Emily Cunningham

Emily Cunningham MBE is a marine biologist and award-winning ocean conservationist. She currently leads a global conservation initiative and studies whales and dolphins as an Honorary Associate Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK.

She 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 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.The question she is asked most often is ‘What can I do to help the ocean?’. Our Ocean to Save is her reply.