CORE sea
is a framework for marine environmentalists, scientists, divers and other passionate people which would like to preserve our biosphere, with a strategy based on reason and the scientific method.
It stands for Center for Oceanic Research and Education | south east asia
We are open for everyone, given that you have common sense or at least some humor. It’s necessary if you are thinking about volunteering with us.
Our Mission
We work with a simple mission statement, that is probably impossible to achieve in a lifetime:
To understand and protect the marine biodiversity of south east asia
Yes, it’s a bit silly, but we’ll try anyway
What we do
CONSERVATION | RESEARCH | EDUCATION
We conduct curiosity driven, and conservation oriented research with international and local students, and universities. We offer internships, volunteering opportunities and courses for research and conservation. University credit available.
What we are
Who we are
Eike Schoenig (1975-2019)
Founder
There could be a great many words written about “The Big Fella”. Most of them would probably be reasonably accurate. He had a tremendous and infectious passion for the marine environment that he caught diving in Koh Tao in 1994. He honed this into a fierce and encyclopedic knowledge at the University of Bremen and the Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology in Germany. It ridiculously involved him wading around in the muddy waters of Indonesia’s estuaries, which surprisingly wasn’t all that pleasant! Not perturbed by this too much he travelled to Koh Phangan and almost completely unexpectedly set up what we know and love as COREsea in 2011.
“He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius & naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.” – Douglas Adams
Janina Schoenig
Director
Janina studied educational sciences in Hamburg and worked in adult education, before she was dragged to Thailand by her husband. Since then, Janina dived extensively in South East Asia and is fascinated with aquatic wonderland in front of her door step. A lot of her experience in adult education found its way into the courses. Today, Janina manages COREsea’s logistics, accommodation and temper tantrums from Germany.
Victoria Fahey
Director of Research & Operations
Vicky is a coral reef ecologist from New Zealand, who first found her love for tropical corals when she did her internship with us at COREsea in 2015. What was meant to be a 3-month internship turned into 3 years at COREsea as a research assistant mentored by Eike, Vicky eventually went off on her own to do her MSc in marine biology at James Cook University, Australia. Forever crowned as the “intern who never left”, Vicky now runs the research and operations of the center, whilst inheriting Eike’s janitorial duties also (thanks big fella!). When Vicky’s not in her happy place diving out on the reef, you’ll most likely find her in her corner of the lab crunching data in R.
Stefan Follows
Dive Operations
Since 2001, Stefan has worked as a diving instructor, dive centre manager, and dive guide in the Gulf of Thailand. This has allowed Stefan virtually endless opportunities to indulge in his passions for teaching, diving, photography and all things aquatic. For the past 10 years, Stefan has been Director of Dive Operations here at COREsea. When he’s not at the center, you’ll find him exploring the island, running, diving and photographing the wonders of Koh Phangan above & below the sea.
Leia Bonjean
Research Assistant & Conservation
Leia is the newest addition to our team! After completing her internship with us back in 2023, she has spent time working as a Divemaster in Vietnam & Mexico. Now she is in charge of the diving and conservation activities. Leia’s one true purpose is to be underwater as much as possible. She loves spending quality time with underwater life and wants to share her love for the sea with everyone. If you want to do more to protect the ocean, she can tell you how.