Dr Ana M. M. Sequeira, Research Director & Founder of MegaMove, has received the Early Career Award from the International Biologging Society, announced during this year’s Society’s 7th conference.

The award recognises Ana’s contributions to advancing global understanding of marine megafauna distribution and she was acknowledged for pioneering global distribution models for whale sharks and for her role in building long-term collaborations across the biologging community. Ana has helped bring together researchers to share data and assess the cumulative impacts of global threats on mobile marine species. Also of note were her efforts in promoting data collection practices that minimise animal disturbance while maintaining scientific rigour through sufficient sample sizes.

The International Biologging Society’s conference is a biennial event bringing together researchers working across tagging, telemetry, physiology, and movement ecology. The 2021 conference — themed “Tracking the Changing World Around Us” — gathered over 575 attendees and recognised three early career researchers and one outstanding career awardee for their contributions to biologging science.

This award reflects the growing recognition of collaborative biologging efforts at global scales — a key part of the MegaMove initiative and an important step toward improving conservation outcomes for marine megafauna in a rapidly changing ocean.