I lead a team which studies the role of marine bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton in the global cycling of carbon and oxygen, and how this varies in space and time and with changing environmental conditions such as increasing nutrient supply, temperature and carbon dioxide and decreasing dissolved oxygen. This involves laboratory and field observations, remote sensing, numerical models and the use of autonomous platforms (gliders and floats) and time series datasets.

I developed an analytical system to continually measure seawater dissolved inorganic carbon and used this to determine the spatial variability in the North Atlantic CO₂ sink, the impact of coccolithophore blooms on oceanic carbon uptake and the imbalanced uptake of carbon and nitrogen by phytoplankton.

Using scientific diving techniques I investigated carbon flux in the ice-ocean-plankton systems of the Antarctic and in high CO₂ hydrothermal regions in the Aegean Sea.

Current projects include the determination of the proportion of plankton respiration attributable to bacterioplankton, an investigation of the factors influencing microbial respiration, and a study of the microbial carbon pump including as an approach for ocean-based carbon dioxide removal and blue carbon accounting.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, past President of the Challenger Society for Marine Science, a Sustaining Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography and a Council Member / Trustee of the Marine Biological Association.

I organise a 2 day weekend Introduction to Oceanography course, open to anyone with an interest in the marine environment. 

My personal bluesky account is @carolrobinson8.bsky.social

• 2018 - present: Professor of Marine Sciences, University of East Anglia
• 2007 - 2018: Reader in Marine Biogeochemistry, University of East Anglia
• 2000 - 2007: Senior Scientist (Head of Science, Biogeochemistry), Plymouth Marine Laboratory
• 1996 - 2001: NERC Advanced Research Fellow, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
• 1988 - 1996: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Wales; Bangor 
• 1987 - 1988: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
• 1987 Ph.D. Civil Engineering (Public Health) University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
• 1982 B.Sc. Zoology (Marine) University of Newcastle Upon Tyne

My current projects investigate the role of plankton respiration in the balance between the storage of organic carbon in the ocean and the production of carbon dioxide and how this might change in a changing environment.

Previous projects include leadership of the NERC large grant - the Atlantic Meridional Transect programme - which aimed to quantify the nature & causes of ecological & biogeochemical variability in the planktonic ecosystems of the Atlantic Ocean and a NERC SOLAS project to investigate the impact of upwelled water along the Mauritanian coast on open ocean biogeochemistry and air-sea exchange of climatically important gases. I was also a co-investigator on a NERC project to investigate spatial variability in marine productivity using underwater gliders, and another studying biogeochemical cycles in UK shelf seas. I have participated in ca. 30 open ocean research cruises, coastal mesocosm experiments and coastal time series studies, including a 3 month stay at the Australian Antarctic base DAVIS.
I have supervised PhD students who studied the relationship between phytoplankton community structure and the cycling of carbon dioxide in the North Atlantic, the dynamics of dissolved organic carbon in rivers and coastal waters and zooplankton mediated carbon flux in the Southern Ocean.

Publications: EPrints Digital Repository

I teach on the first year Environmental Sciences fieldcourse and modules on The Living Planet and Our World, on second year modules in Biogeochemical Cycles and the Marine Sciences Fieldcourse, a third year module in Biological Oceanography and a Masters version of the Marine Sciences Fieldcourse.

I'm the module organiser for Biological Oceanography and the Marine Sciences Fieldcourse.

I have been the external examiner for the BSc in Oceanography at the University of Liverpool (2010-2012) and the MSc in Oceanography at the University of Southampton (2009-2012), and a PhD examiner at the Universities of Southampton, Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Dundee, Swansea and Marseilles.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and in 2019 I completed an MA in Higher Education Practice with a thesis entitled 'The Art of Reflection'.

I have held several research and teaching leadership and management positions, including Deputy Head of School, Senior Advisor, Chair of the Undergraduate Exam Board, Disability Awareness Officer, On- and in-water safety officer and Theme Lead of the Atmosphere and Oceans sector, and have been a member of the Teaching Executive Committee, the Undergraduate Affairs Committee, the Promotions Committee, the Undergraduate Examinations Board and the Postgraduate Research Committee.

Current Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr Meredith Meyer

Previous Postdoctoral Researchers

Dr Isabel Seguro Requejo, Dr Natalia Osma Prado, Dr Kevin Vikstrom, Dr Enma Elena Garcia-Martin, Dr Cecilia Liszka, Dr Niki Gist, Dr Vassilis Kitidis, Dr Pablo Serret (Marie Curie Fellow)

Current Postgraduate Students

Maisie Evans, Marta Vannoni, Xinyu Li

Completed Postgraduate Students

Qin Wang (Ocean University, China), Dr Duncan Vaughan, Dr Hamdan Alzahrani, Dr Chiara Cooper, Dr Victoria Fowler, Dr Peter Ward, Dr Cecilia Liszka, Dr Alida Rosales Villa, Ms Cansu Bayindirli (MPhil), Dr Clare Ostle, Dr Katy Owen, Dr Chris Brown, Dr Johanna Gloel, Dr Raffaella Nobili, Dr Rhiannon Mather (University of Liverpool), Dr Rachel U Shelley (University of Plymouth), Ms Jenna Robinson  (MPhil University of Newcastle upon Tyne)