Would you like to become a member of our team? We always need an extra pair of hands, so if you are enthusiastic about the marine environment and would like to volunteer for ELMO, please contact us.
Current team
Dr Chantel Elston
Project Manager
Chantel is a marine scientist and the current project manager of ELMO. She has ten years of experience working with elasmobranchs – her postgraduate research involved investigating the ecology of three stingray species in the Seychelles, she was a short-term research assistant for Shark Spotters, and she is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, investigating the movements of rays along South Africa’s coastline. She has called South Africa home for her whole life and has a passion for the welfare of its coastline and oceans. Chantel joined the ELMO team because she believes the only way in which we can successfully take care of our oceans is if we foster an interest and love for the ocean in everybody.
Favourite elasmobranch: The Porcupine Ray (Urogymnus asperrimus)
Emmanual Ballif
Intern
Emmanual is a marine biology student at the University of Plymouth, UK. He is especially interested in animal behaviour, ecology, evolution and of course, all things shark! He is assisting in data management and content creation.
Favourite elasmobranch: The Blue Shark (Prionace glauca)
Past team
Lisa Schroeter
Founder and Former Project Manager
Lisa is a marine ecologist and the founder of ELMO. After working closely with the South African angling community, she felt that there was a lack of communication between scientists and the general public, leading to misunderstood South African elasmobranchs – especially affecting lesser known endemic species. Little information about South African shark and skate eggs was publicly available at the time. As a result Lisa founded ELMO, where she actively engaged the public in elasmobranch data collection and monitoring for more than five years. She also created a number of freely available educational materials about South African elasmobranchs and their eggs. Lisa is now living on the Canarian Island La Palma, where she continues to work in research, environmental literacy and ocean connection in her organisation Oceanológico and as part of an EU Initiative (EU4Ocean Platform).
Favourite Elasmobranch: The Spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari)
Lucinda Lintott
Former intern
Lucinda is an oceanographer who assisted with the capturing and processing of the ELMO data for eggcase and animal sightings. She has previous experience processing large algae datasets during her PhD candidacy. Since then she has volunteered on marine conservation projects, including a coral reef restoration project in Borneo. She is a keen scuba diver and loves watching all marine fauna, especially sharks and rays, in their natural environment.
Favourite elasmobranch: The Coral Catshark (Atelomycterus marmoratus)
Amy Webber
Former intern
Amy is a marine biology graduate originally from South Africa, who assisted with data management and social media outreach remotely from the UK.
Her love & knowledge of South African elasmobranch species naturally lead her to join the ELMO team, with her main passion being shark conservation.
Favourite elasmobranch: The Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
Joel Gayford
Former intern
A graduate of evolutionary biology at the Imperial College of London in the UK, Joel joined ELMO in 2021 to assist with database management, data analysis and social media content.
Asides from his studies, Joel is currently researching the evolution, behavioural ecology and distribution of several shark species together with collaborators in England, Mexico, USA and Australia.
Favourite elasmobranch: The Ornate Wobbegong (Orectolobus ornatus)
Lena Freund
Former artistic volunteer
Lena is a biologist with a passion for art. She used her talent and scientific knowledge to produce illustrations ranging from complex intercellular processes to South African sharks and rays. Lena created many of the drawings in our educational materials. To see more of Lena’s work visit her website Brush Paper Pixels.
Favourite Elasmobranch: The Reef Manta Ray (Manta alfredi)