Douglas McCauley

Douglas McCauley is a Professor at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and an Adjunct Professor at the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley). He directs the Director of the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, an applied research center based at UCSB’s Marine Science Institute that creates replicable, science-based solutions to improve ocean health.

A Sloan Research Fellow in the Ocean Sciences and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action, Dr. McCauley was named a “Human of the Year” by Vice Media and a “Climate Visionary” by the Washington Post. He has spent thousands of hours underwater studying the seas. He is a sought-after speaker whose past engagements include addresses at venues such as Davos, the United Nations, Salesforce, Google, National Geographic, the Economist World Ocean Summit, Harvard University, and Stanford University. His research has been published in leading journals such as Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, as well as having been featured in outlets such as the New York Times, BBC, TIME, and US National Public Radio.

Dr. McCauley's research expeditions have taken him to some of the most remote parts of our ocean. His stories of science are interwoven with close encounters with curious sharks, nights spent uncovering the secret lives of manta rays, and unforgettable underwater moments with endangered whales.

Dr. McCauley’s first job on the ocean was working as a fisherman, before tuning his talents to save the seas. He has degrees in political science and biology from UC Berkeley and a PhD in Biology from Stanford University. He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford, Princeton University, and UC Berkeley.