Our team

Dr Joanne Peers is from the Cape Flats in South Africa, where questions of access, inequality and belonging shape everyday life. Growing up during apartheid deeply influenced how she understands education, the ocean – and environmental knowledge in particular – whose knowledge is recognised and who feels welcome in scientific spaces. She brings more than 20 years of experience in education, working across early years and higher education, with a professional focus on education strategy, curriculum innovation and relational learning and teaching.

Joanne holds a PhD in environmental humanities and education research from the University of Oulu in Finland. Her doctoral research explored relationality through thinking with bodies, water, time, memory and spirituality. She is the recipient of the Best PhD Award (2024) at the University of Oulu and winner of the Finnish Education Research Association PhD competition (2025). Joanne is a researcher at the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

In leading research and development at the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Education Centre (SOSF SEC), Joanne works closely with the team to strengthen curriculum frameworks, build a shared educational language and expand research into strategic development to ensure that the SOSF SEC’s work remains grounded in care, accountability and access. She is particularly interested in how education can move from ‘teaching about science’ towards communicating with the sciences in ways that are relational, inclusive and responsive to the communities served. Her aim is to support the SOSF SEC in deepening its community engagement, strengthening education leadership and creating learning spaces where belonging, lived experiences and environmental responsibility can grow together.