Emily Penn

Emily Penn is a researcher and ocean-advocate based in London. She is co-founder and Mission Director of eXXpedition, a not-for-profit organization which hosts research expeditions at sea with all-women crews to investigate ocean pollution...
== Early Life ==
Penn graduated from University of Cambridge in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture . She spent much of her free time on the water as a skipper. She recently said that she "wishes she’d made a more logical choice and studied Life and Environmental Sciences" for her undergraduate degree .
== Ocean Advocacy ==
=== Pangaea Explorations ===
In 2010, Penn founded Pangaea Explorations to connect scientists, researchers, and filmmakers with a 72-foot yacht in order to reach remote parts of the planet. The company hosts both bookable adventure sailing trips on pre-determined routes, and customizable expeditions with their experienced sailing crew 
=== eXXpedition ===
In 2014, Penn co-founded eXXpedition with Lucy Gilliam. This organization hosts research expeditions at sea with all-women crews, with the intention of advancing the general understanding of microplastics in the ocean. It also aims to generate solutions among researchers and create community among pollution activists. It is made possible through sponsorships and partnerships with various corporations, including Travel Edge, TOMRA, and Red Ensign Group 
eXXpedition engages with women specifically due to the gender gap in STEM careers and research, and the effects that microplastics have on female bodies. In 2016, she tested her blood for 35 toxic chemicals that have been banned by the United Nations, and found 29 of them. These chemicals, many of which are endocrine disruptors, can be particularly harmful during pregnancy and breastfeeding
Since its founding in 2014, eXXpedition has sent all-women crews sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific, throughout the Caribbean Sea, around the British Isles, and more . Penn has been the Mission Leader for many of these voyages. During these expeditions, team members do their part cleaning up pollution in the ocean and on beaches, and conduct research . Their research has been included in various documentaries and papers over the years.
== SHiFT ==
Penn partnered with SAP in 2020 to create the SHiFT method, which later became the digital SHiFT platform, in an effort to make learning about and solving ocean pollution more accessible. The platform allows users to navigate hundreds of options for addressing plastic pollution and provides them with the resources to do so.
== Honors and Awards ==
Penn was named Yachtmaster of the Year in at the London International Boat Show in 2010, an award presented by HRH The Princess Royal.. She received the Fitzroy Award at the 2016 Ocean Awards, an award given to "the adventurer or explorer who achieved the most to further ocean conservation in the past 12 months".. In 2021, she was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen's New Year's Honours "for [her] services to conservation and charity". In 2022, Penn was named one of PEOPLE's Women Changing the World in 2022 for her work in ocean advocacy . She also received an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Exeter in 2022 
Category:Researchers
Category:Advocates
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge