“How am I supposed to come up with research questions about the deep sea when we've seen less than 0.001%?”
Kelsey Archer Barnhill studied Ecology at NMBU, and is now meticulously mapping out the ocean floor, one tiny inch after the other. After completing her bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Geological Sciences, Kelsey packed up her things and moved across the Atlantic to study at NMBU.
The Norwegian culture
Kelsey looks back at her time at NMBU with fondness. NMBU has a large international cohort, with international students staying for entire degrees, not just a semester or two, which she really appreciated.
“I wanted to learn the language and the culture and threw myself in the deep end. I joined one of the societies (foreninger) on campus, where I was the only international member. NMBU is such an inclusive and welcoming university. I felt fully integrated.”
By joining in on things like her society (Feminin & Fornem), Kelsey taught herself Norwegian and learned more about the Norwegian culture. She recommends every international student to join in on something, even if they’re the only international student present.
Making science more accessible
After finishing her master’s degree, Kelsey pursued a PhD at the University of Edinburgh. There, she worked on expanding her knowledge about cold water coral ecology. She focussed on creating a coral reef health index to expand on the current presence-absence data available.
“Even though you’ve discovered a coral reef, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a healthy one. It’s important to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy reefs,” says Kelsey.
In addition to researching cold water coral ecology, Kelsey wrote the last chapter in her thesis on accessibility in science.
“I was advised not to, but deep-sea science needs more people that have capacity. Just because I didn’t spend hours upon hours in the lab for my final chapter, doesn’t mean its less valuable. We should make science more inclusive and accessible for scientists who, for whatever reason, are unable to participate in, for example, fieldwork or lab work.”
Delivered scientific data to the French president
After finishing her PhD in Edinburgh, Kelsey applied for the role as the deep-sea coordinator for the International Platform for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS). This was a post-doctoral position on a 14-month contract.
French president, President Macron, had requested Bruno David, former president of the Natural History Museum and Françoise Gaill, who, Kelsey explains, is like the Sylvia Earle of France, to come up with documentation and bring together a global consultation on deep sea mining to strengthen France’s position as the only country in the world to call for a ban on deep sea mining.
“President Macron wanted to ensure that a call for a ban or moratorium was scientifically backed. So, it was my job to coordinate this consultation. It was really cool because this was my first time in deep-sea mining and I got to learn a lot,” says Kelsey.
Exploring the ocean
How can scientists notice trends, when we’ve seen less then 0,001% of the deep ocean floor? Kelsey is passionate about figuring out what’s down there, on the seabed. She explains that in Norway, almost every time you bring down a ROV or an AUV in the water, people discover new occurrences of corals.
She now works as The Head of Research and Development at Aspecto AS in Norway. Aspecto is a marine monitoring and surveying company that use autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), so that they can go out on sites and make maps of the sea floor and different habitats.
“One of my roles within the organization is to come up with monitoring programs for vulnerable species near aquaculture facilities,” Kelsey explains.
Aspecto made a new role for Kelsey. During her first round of interview, she applied as a Marine Biologist. During the second interview, they asked if she’d consider an offer under a different job title.
Kelsey says that even if you’re not the perfect fit for a role but a good fit for the company, you should apply because they may work with you to come up with a position that better suits your skills and benefits the company.
The mysterious purple blob
One of the UN decade goals is to keep our oceans healthy, which is something Kelsey works toward.
“But you can’t protect something you don’t know, which is why I always want to explore more of the ocean,” Kelsey says.
One of the more fascinating things she’s done so far in her career was an expedition with Dr. Robert Ballard, who held a TED talk on deep sea exploration, leading with the idea of how humans have a better understanding of the moon and Mars than the ocean.
“I got to tell him he was the reason I came into the field. I was also on watch when we discovered ‘The Purple Blob’. I love that even as a deep-sea scientist sometimes you're like ‘I have no idea what this is’, and that's really cool,” Kelsey says.
The importance of curiosity
Kelsey explains that within deep-sea science and marine science in general, there’s so much left unexplored. It’s important to be able to observe and consider the world around you and come up with research questions that way.
“Be curious and find the need to explore,” Kelsey insists.
Kelsey’s best tips for students just starting out in their careers:
- 1. Sign up for mailing lists from research centres and networks for when they post available jobs.
- 2. Be curious and really work on developing your critical thinking skills, there is so much we don’t know, and we need to be open to that fact.
- 3. Don’t be scared to apply for a job even if you don’t have any connections at the firm. It can also be smart to call them up before you even send the application, just to be sure they recognise your name during the hiring process.
During her time as a student, she wrote several research papers that were later published.
Articles from Kelsey’s master thesis
- Coral Resilience at Malauka`a Fringing Reef, Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu after 18 years
- Acclimatization Drives Differences in Reef-Building Coral Calcification Rates
Articles from Kelsey’s coursework
- Human-bottlenose dolphin interactions within wildlife tourism, ocean recreation and fisheries
- Morphological and allometric variation due to percentage of cover in Eichhornia azurea (Swart) Kunth (Pontederiaceae)
Articles from Kelsey’s PhD
- The first IUCN Red List of cold-water corals highlights global declines
- Ship-to-shore training for active deep-sea capacity development
Do you want to study Ecology at NMBU?