Meet our 2023 graduates - Gareth Price

From 18-28 July, we’ll be celebrating the hard work of the 2023 cohort as they graduate and join the alumni community.

In the Meet Our 2023 Graduate series, we introduce a handful of these former students who have most certainly made the most of their time at Portsmouth.

Gareth Price’s story is slightly different as this is his second undergraduate degree having studied English Literature at another University. After graduation in 2010, he worked in various places whilst training to be a sprinter which led to an invitation to the 2012 Olympic trials. Unfortunately, due to a serious injury and love of baked goods (Gareth’s words), any chance of a high-level athletics career came to an end.

Afterwards, his career path led to him working for the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Once this contract ended, he moved to Portsmouth, became a Marketing Manager and met his now-wife. He shared his aspirations of becoming a Marine Biologist and she encouraged him to chase these dreams, so he did.

Tell us about your journey to University

After my A-Levels in 2007, I thought I might want to be a journalist. I enjoyed reading and creating writing and that’s what led me to study English Literature. In hindsight, I should’ve waited and worked out what I really wanted to do before committing to a three-year degree.

After my athletic career came to an end, I landed on my feet delivering a five-year project for the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It was during this time that I realised that I wanted to get back into science, especially climate change. 

After the government contract ended, I moved down to Portsmouth where I met my wife (we married this April) who is an oceanographer. She encouraged me to pursue a degree in Marine Biology.

I intended to do an A-level first to see how it went, but then the pandemic hit. I thought I might have a better chance of being accepted due to the reduced number of applicants. I was successful and got into Portsmouth, quit my job as a Marketing Manager and have loved every moment of the degree since.

What was it like quitting your job to return to University?

Before I started first year, I was a little nervous, but there has never been a moment where this hasn’t felt like the right decision. 

The biggest difficulty for me has been money. As this is my second undergraduate degree, there has been very little financial support available so I’ve spent a lot of my free time over the last three years waiting tables, tending bars, and working as a receptionist to keep up with tuition payments. 

My student experience has been very different from the norm. I live with my wife in our own house so I’ve been fairly isolated from the University social scene – not that there was much of one during the first year thanks to COVID.

Have you always been passionate about marine biology and fighting climate change?

Not exactly. I’ve always been fascinated by natural history but I must admit that the first time my father took me snorkelling, I refused point blank to even get into the water. Thankfully we tried again and, despite being sideswiped by a nurse shark 30 minutes in, I've loved the ocean ever since.

Working alongside the Department of Energy and Climate Change for many years definitely gave me a front-row seat to the difficulties posed to society by the climate crisis and I got a lot of satisfaction from being a small part of a group that was trying to do something about it.

Have you enjoyed your course?

Yes, I've absolutely loved it! In terms of the degree, Marine Biology is such a practical science and it's these aspects of the course that will stick with me long after I leave. 

A personal highlight for me was the second-year field trip to Devon which was my first real experience of long days devoted to biological fieldwork and analyses. It was a hard week, but tremendously rewarding. 

For my dissertation, I flew down to the Falklands with the RAF over the Christmas holidays and spent three weeks in the capital Stanley, as a guest of the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI). I can’t thank my project supervisor, Ian Hendy enough for helping to organise such an incredible opportunity.

This project involved testing the thermal tolerance of several invertebrate species that live in the Falklands’ pristine kelp forests. As far as we know this type of experiment had not been done in the sub-Antarctic before and one of the species involved in the experiment has never appeared in a scientific paper, so two firsts! I’m hoping to publish a paper with the Lead Project Scientist at SAERI.

When I wasn’t in the lab (tent), I was able to explore the islands and experience the amazing biodiversity by visiting penguin colonies, watching sea lions and dolphins, and snorkelling in the kelp. 

Graduation and looking forward

Now exams are over I feel at a little bit of a loose end, and keen to get started with a new challenge. I’m nervous about how I’ll deal with wearing the full academic dress if it continues to get hotter this summer! 

Mostly, I’m looking forward to spending the day with my family and coursemates, many of whom have overcome a lot to achieve their university degrees, and I’m looking forward to celebrating this achievement with them.

After graduation, I hope to do some work with the Institute of Marine Sciences here in Portsmouth. Then in August, my wife and I are off to Borneo for our honeymoon. We’ll be spending two months helping rebuild coral reefs that have been destroyed by bomb fishing as well as working in a turtle hatchery. 

In the future, I’d like to have earned my doctorate and be working in a postdoc position at a university or for the British Antarctic Survey. I desperately want to be involved in the research down at Rothera Station in Antarctica. Eventually, I would like to become a lecturer. 

What advice would you give to someone contemplating a career change even though they are settled?

For me, I wasn’t happy with the career I was in, and I didn’t want to spend the next 40 years of my working life doing it. 

So, the change was necessary and I’d been thinking about it for years. I was fortunate that I ended up in a situation where I could make the change, with help from my extremely supportive wife and family. 

There have been times when it hasn’t been easy, but never a moment where I haven’t been certain that this is what I wanted to do. That’s what has sustained me through full-time work, as well as full-time university.

I guess my advice would be: Do it! But only if you know this is something you want to devote your entire life to!

And to undergraduate science students, I’d like to give one piece of advice and that is this. From year one, ask your professors if you can help on their projects. They’re always doing amazing research, especially in marine biology. By spending free time around these scientists, you’ll learn more practical skills and benefit from more opportunities.