Dr. Sofia Castelló y Tickell is a British-Mexican marine conservation scientist and artist working across comedy, creative writing, film, and theater.

She holds an AB in Biology and Photojournalism from Brown University, as well as an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation & Management and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Oxford.

Sofia has published academic work across marine ecology and conservation, stakeholder conflict and effective environmental communication, and created award-winning stop motion animations about marine life.

She co-founded the Good Natured film festival in 2019, which connects winning filmmakers with industry mentors and has showcased 86 hopeful environmental shorts in 11 languages from 23 countries. She also directed, performed in and conducted research on Wild Things, an improvised comedy show about conservation which debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.

She was a 2024 award winner of the National Academies' Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications, which honor exceptional science communicators, journalists, and research scientists who have developed creative, original work to communicate issues and advances in science, engineering, or medicine for the general public.

You can learn more about Sofia and her ocean science-themed comedy at: www.nationalacademies.org/awards/excellence-in-com…