Marsh Award for Marine and Freshwater Conservation

December 2011          Awarded ZSL Conservation Fellowship for services to marine conservation

 

Grants

REV Ocean

  • 2023 Schmidt Futures. Project to explore the use of AI in biodiversity research. $150,000.
  • The Nippon Foundation 2023 – 2033. Ocean Census programme (while seconded to the Nekton Foundation) to accelerate species discovery in the ocean. $40 million. Note, based on the feasibility study led by ADR a further $100 million was designated to the Ocean Shot programme administered by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation).

University of Oxford

  • Ocean Infinity 2018-2019 Grant to participate in research cruise to Larsen B Ice Shelf 2019. £55,000 (Nekton).
  • Bertarelli Foundation 2018-2021 Work on biodiversity and coral disease, Chagos Archipelago. ~$2 million.
  • Nekton Foundation 2016 - Present. Joint expedition to Bermuda and the Sargasso Sea. £3.4 million.
  • Horizon 2020. 2016 – Present. A Trans-Atlantic Assessment and deep-water ecosystem-based Spatial management plan for Europe (ATLAS). €345,000
  • Oxford Martin School. 2015 – Present. Oxford Martin School Sustainable Oceans Programme. £1.5 million.
  • John Fell Fund 2015 - 2017 Deep-sea diversity discovery and connectivity: the case for next generation sequencing. £73,101.
  • John Fell Fund 2014 - 2016 Going deeper into coral reef resilience: new technologies for new insights from mesophotic reefs. £29,890.
  • NERC Standard Grant; May 2016 – April 2019. NE/K013513/1 Influence of population connectivity on depth-dependent diversity of deep-sea marine benthic biota. ~£430,000 to University of Oxford.
  • NERC 2013-2017 CASE Award Studentship NE/K006886/1- Are vulnerable marine ecosystems in the deep-sea associated with high species richness and enhanced ecosystem function? CASE Award with CEFAS Lowestoft (Andrew Kenny).
  • NERC 2013-2014 NBAF755 Population genetics of a deep-sea octocoral commensal polychaete: RAD-SEQ, SNPs and southwest Indian ocean connectivity. Grant to access high throughout sequencing at NERC central facility.
  • NERC 2011-2015 CASE Award Studentship NE/I018298/1 – Human impacts on coral reef diversity: are responses in species richness comparable across size classes of associated species.

 

Zoological Society of London

  • NERC 2009-2010. MGF335 Molecular approaches to studying Antarctic deep-water coral diversity. 3800 sequence reads. ~£5000.
  • UK Government. 2009. Attendance of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems meeting, San  Diego, USA. £2625 + flights.
  • IUCN 2009. Proj. No. 77059-000: Cold water coral modelling and the interactions of ocean acidification. €6,925.
  • Global Environment Fund. 2009-2012. Applying an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management focused on seamounts in the southern Indian Ocean. Joint with IUCN, UNDP, ASCLME, $1 million.
  • NERC 2008-2009. MGF 249. Investigating population structure and movement in the Macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysopholus). Development of microsatellite markers. ~£5000.
  • NERC Standard Grant 2011-2014. NE/F005504/1. Lead PI. Benthic biodiversity of seamounts in the Southwest Indian Ocean. > £320,000 to University of Oxford (£2.25 million total with seatime).
  • The Charitable Trusts. 2007-2008 (2009). Penguin conservation genetics. £30,000 (+£15,000).
  • EU Framework 7 Programme. 2008 – 2012. Coralfish Project. £309,373 to Institute of Zoology.
  • Leverhulme Trust 2007-2010. F00390C Deep-sea fauna of oceanic islands: community structure and life histories. £126,000.
  • JM Kaplan Fund. 2007-2010. International Program on State of the Oceans. $300,000.
  • Lighthouse foundation. 2007-2010 Deep-water benthic ecosystems of oceanic islands in the Azores archipelago. ~£85,000.
  • NERC Consortium grant NE/D010470/1 2008-2012 Chemosynthetically-driven ecosystems south of the Polar Front: Biogeography and ecology. ~£3 million.

 

British Antarctic Survey

  • NERC-AFI: Gene function in Antarctic krill: determining the role of clock-genes in synchronised behavioural patterns. Co-Investigator (project remained at BAS when position taken up with ZSL).
  • NERC – AFI Grant NE/C506321/1 Did Antarctic octopuses colonise the deep sea? ADR Co-Investigator.
  • NERC research grant NER/A/S/2003/00574. 2004 – 2007 Crozet – Surface water productivity, variability in export flux and deep-sea diversity – how are they linked? Approx £43,160 to BAS.
  • Framework 6 EU Network of Excellence on Marine Genomics. Member of Steering Committee, Education Committee and Leader of Technology Platforms Workpackage and Molecular Barcoding work packages. 10 million Euro.
  • Kaplan Fund Project: Biodiversity, species ranges, and gene flow in the abyssal Pacific nodule province: Predicting and managing the impacts of deep seabed mining. Approx. £41,000 to British Antarctic Survey.

 

University of Southampton

  • NERC Infrastructure bid for sea going molecular and high-pressure research facilities (joint with George Deacon Division). £780,000.
  • NERC research grant NER/A/S/2000/01331. 2001- 2003 Molecular characterisation and identification of marine nematode species. Approx. £87,000 from NERC with additional £20,000 from the mining company B.H.P.
  • Royal Society research grant 574006.G503/21277/SM. March 2000. Molecular ecology of Lophelia. £2964.
  • Southampton Oceanography Centre Developments and Research Initiatives Fund. November, 1999. Equipment for molecular biology. £25,000
  • NERC Small research grant GR9/04579. 11/99 - 10/00. Molecular ecology of the deep-sea coral Lophelia pertusa. £30,714. Grades: Scientific/Technical Merit – Good; Management – Good.
  • EU Framework V. 2000 - 2003. Atlantic Coral Ecosystems Study. Coordinating PIs Dr Andre Freiwald, University of Bremen and Dr Anthony Grehan, University of Galway. Approx £98,000 School of Ocean & Earth Sciences
  • Nature Conservancy Council for England. 1999/2000 Project No. MAR01/15/02. Contribution towards investigation of the genetic population structure of Gammarus insensibilis. Joint with Catherine Pearson and Martin Sheader, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Southampton. £1,485.
  • SOC/NERC cruise grant. "The Darwin Mounds" An interdisciplinary study of a carbonate mound field, and other related seafloor features, in the Northern Rockall Trough. Joint with Dr B. Bett, Dr D. Pond and Dr D. Masson, Southampton Oceanography Centre. Approx. £200,000.
  • BBSRC/JREI Grant for automated DNA sequencing facilities. Joint with Dr R. Foreman, School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton. Approx. £106,000.
  • NERC studentship GT4/99/261. 1998. The ecology of deep-sea sea stars. Joint with Prof. P.A. Tyler and Dr D. Billet, Dept Oceanography, University of Southampton. Approx. £25,000.
  • CNPQ studentship 201356-96.1. 1998. Population genetics of Penaeus spp. Joint with Prof. Norman Maclean, School of Biological Sciences and Dr David Dixon, Challenger Division, Southampton Oceanography Centre.
  • NERC Research grant (DEMA programme). GST/02/2158. 1st September, 1998 – February, 2001 Effective population size in the native oyster, Ostrea edulis: The consequences of pelagic larval development. Joint with Prof. Paul Tyler and Dr Lawrence Hawkins, Dept. Oceanography, University of Southampton. £98,848.
  • NERC studentship. Biology of deep-sea holothurians. Joint with Prof. P.A. Tyler and Dr D. Billet, Dept Oceanography, University of Southampton. Approx. £25,000.
  • NERC studentship, 1998. Genetic differentiation between spatially-disjunct populations of specialist lagoonal invertebrates in the U.K. Joint with Dr Martin Sheader, Dept. Oceanography, University of Southampton.Approx. £25,000.
  • NERC cruise grant. The Amperima event. Changes in deep-sea benthic communities: A natural experiment in large-scale perturbation. 1 Cruise funded for 16 days. Joint with Dr David Billet, Prof. Paul Tyler, Dr Andrew Gooday, Dr Brian Bett. Approx. £150,000.
  • NERC Small Research Grant. GR9/03390. April 1998 – April, 1999 Spatial genetic structure in populations of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba. Joint with Prof. Norman Maclean, University of Southampton and Dr A.S. Brierley, British Antarctic Survey. £24,611. Grades: Technical/Scientific Merit – Satisfactory; Management – Good.
  • European Commission Directorate General XIV Fisheries. April, 1998-April, 2000 Seasonal changes in biological and ecological traits of demersal and deep-water fish species in the Azores. Joint with Dr Ricardo Santos and Dr Gui Menezes, University of the Azores and Dr John Gordon, Scottish Association for Marine Sciences. Total value €157,266. To A.D. Rogers €69,454 (£45,996).
  • Royal Society Conference Grant CG/971/SG. For 8th International Conference on Deep-Sea Biology. £740.
  • Linnean Society: AG Side Fund. Biochemical Systematics in Deep-Sea Fish (Coryphaenoides spp.). Joint with Dr A. Brierley, British Antarctic Survey. £500. 1997.
  • Award of NERC Advanced Fellowship GT5/97/4/MAS: Towards understanding speciation in marine organisms: Temporal and spatial genetic variation. 1997.

 

Marine Biological Association of the UK

  • British Council Exchanges Fund. Grant to visit Turkey to initiate project on Mediterranean monk seal habitats. 1996.
  • Royal Society Equipment Grant Ref. 574005.G501/JECL/SM for Perkin Elmer Model 480 Thermal Cycler and Temperature Verification System. Value £8303. 1995.
  • NERC Case Award Ref. GT4/94/247/P: Genetic variation in bathyal invertebrates from the north-eastern Atlantic. Joint PI with P.A. Tyler, University of Southampton and J.D. Gage, SAMS. 1994.
  • Smithsonian Travelling Fellowship. To pay for research trip to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 1994. Value $2000.
  • POSEIMA grant to travel to the Azores in July 1993.
  • Marine Biological Association of the U.K. Fellowship for 1992.