Jessica Hough has a master's degree in marine biology from the University of Oslo. She has worked as a department engineer and lab leader in the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, where she has been on a number of cruises, including in the Barents Sea, West Africa and Morocco. Here, she has been responsible for providing training to local researchers in, among other things, sampling and reporting of collected data. Jessica has also been involved in the organization Lei en Biolog, where she has worked with marine restoration, communication and fieldwork. She has lived most of her life in the Philippines and in England, and has worked for several international voluntary organisations.