Tosca Ballerini
I have spent twenty years working in ocean science — in the field, in research institutions, and as a journalist. Thalassa Consulting is the practice that grew from that experience: the ocean science expertise a project needs, without a research institute or NGO having to build that expertise in-house.
I am a marine biologist and ecosystem modeller, and I trained as a journalist. I hold a doctorate in the Ecology and Biology of Polar Habitats from the University of Siena — earned through fieldwork on Adelie penguin population dynamics on the Antarctic coast — and a professional degree in print and online journalism from ESJ-PRO Montpellier. Those are the two credentials this practice is built on: the science, and the ability to communicate it. For a research partner, that means the methods I use — ecological data analysis, field survey design — are ones I have applied as a working researcher for years.
The Science
My scientific career began with a Master's in Natural Sciences from the University of Florence, focused on macrofauna in mangrove ecosystems along the Mozambican coastline. My doctoral research then took me to Antarctica, where I developed population models for an Adelie penguin colony.
After completing my doctorate in 2007, I continued as an ecosystem modeller at American and French research institutions, developing ecosystem models for the Western Antarctic Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea. For a research institute, that means a scientific partner who has worked inside institutions like theirs and understands how they operate — peer review, funding cycles, the pace of research.
From 2017, I have led and coordinated seven citizen science projects on plastic pollution in the Mediterranean — for four of them, I wrote the grant proposals that were then funded — designing the scientific protocols, coordinating field surveys with volunteers, and writing peer-reviewed publications based on the data collected. For an NGO, that means a citizen science project built for both: real community engagement, and data solid enough for peer-reviewed publication.
The Journalism
The journalism degree was not a pivot. It was a deliberate second credential — the professional qualification to match the scientific one, so a project's research can be put into a form that a wider audience can follow.
In 2014, I completed my training at ESJ-PRO Montpellier, one of France's leading schools of journalism, specialising in print and online journalism. Since then, I have covered international and European environmental policy and negotiations — the global plastics treaty, the PPWR, the ocean economy — for Italian media and NGOs. For a project that needs to reach beyond the field, that means research written to newsroom standards: accurate, and shaped around what a non-specialist reader needs to follow.
Languages
Working languages: English (fluent), Italian (native), French (fluent). I also read and speak basic Spanish.
Field Experience
Antarctica: Doctoral fieldwork on Adelie penguin population dynamics. Remote field station research on the Antarctic coast.
Mozambique: Master's research on macrofauna ecology in mangrove ecosystems along the Mozambican coastline.
Mediterranean Sea: Almost a decade of plastic pollution citizen science — protocol design and field coordination across open sea, river, and shoreline: the Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, and Adriatic seas, the Durance river, and the Tuscan coast.
At sea: Ten years sailing the Mediterranean, including an Atlantic crossing from the Canaries to the Caribbean with an all-female crew, and 105 days at sea on citizen science surveys. Certified as a merchant-navy deckhand on bridge watch and, in 2026, as a sailing instructor.
Everything in this work — the research, the writing, the years in the field — is in service of one thing: ocean science that reaches the people who need it, and takes its place in the decisions that protect the ocean for the generation inheriting it. That is what Thalassa Consulting is for.
Work Experience
2016 – present
Founder & Consultant
Thalassa Consulting — Marseille, France
2015 – present
Freelance Environmental Journalist
Italian media
2021 – 2022
Research Fellow
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn — Naples, Italy
Project: MPA Engage — Interreg MED
2014 – 2015
Research Scientist & Program Specialist
Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO) — Toulon, France
Project: CoCoNET (Towards coast to coast networks of Marine Protected Areas, from the shore to the high and deep sea, coupled with sea-based wind energy potential) — EU 7th Framework Programme
2012 – 2013
Marine Ecosystem Modeler
Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO) — Marseille, France
Project: EMIBIOS (End-to-end Modelling and Indicators for BIOdiversity Scenarios) — Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité
Project: PERSEUS (Policy-oriented marine Environmental Research in the Southern EUropean Seas) — EU 7th Framework Programme
2008 – 2011
Marine Ecosystem Modeler
Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University — Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Project: US GLOBEC Pan-Regional Synthesis project — US National Science Foundation
Education
2014
Professional Degree in Print & Online Journalism
ESJ-PRO — Montpellier, France
Final Exam: Investigation into the Montpellier TGV Station
2007
PhD in Ecology and Biology of Polar Habitats
University of Siena, Italy
Thesis: "From individual information to population models: the case of a long-lived Antarctic species, the Adélie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae."
2001
Master's Degree in Natural Sciences
University of Florence, Italy
Thesis: "Researches on East African Mangroves: environmental and biotic gradients and their influence on macro fauna zonation."
Let's talk about your project.
Whether you need to bring ocean science to a wider audience, design and coordinate a citizen science project from protocol to publication, or get the analysis and reporting a funding application requires — I can help, in English, Italian, or French. Tell me what you're working on and what you need it to reach.