Marine Vertebrate Ecology Lab

Nicholai joined the MAVE Lab and CERG as a PhD candidate in April 2025 as a Colgan Foundation Doctoral Scholar, pursuing his study of nutritional ecology  in common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). Nicholai’s academic journey began at the University of Malta, where he completed a B.Sc. (Honours) in Earth Systems with a specialisation in habitat conservation. He then went on to the University of Iceland for an M.Sc. in Biology where he narrowed his scope into marine mammalogy, specifically toxicology and endocrinology. From his master’s thesis, Nicholai published a paper on persistent organic pollutants in stranded long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) in Iceland. Here, he also spent a considerable amount of time in the field assisting the University of Iceland research centre in Húsavík, Icelandic Winter Whales project, and the Icelandic Orca Project with data collection and processing.