The ordinary Essex man in exclusive group including Bill Gates, Prince Harry and Ed Miliband

An Essex researcher who has dedicated his life to fighting coral reef destruction has been named as a global environment champion by one of the world’s biggest magazines. Professor David Smith, the founder of the University of Essex’s Coral Reef Research Unit, sits beside fellow changemakers Prince Harry, Bill Gates, Sadiq Khan and actor Rosario Dawson on the TIME magazine’s top 100 global climate business leaders.

Professor Smith – who has been at the University of Essex for 27 years - was honoured by the influential magazine for his work with global food giant Mars Inc as Chief Marine Scientist. Working with the firm, which owns major brands like Mars, Snickers and pet foods such as Sheba, Professor Smith has developed strategies to restore coral reefs and in doing so has led the effort to outplant 1.3 million corals across the world.

The restoration teams use a variety of schemes, but the star of the show is the reef star, a low cost-low tech modular unit to which corals are attached and grow very rapidly. The reef stars are located in key locations to maximise the rate at the whole reef ecosystem rebounds, knowledge of which stems from the research Professor Smith pioneered at Essex.

READ MORE: M11 traffic live updates as crash near Harlow causes long delays and miles of rush-hour queues

READ MORE: The unfinished Essex village bought by a millionaire to become a spa town

And Professor Smith has also helped train close to 200 reef builders and has 63 restoration sites across 12 countries. He said: “I was deeply honoured to be included in the TIME100 Climate list, which serves to showcase the powerful impact of academic and business collaborations.

“This recognition emphasizes how combining distinct, yet complementary skill sets can lead to significant, positive impact.” The award and recognition have been praised by the School of Life Sciences.

Professor Terry McGenity, head of the school said: “This is wonderful and well-deserved recognition for Professor David Smith’s contribution to tackling coral-reef destruction, which affects directly the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.

“Dave has been part of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Essex for over 27 years, and a lot of the science behind coral-reef restoration stems from research at the University. He also frequently meets and works on restoration projects with Essex alumni across the world.”

Get more news from EssexLive straight to your inbox for FREE