Soli Levi
PhD Researcher, Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity
Greek living in Troisdorf, Germany
Soli is an interdisciplinary marine scientist working at the intersections of marine ecology, marine governance, social sciences, and art. She is currently working on her PhD at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) in Oldenburg, Germany. Her doctoral research aims to explore the relationship between marine governance and emotion. In particular, she is focusing on wild seaweed extraction in Ireland and the emotional tensions surrounding the history and governance of Irish waters.
She enjoys the challenge of weaving together academic and artistic practices, particularly through poetry, creative writing and music. She is also interested in finding creative ways to map ‘the unmappable’ – emotion, perception, experience, story – and pushing the boundaries of what geography means and does.
Soli lives in her adopted home of Cork, Ireland. She is originally half-Greek and half-Turkish, but grew up in the USA. She completed a Bachelor of Science (Public Health) in the Netherlands and a Master’s degree (Applied Coastal & Marine Management) in Ireland.
Outside academia, Soli has also had extensive experience volunteering in public and community engagement roles, spending two years volunteering at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and two seasons volunteering at ARCHELON (The Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece).
Soli speaks Greek, Turkish, English, Hebrew, French, and German, with a smattering of Spanish and Dutch to boot. She loves baking bread, watching birds, thinking about birds, walking in nature, writing poetry about walking in nature, and reading books on maritime history and Arctic exploration.
