The marine ecologist and social scientist on a mission to diversify polar science

Tomorrow, if you had to go on an ocean voyage to a remote artic outpost to study climate change and community resilience and could take one NIRAS colleague with you, Chloe Nunn would be your pick. The 27-year-old member of the Marine Environment UK team not only comes with ample qualifications like driving powerboats and how to stay alive in a maritime emergency, she is also a National Geographic Explorer and can even advise on how to set up a kelp farm in case supplies run low.

No doubt, Chloe has lots of interesting experience to offer, but her drive to support early career polar scientists – particularly women and under-represented groups – is what sets her apart. She spends hours outside of work, on her own dime, volunteering for the UK Polar Network, an organisation that supports and represents early career polar science researchers and professionals (ECRs), doing awareness raising and creating training materials.

“Women are underrepresented in STEM as a whole for a variety of well-known but difficult-to-tackle reasons. The polar sciences are particularly male-dominated due to the historic imperial attitude towards expeditions, so under-represented groups as a whole are still not getting access. The network came about partly to address that and aims to support ECRs when they are doing field work,” Chloe explains. “As a woman in very remote, harsh conditions, if you have male supervisor, he might not have thought through all the issues so the network tackles those to ensure the next generation is more diverse. A core part of training for polar research is not standardised and ECRs can only rely on what their sponsoring institution provides which often falls short. A recent harrowing report on the culture of an Antarctic research base exposed sexism, violence, homophobia and racism. If you experience that as part of your field work, it’s unlikely to spur you into a long term, rewarding career. So it is critical to train people about working in teams and considering the needs of others,” she says. 

Bringing leadership and engagement experience to a flagship project

Since joining NIRAS almost a year ago, Chloe has been providing support to offshore wind environmental consenting projects in the UK. More recently she became the Fund Engagement Manager for the Defra-funded Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature (OCEAN) grants programme, which NIRAS won earlier this year. OCEAN aims to deliver on the UK Government’s commitment to localise official development assistance (ODA) delivery by targeting in-country organisations and encourage consortium approaches to develop locally-owned solutions. Over the programme's life, the project team hopes to attract proposals from smaller organisations that work closely with the communities that are most affected by declining ocean health.

"This grant programme has the potential to have huge tangible impact on ocean science for sustainable development. It’s very exciting to be a part of the team shaping and implementing the processes which will elicit this impact," says Chloe.

With a BSc in Oceanography and a MSc in Sustainability from the University of Southampton, Chloe got her start in energy regulation compliance and spent two years as a Science and Operations Officer for the UN Decade of Ocean Science where she worked to implement transformational ocean action in support of sustainable development. She has also dabbled in seaweed startups, collaborated on a variety of publications and marine science initiatives, has held leadership roles in several organisations, and is an avid public speaker.

A dip in the water around Uummanaq, Greenland,
where Chloe did her field work.

Why NIRAS when the world is your oyster?

“I was attracted to NIRAS because of opportunities to work across sectors and disciplines on technical marine ecology and social science, as well as continuing to work on stakeholder engagement, partnerships, strategic thinking, and methods of collaboration. I can’t do one thing or I get bored. NIRAS is exciting as I can ‘work across’ but also focus on the technical environment and be a fund manager focused on stakeholder engagement for OCEAN,” Chloe explains.

The work Chloe has done for the UK Polar Network will serve her well in her new role with OCEAN. The network’s education, outreach and engagement programme is extensive and, as co-president, Chloe was heavily involved in a partnership with Education through Expeditions to deliver a series of training courses for ECRs through the Clean Planet Peninsula Project. The project received wall-to-wall coverage on the BBC and Chloe was interviewed on BBC News.

“I spent some time in an island community in Greenland for my Masters looking at social-ecological systems resilience, and I wish I knew then what I know now. Often ECRs are not equipped with appropriate skills to go out into remote polar field areas. We had free reign over the content of the training courses so that we could address often taboo subjects such as menstrual and personal hygiene. It’s not common to have these subjects addressed by more senior academics or supervisors let alone receive funding to more widely deliver training on them so that has been a highlight because they are topics that need to be addressed in order for polar science to be inclusive … not just for women but for everyone,” she says.

Finding the time to work with the UK Polar Network and the other initiatives she supports is  demanding for sure but it’s an obligation that Chloe and the other volunteer members of the network firmly believe in.

“If we didn’t do this, the next generation of polar scientists wouldn’t have a voice or access to critical support and career opportunities. But for an early career professional like myself, the network has provided stability in this time of uncertainty around economies and career opportunities. I’ve had incredible opportunities through my involvement – speaking to school students about climate change and the poles, attending international conferences, meeting British ambassadors, submitting evidence to the UK Government, and being a part of a supportive community as we navigate our careers together and try and make polar science more diverse and accessible.

“I didn’t know what a valuable resource the network could have been to me when I went to do my Masters fieldwork in Uummanaq, but now I know and want to be a part of the solution for other ECRs. The more I see how relevant the network’s initiatives are, the more excited I get to improve things for those following in my footsteps.”