Charis Heaven

Charis is currently studying a PhD project with the COCO-VOC team, based at Plymouth Marine Labs and with York University. Their project is titled “From sea spray to atmospheric chemistry: Investigating underexplored trace gas sources in the marine atmosphere” and will involve looking at light and ozone mediated reactions within marine aerosol gasses and their potential to form VOCs. This work is crucial to understanding the global carbon budget and bridging an important gap in current research about the reactions of hydroxyl radicals.

She is a member of the Institute of Science and Technology and has achieved RSciTech certification with the Institute of Science and Technology. In 2024, she completed an Oceanography (BSc) degree with the University of Southampton.

During her time at Southampton University, she worked in the labs supporting two research projects. The first of which was for a project looking at the carbon sequestration potential of different rocks from mining waste. The second being an IODP (International Ocean Discovery Programme) project looking at the chemical changes in oceanic crust along the South Atlantic Transect.

She has also formerly worked at Nuclear Restoration Services, which involved work within a UKAS ISO17025 accredited lab, statutory environmental reporting, environmental and beach monitoring, and fieldwork.

She has a deep interest in nature, climate change and the environment and endeavours in her career to work to protect the natural world, help local communities, and contribute to active research projects.