Did you know that one-tenth of the global oceans are frozen? It might seem an impossible place to live, but a buzzing ecosystem of cold-adapted living things call these places home. The problem is, climate change is affecting these frozen worlds more rapidly than any other place on Earth.

Dr. Rebecca Duncan has spent the last eight years working in the polar regions, travelling to remote areas of the frozen ocean, including the North Pole! She is trying to answer the big question of how these environments are changing, using the smallest pieces of the puzzle - the microscopic phytoplankton. They are the polar ocean's food source, so by using tools from microscopy to particle accelerators, she is determining how phytoplankton are changing with climate change and how this might impact the entire marine food-web.

Rebecca is an adventurer at heart, ever curious about the natural world and fascinated by the extreme forms of life thriving in the polar regions. She is a passionate advocate for women and diversity in field research and science.

Rebecca received her PhD from University Technology Sydney, with UNIS Svalbard, in 2024. She has a Masters of Environmental Science and Bachelors of Science and Arts.