There are wonders in the deep. June 8 has been designated World Oceans Day by the United Nations, and the theme for 2025 is Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us.
The following University of Victoria (UVic) experts are available to media to discuss topics relating to World Oceans Day:
Natalie Ban (Environmental Studies) is a marine conservation scientist. Her research focuses on coastal and marine systems on topics such as marine protected areas, coastal governance and climate change. Much of her research is done in partnership with First Nations and others to improve human well-being, fisheries and marine conservation in British Columbia and elsewhere. Her research uses approaches from natural and social sciences, and when invited by and in guidance with partners, Indigenous knowledge. (Contact: [email protected])
Amanda Bates (Biology) is an Impact Chair in Ocean Ecosystem Change and Conservation. She works on identifying mechanisms enabling species to cope with environmental change. She brings this perspective to highlight challenges and ways forwards to better predict and mitigate marine biodiversity change. (Contact: [email protected])
Kohen Bauer (Ocean Networks Canada) is a marine biogeochemist working to avert contemporary climate catastrophe. With broad interests in biogeochemical cycling, geochemistry, Earth system modelling and climate change dynamics, his research aims to create robust qualitative and quantitative models of Earth system processes in past, present and future scenarios. Presently, he serves as director of science at Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a UVic hosted, world-leading ocean observing facility that delivers ocean data from its cabled, mobile and community-based observing networks that represent an essential component of Canada’s ocean observing science capacity. (Contact: [email protected])
Julia Baum (Biology) is an expert in marine ecology and conservation and a UVic president’s chair. She is the director of Coastal Climate Solutions Leaders (CCSL), a first-of-its-kind Canadian graduate training program that prepares students to tackle the climate crisis head-on. She can discuss the impacts of human-caused climate change on marine ecosystems and people, and ocean climate change solutions. (Contact: [email protected] or 250-858-9349)
Maycira Costa (Geography) is a researcher with the Spectral and Remote Sensing Lab. Her areas of research include coastal oceans, kelp resilience, ocean temperatures and marine heat waves, in collaboration with First Nations and governmental agencies. She is collecting data to inform scientists and managers, including the government and local communities on environmental conditions conducive to kelp health and resilience in British Columbia. Kelp forests are underwater wonders, forming dense, towering canopies that thrive in cold, nutrient-rich waters and provide food and shelter for a wide range of marine life, from tiny invertebrates to large predators like sea otters. (Contact: [email protected])
Lin Cai (Electrical and Computer Engineering) is an expert in integrated systems that combine sensing, computing, communication and control to enable ubiquitous intelligence. Her research includes the development of autonomous surface and underwater vehicles for ocean exploration. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and currently serves as the vice-president for mobile radio at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. (Contact: [email protected])
Andy Fraass (Earth and Ocean Sciences) is a micropaleontologist and paleoceanographer. His research is focused on understanding the impacts of past climate events and climate states on marine plankton throughout the past 175 million years. His career has largely revolved around the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), a 50-year international effort in scientific ocean drilling. IODP has uncovered our best records of past climate change among many other key findings. Fraass is well-versed in past changes in climate, their evolutionary consequences and the importance of sedimentary carbonate stabilizing the climate system. (Contact: [email protected] or 250-721-6314)
Jody Klymak (Earth and Ocean Sciences/Physics and Astronomy) is an expert on ocean circulation and mixing, essential for understanding how the ocean evolves under a changing climate. He is the lead investigator on the Canadian-Pacific Robotic Ocean Observing Facility, which uses robotic underwater gliders to observe the essential ocean variables like heat, freshwater, oxygen and biological productivity. He can discuss how we can better prepare for a changing ocean with improved observation, understanding and prediction of ocean state. (Contact: [email protected])
Eva Kwoll (Geography) is an assistant professor in geomorphology and head of the Geomorphology of Coastal Systems Lab. Her research interests span from sediment transport in shallow coastal waters and near river mouths, to sediment transport around submerged vegetation, to submarine hazards associated with turbidity flows and tsunami in coastal fjords. (Contact: [email protected])
Benjamin Neal (Biology) is a marine ecologist with expertise in how ecosystems respond to local and global anthropogenic disturbance, advanced sensing of benthic marine ecosystems and marine resource conservation and sustainable utilization. (Contact: [email protected])
Diana Varela (Biology/Earth and Ocean Sciences) is a biological oceanographer who studies variations in marine primary productivity, and the links between phytoplankton physiology and nutrient cycling in the ocean. Her research examines how environmental conditions—such as ocean acidification, changes in temperature and salinity, and sea-ice loss—affect the efficiency of carbon, nitrogen and silicon utilization by phytoplankton. Most of her work is done on oceanographic cruises to the oceanic North Pacific and Arctic Oceans, and in a research station in Antarctica. Note: she is only available remotely as she is currently on board a Norwegian research cruise, conducting experiments in the Arctic. (Contact: [email protected])
