Women in science 3 - meet Victoria Hickin

This month, we’re featuring marine mammal enthusiast Victoria (Vickie) Hickin as part of our Women in Science series.

We started the series in February after featuring four amazing women contributing to the NSW Marine Estate in our socials (@nsw_marineestate) to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Meet Victoria Hickin.

Victoria is an Assistant Project Officer with the Marine Wildlife Team, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Victoria decided to become a marine biologist at an early age.

“After seeing marine animals up close when I was 8, I was certain that I wanted to be a marine biologist. I did my school careers topic on it and my teacher didn’t even know what one was - it wasn’t such a well-known profession in the UK in the 80’s!”

Following a degree, Victoria pursued her passion through volunteering. My volunteering has been before, during and not so much after as I was working in the field.

“I’ve done lots of volunteering with marine organisations, from researching Spinner Dolphins in Hawaii, to mucking out and treating seals in a seal sanctuary, to sailing around the Hebridean Islands in a sperm whale-shaped boat giving educational talks on cetaceans.”

After gaining an honour’s degree, she worked as a Marine Biodiversity Officer and Fisheries Officer for the Welsh Assembly Government Fisheries Unit before moving to Australia.

“I migrated to Australia in 2010 and have worked for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service for 10 years. Last year I joined the Marine Wildlife Team and am very happy to be working with such a passionate, knowledgeable team dedicated to improving outcomes for whales, dolphins, dugongs, seals, sea lions, marine turtles, and sea snakes.”

Vickie says she loves her role with the Marine Wildlife Team.

“My role is varied, on any given day I could be helping to respond to marine wildlife incidents, rescuing injured or entangled animals, or doing post-mortems on turtles. Every day brings something different, and I feel privileged to be in this fantastic role.”