You May Now Call Him Doctor
Tyson Bessell attended St Virgil’s from Year 3 all the way through to Year 10, graduating from SVC in 2012.
He then moved on GYC and soon after began his studies at the University of Tasmania, where he completed a Bachelor of Marine and Antarctic Science in 2017.
In 2018 he completed an Honours study year, where he worked with UTAS/IMAS and CSIRO on a threatened species of fish. Then in 2019 he began working towards completing a PhD.
His research project focused on the critically endangered Red Handfish, a small and quirky-looking fish that’s only found in Tasmania, and is arguably the rarest fish in the world. Tyson’s work involved regularly diving and monitoring these small fish, with the aim of trying to learn new information and come up with ways to help prevent the species becoming extinct.
He recently completed his PhD and graduated in August this year. All up, he has completed nearly eight years of tertiary education, all amounting to his recent PhD in Marine Conservation.
Tyson is now working for the University at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies as a threatened species biologist, continuing his work on conservation of endangered marine fishes, and regularly diving and teaching as part of that role.