Malaysia Expeditions - Our team
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Our Team
Blue Ventures Malaysia Expedition team comprises of a small, dedicated team and you will work closely with them during your expedition to Tioman island.
Click here to see our current team.
Heading our in-field team is the Expedition Manager, responsible for the day-to-day running of our field site. The Expedition Manager is in charge of all volunteers and personnel on site.
All diving activities and training are coordinated and supervised by our Diving Manager, a qualified PADI Open Water SCUBA / Emergency First Response instructor. On arrival at our site, the Diving Manager will brief you fully on all relevant aspects of expedition health and safety.
The day-to-day research you will be undertaking will be managed and supervised by our Project Coordinator and Field Scientist, who work closely with the Diving Manager to plan each day’s activities. Our research team, experienced tropical marine biologists, are also responsible for volunteer science training at the beginning of each project.
In addition to our full time staff, we have a number of partners and advisors, students and interns to help us and our volunteers to collect effective data and work with our local community. These partners include the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the Marine Parks Authorities, WWF-Malaysia, Reef Check Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society.
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Expedition Manager and Project Coordinator: Katie Yewdall Katie is the founder of our Malaysia project and co-owner and manager of Tioman Dive Centre. Katie has been living and working in Asia for the last year after a few years of working in the environmental industry in London. Her decision to come to Asia was a little like coming home, as she grew up in Sri-Lanka and Indonesia. She is also the Expedition Project Coordinator, with a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Environmental Monitoring. She is experienced in working on volunteer conservation projects, including a year in Madagascar as one of our field scientists. Katie credits her year in Madagascar as her inspiration to continue in the conservation industry, and to seek out new places for our marine expeditions. |
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Instructor and Field Scientist: Catherine-Jane Howarth Originally from Manchester, CJ moved to Cornwall to study for her degree. During her degree, she worked at a local dive centre to become a PADI professional and afterwards worked in the southwest, developing marine conservation experience with marine mammals. Having worked on several marine conservation and research projects studying sharks and turtles, she moved to Tioman in Malaysia to join Blue Ventures. CJ is a fully qualified Open Water Scuba Instructor and is enjoying diving in the warm water after teaching in the chilly UK waters! |
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Field Scientist: Sharul Sharul is a local Tioman and has been working as a Divemaster in the diving industry on Tioman for several years. He is an experienced and expert dive guide. He has conducted many reef monitoring surveys and will be teaching volunteers identification and survey skills. If anyone knows the reefs of Tioman, it’s Sharul - his long term familiarity and local knowledge of the sites and their ecology is invaluable to our work. |
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Boat Captain: Fadil Fadil is a Malaysian Malay and a native of Tioman island, and has been with the dive centre since 1993. He is our Boat Captain and irreplaceable Jack-of-all-trades. Give him any type of engine and he'll fix it. His wife cooks the best food on this island and if you’re lucky, you may be treated to one of her cooking lessons. His colleagues have previously remarked that they, "would go on a bark boat around the world as long as he's driving the boat". He has a profound knowledge of the sea and its moods, is a certified diver and very safety-conscious Boat Captain. |
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Dive Centre Assistant: Nasir Nasir and Nan are our assistants and can always be relied upon to fill tanks, carry gear and drive boats as and when they are needed. |
Project partners & advisers
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Kee Alfian, Marine Biologist, University of Kebangsaan Malaysia Kee is one of Malaysia’s most respected marine biologists and has been conducting research around Tioman and various other Malaysian islands for several years. His research focuses on marine invertebrates and he is a keen supporter of social development and education programs. A busy university lecturer, Kee sends a selection of his students on internships with us to work with our volunteers and on the community development programmes. |
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Julian Hyde, Reef Check Malaysia Julian has been living in Malaysia for more than nine years, some of that time in Kuala Lumpur as an environmental consultant. Before that he lived and worked in Russia for five years. He is also co-owner of the Tioman Dive Centre, which he bought after following his dream to run his own dive centre some years ago. Along the way his passion for protecting the marine environment compelled him to set up the Malaysian arm of Reef Check International. Reef Check Malaysia’s network of reef survey teams and community projects are a valuable source of experience and an important partner. |
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Yeen Lee Yeen is co-owner of the Tioman Dive Centre and a keen environmentalist. A member of the Malaysian Nature Society, she and Julian share concerns about the future of Tioman. With significant development planned in the next few years, they believe the island - which is currently a safehaven for biodiversity - needs to be protected. Yeen was instrumental in helping to set up Reef Check Malaysia, although she is now involved in other projects, but remains a valued source of advice and information. |
