Executive Officer of the Southern Ocean Observing System International Project Office, hosted by UTAS-IMAS.

As coordinator of CIRCA (Centre of Innovation for Recovery of the Climate) I manage and coordinate the newly developed Centre of Innovation for Recovery of the Climate, CIRCA central office, Australia which is hosted by the University of Tasmania.

Through this role I manage and coordinate SOOS’s scientific working groups and national networks, manage effective communication with the international Southern Ocean observing programs and community, and provide support to the SOOS Executive Scientific Steering Committee and Executive Officer.

"Effects of ocean acidification on Antarctic microbial communities"Investigated the effects of ocean acidification on the associations among nearshore Antarctic marine microbes using data collected during a mesocosm experiment at Prydz Bay, East Antarctica. Specifically, I collected, processed and analysed data using traditional microscopy techniques and phylogenetic marker gene sequencing (16S and 18S rDNA) to investigate the effect of increased CO2 on the bacteria, archaea and protistan community structure. These datasets were then combined to build an association network of the microbial community and understand how ocean acidification affects interactions between microbes.

Project Title: “Monitoring Ecosystem Stability in Model Marine-Derived Antarctic Lake Systems”• Successfully completed continuously sampling of 4 lake and near-shore systems as well as once-off sampling of 150 lakes over an 18 month (summer, winter, summer) period• Size fraction filtering and tangential flow filtration for molecular analysis• Lake water column profiling and salinity measurements• Microscopy counts and identifications of microbes• Nutrient limitation experimentation• Problem solving, method and equipment development and modifications

• Documentation of laboratory and field methods for incorporation into the development of a “wiki” page• Analysis of electron micrograph images of diatoms (including development of a “shrapnel index”)• Identification and abundance counts of soil invertebrates from Macquarie Island soil samples

• Underwater experiment set-up, monitoring and pack-up• Sample collection and identification• Surface-diver support and boat crew• Identification and abundance counts of benthic algal communities from underwater quadrat photographs

• DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing of deep-sea coral samples