Prem Gill

PhD Candidate (NERC / WWF funded)

"Seals from Space: the study of Antarctic seals by very high-resolution (VHR) remote sensing", a joint priority project between the Scott Polar Research Institute, the British Antarctic Survey and the World Wildlife Fund.

Biography

Prem Gill is a PhD candidate leading the "Seals from Space: the study of Antarctic pack-ice seals by remote sensing" priority project with the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Outside of this, Prem is heavily interested in increasing opportunities for underrepresented groups, such as Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and working-class persons, to enter non-typical fields (e.g. polar and conservation science) at leading institutes.

As part of this, Prem has founded Polar Impact, a network to support, connect and highlight ethnic minorities in polar research. In addition, through Prem's role as British Antarctic Survey's ECR Diversity Champion he is working with the Foreign Office to develop a Diversity in Antarctic Science Strategy to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Antarctica's discovery.

Prem has used his research to spearhead multiple projects to attract and retain talent from non-traditional backgrounds within polar and conservation science. This work spans a range of audiences, from hosting week-long citizen science and AI/ML hackathon events to creating art installations using Antarctic seal sounds to produce Grime music.

Career

2020: Researcher, Frozen Planet II - BBC Natural History Unit.
2020: Enrichment Student, The Alan Turing Institute.
2018 - present: PhD Candidate, Scott Polar Research Institute - University of Cambridge, British Antarctic Survey and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
2019: DSG Owner, the Alan Turing Institute.
2018: Remote Sensing Researcher, BBC Natural History Unit and British Antarctic Survey.
2013 - 2014: Hydrographic Surveyor, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.

Qualifications

2017: BSc. (Honours) (first class), Earth Science: Marine Geography. Award for Best Performance in Final Year.

Awards and grants

College Senior Scholarship for academic excellence - Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge.
President's Cup 2019 for Best Oral Presentation - Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc19).

Research

Antarctic ice seals are long-lived, upper trophic level predators and amongst the largest consumers of Antarctic krill. The monitoring of Antarctic ice seal populations can indicate changes in the Antarctic ecosystem's status and health. However, Antarctic seals inhabit the dynamic and inaccessible sea ice zone, making traditional survey methods (e.g. by boat and plane) logistically difficult. As a result of these challenges, reliable population estimates and habitat information for ice seals are critically lacking. To overcome the limitations of traditional surveys, Prem's research looks into the use of very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery to study Antarctic ice seals and their sea ice habitat.

Teaching

2020. Guest Lecturer (AI & Immersive Technology for Conservation), MSc/MPhil in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management - University of Oxford.
2020. Immersive Technology for Conservation (Workshop), Digital Catapult.

External activities

Activities

British Ecological Society (Member)
Cambridge Group for Earth Observation (Member)
BAS Artificial Intelligence Lab (Member)
Polar Impact: Minorities in Polar Science (Founder)
Early Career Research Diversity Champion, British Antarctic Survey
Diversity in Antarctic Science Initiative - steering committee member, Foreign and Commonwealth Office / British Antarctic Survey.
Seals from Space VR Art Installation - "An immersive VR experience with visuals of the seals and the Antarctic coupled with a UK urban soundtrack interlaced with the calls of the seals. Aimed at a 12 - 19 years old audience we want to showcase the conservation efforts of BAS and how data science techniques with satellite data can be used to monitor and help scientists mitigate and manage the environmental damage being caused by humanity. This is to encourage the audience of the possible career opportunities in conservation and data science". British Antarctic Survey and the Alan Turing Institute.

Coverage

An industry partner perspective: Prem Gill (British Antarctic Survey) - Alan Turing Institute Interview
The polar explorer using Grime to break the ice - Cambridge University profile
Ships, Sea and the Stars: Royal Museums Greenwich & BBC Culture in Quarantine (Keeping in touch - Communication in Isolation) - with presenter Helen Czerski.
National Geographic Kids Magazine Feature - National Geographic Kids
The AI revolution in scientific research - The Royal Society

Prem on boat in Antarctica with Weddell seal in background

With a Weddell seal in Antarctica for the spectral survey field project I led.

Prem with class of masters student at Digital Catapult for Conservation Immersive Technology workshop

Group photo with the Oxford University conservation masters students after I organised a lecture and workshop on AI & Immersive Technology for Conservation at the Alan Turing Institute and Digital Catapult, the leading institutes for computer science and digital technologies within Britain.

seal pup