Despoina Markou obtained her Bachelor in Biological Sciences at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Australia and her Master’s degree in Biology at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in Odense, Denmark.

Her research focus has been reef ecology and heterogeneity, microplastics pollution, FTIR Spectrometry, drone applications in environmental research, wildlife photography as well as marine mammal behavior, cognition and bioacoustics.

She has participated in research projects in Australia, Denmark and Greece with most recent one the investigation of Tursiops truncatus (Bottlenose dolphin) cognitive capabilities when exposed to novel tasks. She is interested in multidisciplinary work across all aspects of marine science with a focus on Ecology, Marine Biology and climate change.