The Marine Biological Association (MBA) is delighted to announce the appointment of three new Trustees.
Matthew Longman MSc, Yonela Ndila and Professor Steven W Wilhelm were formally elected by Members at the Annual General Meeting, and will join the Board of Trustees for a period of three years. Each will take up a seat on one of the three different Committees.
With a wealth of experience and expertise in marine disciplines, these individuals bring a fresh perspective to the MBA’s strategic direction and governance.
Matthew Longman MSc – Trustee – Finance, Audit, Risk Committee
Matthew has 27 year’s experience in policing, working previously in the Merchant Navy.
He is passionate about all things connected with the sea having spent his whole life connected to it. His policing career has been broad and includes the management of major incidents, the tactical commander for the Cornwall G7 Summit, and the Commander of Plymouth for over 3 years.
He has also worked with the College of Policing to deliver national guidance, and with a number of collaborations to improve staff engagement and innovation.
He has an MSc in Police Leadership and Management, and is currently the Assistant Chief Constable for Operations. He now joins the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee in the MBA.
Yonela Ndila – Trustee Membership and Engagement Committee
Yonela holds a BCom (Law) and LLB from the University of the Western Cape and she is currently completing her LLM in Ocean Governance at Nelson Mandela University (South Africa) where she focuses on maritime cybersecurity – a field she plans to explore further in her doctoral research.
She was admitted as an attorney in 2021 after having completed her articles at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr and Knowles Husain Lindsay Inc. Yonela joined Caveat Legal in 2022 as a consultant and operations manager, bringing her unique blend of maritime and commercial law expertise to the role.
Her academic contributions include lecturing Law of the Sea, Marine Law and Policy, Marine Law, and Enforcement of Marine and Coastal Legislation on a contract basis at Nelson Mandela University.
She is a member of the South African Maritime Law Association, Marine Biology Association (UK) and Institute for Coastal and Marine Research (CMR).
Yonela’s expertise bridges the gap between traditional maritime law and emerging technological concerns in ocean governance.
Professor Steven W Wilhelm, FRSC – Trustee Research committee
Steven Wilhelm is the Kenneth & Blaire Mossman Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Tennessee. He completed both his BSc (honours, Genetics) and PhD (Plant Sciences) at the University of Western Ontario (Canada).
After postdoctoral stints at the University of Texas and University of British Columbia, he joined the faculty in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Tennessee in 1998.
Research in the Wilhelm group focuses on the interplay between biogeochemistry and microbial communities in both marine and fresh waters. As early adopters of the tools of molecular biology, his group uses a gene-to-ecosystem approach to understand how aquatic systems function and are shaped by their microbial communities.
Specific areas of interest include developing an understanding of virus ecology, trace element biogeochemistry and harmful algal blooms.
Professor Wilhelm is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology as well as a Sustaining Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO).
In June of 2021, he was named the winner (along with Curtis Suttle) of the John H Martin Award from ASLO for their initial description of the “viral shunt”. In 2022 he was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and in 2024 elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Find out more about our Trustees on the Royal Charter page.
Become an MBA Member
For more information about MBA Membership and become a Member today, please visit our webpage or contact the Membership team at membership@mba.ac.uk.
