Sara Andreotti

Dr Sara Andreotti is a marine biologist, extraordinary lecturer of Stellenbosch University, working toward the development of a global long-term management system and conservation plan for sharks since 2009. She completed her PhD at Stellenbosch University in March 2015; her research involved genetic techniques and photographic identifcation to better assess the population status and dispersal events of South African white sharks. The outcome was the frst national assessment of white shark population numbers and genetic structure, and the genetic work recently expanded in an international collaboration with the University of Queensland and Flinders University (Australia). Sara is now focusing on her own research and more recently also supervising two PhD and three Master students. Further, following her passion for shark conservation, Sara co-founded SharkSafe Barriers (Pty) Ltd, a South African company aiming to provide an eco-friendly and shark-specifc technology to keep swimmers and surfers safe from large predatory sharks; she is one of the four co-inventors of the SharkSafe BarrierTM, a patented technology which successfully bio-mimics the visual efects of a kelp forest and combines this with a series of permanent magnetic stimuli to form a barrier that dissuades sharks from passing through, without afecting other marine life. The SharkSafe BarrierTM aims to be the ultimate solution for a peaceful coexistence between beach goers and large sharks, for rejuvenating both the local ecology and tourism of coastal areas. Sara is currently the COO and one of the Founding Directors of SharkSafe Barrier Pty Ltd.