Deborah Early, PhD

Deborah Early (PhD, MMedSc, PGCert.P.R.&T.) is an experienced international communications professional with a multi-disciplinary background who cultivates meaningful and cutting-edge impact for socio-ecological and maternal-child health, including through regenerative tourism. A biophile, and mother, she stands on the shoulders of strong and resilient women. She is passionate about life and has a lifetime of dedication to caring for mothers, children and the natural world.

Mothers nurture the future by sustaining life, as well as emotional and cultural continuity. True maternal resilience is rooted in systemic support, innovative stewardship and sound science. Communication is foundational to all these relationships.

Impact:

Dr Early's holistic resilience work, sought by future-focused leaders, sits at the intersection of public-environmental-technological health, regenerative tourism and emergency management. This ensures ecosystems are not just “blue” or “green” but also socio-ecologically resilient and capable of quick recovery from crises or disruption.

Dr Early is an accomplished speaker and author across global and regional platforms, including those for place attachment and resilience. Dr Early is informed by the fields of neuroscience, maternal ecopsychology, contemplative pedagogy and reproductive medicine. She brings experience living and working alongside traditional ecological knowledge practitioners in several countries. She is also an internationally recognised IOC-UNESCO OceanExpert, specifically in the emerging fields of Human-Ocean Health and One Health (the overlap of human, veterinary and environmental health).

Giving Back & Interests

Throughout her life, she has been a devoted volunteer dedicated to youth empowerment, STEAM literacy, as well as nature-informed education for women and girls. She is a current sponsor for the local Zonta Young Women in Leadership Award. She has served as an environmental steward through planting 2,500+ trees and contributed to an international non-profit protecting medicinal and aromatic plants. In addition, for more than three decades, she has continuously uplifted lives through supporting a Sub-Saharan non-profit caring for under-served children and elderly women.

Known locally as The Marlborough Mermaid, she is a voice for human-ocean interconnectedness. A former surfer, in her free time she now enjoys swimming, hiking, nature photography and creating olfactory art.

Read her piece “Womb of Our World, The Sanctity of Our Home And Rights of Future Generations”.

Contact Dr Early on Linkedin.