Annabelle Aish is Project Lead for Bioinspire-Museum, a cross-disciplinary initiative launched in 2019 to coordinate, support, and promote bioinspiration at the French National Museum of Natural History. Trained as a geographer, she later specialised in tropical marine science, a path that led to more than 15 years of experience in marine biodiversity conservation.

Throughout her career, she has worked on a wide range of marine issues, including coral reef protection, sustainable fisheries, the creation and management of marine protected areas, and the development of ecological indicators to assess the status of marine habitats under European legislation. She has held several roles within the UK Government’s scientific agency for nature conservation (JNCC) and served as Head of the Marine Team at the French Natural Heritage Service (OFB/MNHN/CNRS).

Today, she works to advance bioinspiration as a design methodology, with a particular focus on ensuring that nature-inspired approaches contribute to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. A strong advocate for scientific rigour, she seeks to promote a deeper understanding of the biological mechanisms underpinning bioinspiration, helping to bridge the gap between biological research and innovation. She is also committed to broadening bioinspiration’s taxonomic horizons by encouraging exploration of the full diversity of life – past and present – as a source of solutions to contemporary challenges.