Julie Hall is a biological oceanographer based at the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA) in Wellington where she is the Assistant Regional Manager. She obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Otago in New Zealand and her Ph D in Ecotoxicology at the University of Manitoba in Canada. Julie returned to New Zealand on completion of her PhD and started work as a biological oceanographer researching the bacterial aspects of the marine food web. Over the past 20 years her research has widened to include algae, zooplankton and studies of the microbial food web in lakes, the open and coastal ocean. Julie lead all the non fisheries work that was conducted on the Ross Sea voyage including onboard experiments to investigate the impacts of acidification of the Southern Ocean. Julie is also NIWA’s Education Coordinator. On the IPY voyage she organised and led the educational outreach programme which included material being prepared for educational websites and for the general public.