Amanda Vincent

Dr. Amanda Vincent is a research scholar and a practical front-line conservationist. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the country’s top academic accolade, and is the 2021 winner of the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s top award for animal conservation (never before given to an ocean advocate). She is proudest of making a difference for seahorses, their ecosystems, and people who depend on the ocean.

In 1996, Amanda co-founded and still directs Project Seahorse, an interdisciplinary and international team committed to conservation and sustainable use of the world’s coastal marine ecosystems. The organization engages in connected research and management at scales ranging from community initiatives to international accords. Collaborating with stakeholders and partners, team members use seahorses to focus efforts in finding marine conservation solutions. Project Seahorse has four pillars of activity: advancing seahorse science, establishing marine protected areas, limiting problem fisheries and regulating wildlife trade. In 2025, Project Seahorse won the President’s Award for Fisheries and Conservation from the American Fisheries Society.

Amanda is a Professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, UK. She was a Visiting Fellow in Sweden and Germany (1990-1991) and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, UK (1991-1996) before becoming a faculty member at McGill University, Montréal, Canada (1996-2002). In 2000, Amanda was named a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, the world’s pre-eminent award in her field. She moved to UBC in 2002, with a Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation.