Louise Allcock, Professor of Zoology, NUI Galway

Louise is professor of Zoology at NUI Galway. She’s an active field marine scientist and has participated in expeditions worldwide, but has spent some of her most rewarding time on our doorstep, in the North Atlantic, studying the fascinating but vulnerable coral ecosystems of Ireland’s deep-ocean floor. Louise’s first science job twenty odd years ago was as curator of molluscs (which includes clams and oysters, snails, and octopuses among others) at the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. Here she looked after a collection of a million shells, continued her research on Antarctic octopuses, but also enjoyed for the first time sharing her love of science and nature with the public through talks, events, and exhibition space.

Much of Louise’s current job still involves sharing knowledge – mostly with undergraduate students at NUI Galway, but she recently wrote a richly illustrated book about the fastest and smartest molluscs in the ocean (octopus, cuttlefish and squid!), and this spring and summer, during lockdown, she co-ordinated an almost daily blog of nature activities (natureathome.org), helping everyone to find things to do in their street, yard or garden.

Louise lives in Galway City, just a short walk from both the river and the sea. She walks and cycles everywhere and is enthralled with the idea of a Galway National Park City.. She is delighted at the opportunity to help people become more closely connected with nature, knowing first-hand the pleasure that it brings.