Diva Amon is a Trinbagonian deep-sea biologist who studies chemosynthetic habitats and human impacts on the deep ocean, especially related to deep-sea mining.  She was recently awarded the International Seabed Authority secretary-general’s award for excellence in deep-sea research.

Diva is also interested in increasing the capacity of low to middle income countries to explore their deep oceans, as well as bridging the gap between science and policy. She is currently undertaking a Marie Skłodowska-Curie research fellowship at the Natural History Museum in London, UK.

In 2013, she completed her PhD at the University of Southampton, UK, after which, she spent three years at the University of Hawai’i, USA, researching the largely unknown abyssal fauna of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area targeted for deep-sea mining in the Pacific Ocean.

Throughout her career, Diva has participated in deep-sea expeditions around the world, exploring and studying previously unknown habitats. She has done a considerable amount of science communication and public engagement, with her work featured on CNN International, National Geographic and BBC World. She is a co-founder of the non-profit NGO, SpeSeas, dedicated to marine science, education and advocacy in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean.