Zoë L. Hutchison

Zoe Hutchison
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • Graduate School of Oceanography
  • Phone: 401.874.6182
  • Email: zoe_hutchison@uri.edu

Dr. Zoë L Hutchison, a previous postdoctoral research fellow in the Graduate School of Oceanography, was a collaborator with URI since 2015 and gained employment at URI in August 2018. She earned her B.Sc. in Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth in 2008, and her M.Sc. in Aquatic Resource Management at King’s College London in 2010. She completed her Ph.D. in Marine Science in 2015, at the Scottish Association for Marine Science in conjunction with the University of Aberdeen. Zoe is an applied behavioral ecologist and her research focuses on understanding how human activities that change the physical marine environment, influence the behavior and physiology of marine organisms.

Considering how offshore energy activities (construction, operation, decommissioning; for wind, wave, tidal energy extraction) could influence marine organisms has been a theme throughout her research. Her early research assessed the changes in behavior and physiology of benthic organisms in response to sediment disturbance and/or changes in sedimentation patterns potentially arising from renewable energy developments. More recently, she has focused on understanding the influence of electromagnetic fields from subsea electricity cables, on electro- and magneto-sensitive marine organisms. This work is funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which is the federal agency responsible for reviewing and issuing permits for offshore energy development. Through her involvement in the ICES Working Group on the Marine Benthal and Renewable Energy Developments, she works towards a broader understanding of the ecological issues surrounding offshore energy developments.

Research