Communications Expert

Sofía sailed with eXXpedition Round the World from Aruba to Panama in 2019, contributing to ocean research while also bringing her learnings back to her community through media interviews, as well as presentations and panel sessions at town halls, companies, and schools to influence positive change.

She is deeply connected to the sea. Having grown up by the Mediterranean, she has spent her life sailing and surfing and has become a strong advocate for sea and ocean conservation. In recent years, she has focused on reducing plastic waste and co-leads the environmental resource group of Clarivate.

Sofía has built her career in external communications, driven by a passion for storytelling and the belief that words can shape understanding and inspire action. She studied journalism with that purpose in mind — to write with intent and make every message meaningful. Today, she brings that mindset to her work, creating narratives that connect, inform, and influence.

In addition, she is a committed advocate for women’s rights having collaborated with the International Women’s Initiative and TEDxBarcelonaWomen.

Scientist

Alizee, an oceanography student, has almost graduated from Plymouth University (UK). She is very enthusiastic about outdoor sports and travelling. She is on a mission to tackle solutions for our oceans.

Artist

Maria is the latest addition to the crew. She graduated with a BA Hons in Fine Art from Camberwell School of Art & a Postgraduate degree in Art & Design Education from Goldsmith’s University, London. She is passionate advocate and lover of all things related to water. Maria’s work explores interactions between human manipulation of the natural world and vice versa trough the use of installation, sculpture, photography and film. By seeking human footprints upon water environments, and by using man-made objects that, subjected to randomly altering circumstances reveal hidden historicities, she questions our ability to identify and project knowledge backwards and forwards through time and space. Beachcombing and mudlarking the Thames has led to an obsession with plastic debris entering fluvial and marine environments.

Since the 2011 Japanese earthquake, Maria has been intensively following numerous research on the Great Pacific garbage patches and producing 3Dimensional artworks made from plastic collected from several locations in the Atlantic and the Thames. Maria has collaborated with various architects on environmental projects. These include the Biomimicry-based: ‘ecoMachines _World Dubai Marine Life Incubators’, with EcologicStudio & the Architects Association, culminating in a book publication in 2011. The brief was to design a series of purpose-built underwater structures using Biomimicry and computer technology, to encourage the growth, expansion and adaptation of a healthy coral reef connected by sensors to a Scientific Research & Education Centre. ‘Empooling Landscapes’, with the University of East London, dealt with the exploration of the long-term effects of salt crystals on different building materials within the marshlands of the Coto de Doña Aña National Park, in Andalucía. Her role as artist on the expedition will be to produce a series of artworks that, in response to the trip’s findings, highlight the disruptive effects of microplastics as hormonal disruptors to both humans, and marine organisms. Maria is working on various ideas that as well as conveying this poignant message, will utilise these samples as literal Fossilised Time-Capsules-artworks providing alternative ways of preserving information for future study.