In this talk, Dr Adrian Glover will give an overview of the remarkable, and at times fantastical history of deepsea mining that started in 1872 when HMS Challenger first trawled up a small potato-sized mineral accretion called a polymetallic nodule. On the way we will hear about the birth of deep-sea ecology as a discipline, the recovery of lost Soviet nuclear submarines, the creation of the first international treaty for the oceans, the development of the first high seas marine protected area, the netzero demand for new mineral exploration and the current situation with regards to environmental impacts and protection based on the latest science.
Dr Glover is a zoologist, oceanographer and biodiversity scientist passionate about exploration and discovery in the remotest places on our planet. He holds a Merit Researcher position at the Natural History Museum, London where he leads the Deep-Sea Systematics and Ecology Group. He has over 20 years experience leading deep-ocean and polar research in the remotest places on our planet including multiple expeditions with robotic and
manned deep-sea submersibles. His research is focused on using the latest integrative taxonomic methods to describe new species, study their evolutionary origin, test general theories in biodiversity science and discover hidden value in their natural products.