“What can I do to help the ocean?” is the question marine biologist and conservationist Emily Cunningham MBE is asked more than any other. Her new book, Our Ocean to Save, is her answer: an exploration of the extraordinary life of our seas, the pressures they face, and what each of us can actually do to make a difference.
Based near Falmouth, Emily studies whales and dolphins as an Honorary Associate Research Fellow at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus. Over more than a decade working at the frontline of ocean conservation, her work and research have taken her from Antarctica to the Amazon, while closer to home she has worked to protect marine wildlife and the coastal communities whose lives are intimately connected with the sea.
Emily has helped secure millions of pounds for conservation and has worked to shape marine policy at local, national and international level. In 2025 she was awarded an MBE for services to marine conservation and coastal communities, and she is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
But Our Ocean to Save is not simply an account of what is going wrong. At its heart is a much more hopeful question: what can we do about it? Drawing on science, encounters with remarkable marine life and Emily’s own experiences as a conservationist, it looks at the changes already happening and the practical ways individuals and communities can become part of the solution.
About Emily Cunningham
Author of Our Ocean to Save
Emily Cunningham MBE is a marine biologist and award-winning ocean conservationist who studies whales and dolphins as an Honorary Associate Research Fellow at the University of Exeter's Cornwall Campus.
Emily has over a decade of experience at the frontline of driving change for our ocean and all who depend on it, securing millions of pounds of funding and shaping local, national and international policy. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, her work and research has taken her from Antarctica to the Amazon. She was awarded an MBE for services to marine conservation and coastal communities in 2025.
