Alexandra Kristofovicova (she/her) is a 22-year-old ecologist and educator representing Slovakia on the 2026-2027 World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council.
Growing up in Slovakia, Alexandra was drawn to the one thing her country doesn’t have. The sea fascinated her, and the more she learnt, the more connected to it she felt. She believes there is wonder in discovering that the ocean is where life began, and that every living thing still carries a trace of it. She earned her diving license in a Slovak lake, finding her way beneath the surface in a country without a sea.
That wonder took her to the UK, where she completed a Bachelor’s in Biodiversity and Conservation at University College London, volunteered with the Seawatch Foundation collecting data on whales, and began studying marine biology with Newcastle University alongside a course in ocean forecasting. She has also used creativity to explore our role in nature. Her ocean video was recognised as a winner of Ocean Culture Life’s Global Ocean Narrative Challenge and as a finalist in the WhyCoexist competition in both 2025 and 2026, and she has spoken about ocean connectedness at a youth panel at the One Ocean Conference at Turner Contemporary. Having moved back to Slovakia, the ocean is often out of reach, so she meets it at a distance, through books and stories that carry her into its depths.
Alexandra feels deeply connected to the living world. The ocean sustains life on Earth, but is increasingly at risk, and she wants to protect it and help others to do so. Her work in education began as an Engagement Officer at ZSL London Zoo, where she engaged more than 4,000 visitors with wildlife and conservation. In 2024 she joined Our Youth for the Climate (OY4C), a youth-led organisation with volunteers from 40 countries, where she is now Director of Curriculum. Alexandra leads the development of a global climate education curriculum for students aged 14-18, created by young people for young people. Its resources have reached hundreds of students in more than 15 countries. She guides an international team of passionate young volunteers, working to update the curriculum’s topics and bringing it into classrooms. She believes education works best when it lets people see themselves in the story.
Her hope for the ocean is that people see how close it already is. It shapes our weather, our climate, and the air we breathe, and it is touched by every river and affected by the choices we make, even when the shore is hundreds of kilometres away.
As a member of the Council, Alexandra hopes to grow ocean literacy in Slovakia, for a community that has not been involved in the conversation. She wants to inspire young people be part of this conversation, because people protect what they love and feel connected to, and the ocean’s future will be in their hands.