Franziska Elmer PhD is the scientific project manager at seafields, founder, co-host and executive producer of the Sargassum podcast, and research fellow with School for Field Studies at the Center for Marine Resource Studies in South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands. She has spent much of her career in the Caribbean, including volunteer work and an internship at STENAPA in St. Eustatius and faculty positions at CIEE in Bonaire and SFS in South Caicos. Furthermore, she serves as treasurer for the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean. Her research focusses are on coral recruitment, stony coral tissue loss disease and the impact of Sargassum beaching events on ecosystems and local communities. In 2020, Franziska gave TEDx talk in Luzern: How a Marine Biologist Became a Climate Pirate. In 2020, she quit her job to volunteer full time for climate projects.