Prof Lynne Shannon scoops prestigious Prince Albert Grand Medal for Ocean Science

In an extraordinary feat, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Professor Lynne Shannon has received the 2025 Prince Albert Grand Medal for Ocean Science in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the field – making her the first scholar from South Africa and the Global South to receive the distinguished award.

The medal recognises a highly qualified researcher in oceanography, for lifetime achievement, ground-breaking discovery, or for producing a significant body of work. Professor Shannon, the deputy director of UCT’s Marine and Antarctic Research for Innovation and Sustainability (MARiS) and a research professor in the Department of Biological Science, was honoured for her groundbreaking contributions to marine ecosystem dynamics, ecosystem-based fisheries management, and climate ocean interactions. Her work has shaped global policies and scientific understanding. Shannon’s award, one of the highest international honours in marine research, places South Africa on the global stage for marine excellence.

“I feel absolutely delighted and immensely humbled to have been awarded such prestigious recognition of my life's work. This reflects the incredible national and especially international networks of collaborative science that I've been honoured to be a part of,” she said.
 

“The award comes with a huge responsibility for me to take on new initiatives and follow new research directions that have been building for a while and now will be all the more possible, given such incredible support behind me.”

Addressing the polycrisis in the ocean

According to Shannon, addressing the polycrisis in the ocean will require visionary thinking and action, where humans are seen as part of nature and not separate, and where diverse knowledge systems and perspectives are brought together in complementary and constructive ways.

She said she is working on transforming ocean-related decision making by exploring and establishing linkages between law, governance, conservation, fisheries science, alternative knowledge systems and the arts – and adopting a proposed shift from purely natural sciences to other disciplines and ways of engaging society to provide promising new options to reinvent and recharge ecosystem-based ocean management.

“It is an incredible honour receiving this award. I hope that with this prestigious award, doors will be opened for us here in South Africa to lead this ground-breaking research,” she said.

Shannon received her award at the Oceanographic Institute in Paris earlier this month. The prizegiving forms part of a 65-year tradition started by the institute to recognise exceptional contributors to ocean knowledge and stewardship.

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