Sharon Robinson

Background

About Sharon Robinson

Sharon researches how Antarctic plants respond to climate change. She uses radiocarbon signatures, left behind in the atmosphere by nuclear testing, to date mosses and track environmental change around the coast of Antarctica. Her group identifies the sunscreens plants make to protect themselves from elevated UV-B radiation due to ozone depletion. She is also applying new technologies, including the use of drones in Antarctica, to monitor plant health and productivity, and developing novel sensors that will help to track crop and forest health in future. Sharon was educated in the UK. After completing her PhD at University College London in 1990, she held postdoc positions in the USA and Australia. She is currently a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Environmental Effects Assessment Panel, onboard Science Faculty for the Homeward Bound 2019 Women’s leadership Program and a former member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. She first visited East Antarctica in 1996 and has been on 12 expeditions to continental Antarctic and sub- and maritime Antarctic islands with the Australian and Chilean Antarctic programs. She is a custodian for the only Antarctic State of the Environment Indicator concerned with Antarctic vegetation and is passionate about conserving Antarctic biodiversity. She was formerly UOWs Associate Dean Graduate Research and is currently Leader for the Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones Challenge within the Global Challenges Program.