Episode 38: Olivia Johnson (IMAS)

Olivia Johnson, currently a PhD candidate with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, is Craig's interview guest in this episode. The focus of Olivia's PhD project is investigating “how we can safeguard threatened marine reef species”. Her earlier research included modelling local ecological knowledge of the range-extending long-spined sea urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii).  In 2018 Olivia was awarded the prestigious Our World Underwater Scholarship Society Australasian Rolex Scholarship and you will hear her relate some of the many and varied activities that she achieved in her scholarship year, her experiences during a 6 month internship in the Maldives, and her two voyages to the Antarctic as a krill biologist. Olivia also talks about her role as a Research Assistant for the Handfish Conservation Project. To say that Olivia, still in her 20s, has had a 'jam packed' marine science career to date is somewhat of an understatement!