Asha de Vos

Protector of whales
ashadevos.com
Dedicated to increasing awareness about Northern Indian Ocean blue whales, Asha de Vos is also committed to inspiring the next generation of marine biologists.

Why you should listen

Asha de Vos is a marine biologist and TED Fellow who specializes in researching and working with marine mammals. She has degrees from the Universities of St. Andrews and Oxford, and her PhD from the University of Western Australia. She oversees the Sri Lankan Blue Whale Project, the first long-term study on blue whales within the northern Indian Ocean.

A Duke University Global Fellow in Marine Conservation, de Vos previously worked at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature while she has also consulted with the National Aquatic Research Agency. She was a panelist at the Rio+20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in 2012.

What others say

“The unique Sri Lankan blue whales live in busy shipping waters. Marine biologist Asha de Vos is using mathematical models to put them out of harm's way.” — New Scientist

Asha de Vos’ TED talk

More news and ideas from Asha de Vos

Live from TEDGlobal

Save the whales (and the humans too): A recap of TED Fellows Session 1 at TEDGlobal 2014

October 6, 2014

It’s time for TED Fellows Talks, the Rio edition! Twenty TED Fellows and Senior Fellows opened the conference in the stunning Golden Room of the Copacabana Palace Hotel. In Session 1, learn more about a grassroots marine conservation movement in Madagascar, a vending machine that dispenses food staples in Chile and a new database of African genetics. […]

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Art

Asha de Vos meets a puppet of herself

February 26, 2013

Blue whale researcher and TED Senior Fellow Asha de Vos unveiled her TED-Ed lesson today on the TED Fellows stage. The video — “Why are blue whales so enormous?” — stars a puppet version of de Vos, which she had been coveting for weeks. So Fellows & Community Director Tom Rielly presented her with it, hand-carried from […]

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