Dr Cathy Cole, Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago, New Zealand

Cathy has taken up a new role in the Centre for Alternative Technology in the UK.

She continues to provide supervisory support for her remaining PhD students but is no longer accepting students at the University of Otago.

Cathy has a decade of experience in ocean and climate science, and professional experience working as a climate science communicator to support UK Government policy-making on climate change. As a PhD student at the University of Southampton, Cathy’s research explored the unusual chemistry of deep-sea hydrothermal vent fluids in the Southern Ocean, and the adaptations enabling vent fauna to tolerate the extreme toxicity of their environment. Moving from the deep polar seas to the tropical shallows, her post-doctoral research at the University of St Andrews set out to understand how corals encode climate records in their skeletons, and how fossil corals can help reconstruct Earth’s climate in the past.

With a growing concern for the impacts of our changing climate in today’s world, Cathy took up a position at the UK Met Office in 2016 as a Climate Science Communicator for the UK Government, including a secondment to the climate evidence teams of two government departments. This was an exciting and fast-paced role, ensuring that policy makers were informed by the latest knowledge and understanding of our changing climate, and responding rapidly to parliamentary and ministerial enquiries. At the same time, this was an opportunity to be creative in communicating science more widely, and to tell stories about our climate through infographics, animations, and through social media.

Meaningful and effective responses to our climate crisis, both globally and locally, necessitate clear and engaging communication of emerging science, now more importantly than ever. There will be no single magic solution, but rather a mix of solutions that will be different for different communities all around the world. Cathy’s work aims to connect scientific evidence with public understanding and policy more effectively, and ultimately to ensure that the societal transformations underway are truly successful in limiting the rise in global temperatures to the ambitious targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

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Publications

Nemadziva, B., Sexton, S. S., & Cole, C. (2023). Science communication: The link to enable enquiry-based learning in under-resourced schools. South African Journal of Science, 119(1/2), 12819. doi: 10.17159/sajs.2023/12819

Doehring, K., Cole, C., Young, R. G., & Longnecker, N. (2023). Collective storytelling as a river restoration tool: The role of catchment communities in inspiring environmental change. Frontiers in Communication, 7, 1061634. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2022.1061634

Doehring, K., Longnecker, N., Cole, C., Young, R. G., & Robb, C. (2022). A missing piece of the puzzle of on-farm freshwater restoration: What motivates land managers to record and report land management actions? Ecology & Society, 27(4), 25. doi: 10.5751/ES-13562-270425

Cole, C., Savoie, G., & Carson, S. (2022). Our ocean climate story: Connecting communities with local data [Practice insight]. Journal of Science Communication, 21(6), N02. doi: 10.22323/2.21060802

Cole, C., Finch, A. A., Hintz, C., Hintz, K., Yu, Y., EIMF, & Allison, N. (2021). The K_D Sr/Ca in cultured massive Porites spp. corals are reduced at low seawater pCO₂. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2021.09.007

Journal - Research Article

Allison, N., Cole, C., Hintz, C., Hintz, K., Rae, J., & Finch, A. (2021). Resolving the interactions of ocean acidification and temperature on coral calcification media pH. Coral Reefs, 40, 1807-1818. doi: 10.1007/s00338-021-02170-2

Journal - Research Article

Kellock, C., Cole, C., Penkman, K., Evans, D., Kröger, R., Hintz, C., … Allison, N. (2020). The role of aspartic acid in reducing coral calcification under ocean acidification conditions. Scientific Reports, 10, 12797. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-69556-0

Journal - Research Article

Allison, N., Cole, C., Hintz, C., Hintz, K., & Finch, A. A. (2018). Influences of coral genotype and seawater pCO₂ on skeletal Ba/Ca and Mg/Ca in cultured massive Porites spp. corals. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 505, 351-358. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.06.015

Journal - Research Article

Allison, N., Cole, C., Hintz, C., Hintz, K., Rae, J., & Finch, A. (2018). The effect of ocean acidification on tropical coral calcification: Insights from calcification fluid DIC chemistry. Chemical Geology, 497, 162-169. doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.09.004

Journal - Research Article

Cole, C., Finch, A. A., Hintz, C., Hintz, K., & Allison, N. (2018). Effects of seawater pCO₂ and temperature on calcification and productivity in the coral genus Porites spp.: An exploration of potential interaction mechanisms. Coral Reefs, 37, 471-481. doi: 10.1007/s00338-018-1672-3

Journal - Research Article

Rae, J. W. B., Burke, A., Robinson, L. F., Adkins, J. F., Chen, T., Cole, C., … Taylor, B. J. (2018). CO₂ storage and release in the deep Southern Ocean on millennial to centennial timescales. Nature, 562, 569-573. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0614-0

Journal - Research Article

Cole, C., Finch, A., Hintz, C., Hintz, K., & Allison, N. (2016). Understanding cold bias: Variable response of skeletal Sr/Ca to seawater pCO₂ in acclimated massive Porites corals. Scientific Reports, 6, 26888. doi: 10.1038/srep26888

Journal - Research Article

Cole, C. S., James, R. H., Connelly, D. P., & Hathorne, E. C. (2014). Rare earth elements as indicators of hydrothermal processes within the East Scotia subduction zone system. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 140, 20-38. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2014.05.018

Journal - Research Article

Cole, C., Varela Coelho, A., James, R. H., Connelly, D., & Sheehan, D. (2014). Proteomic responses to metal-induced oxidative stress in hydrothermal vent-living mussels, Bathymodiolus sp., on the Southwest Indian Ridge. Marine Environmental Research, 96, 29-37. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2013.09.003

Journal - Research Article

James, R. H., Green, D. R. H., Stock, M. J., Alker, B. J., Banerjee, N. R., Cole, C., … Connelly, D. P. (2014). Composition of hydrothermal fluids and mineralogy of associated chimney material on the East Scotia Ridge back-arc spreading centre. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 139, 47-71. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2014.04.024

Journal - Research Article

Cole, C., Savoie, G., & Carson, S. (2022). Our ocean climate story: Connecting communities with local data [Practice insight]. Journal of Science Communication, 21(6), N02. doi: 10.22323/2.21060802

Journal - Research Other

Ozarka, E., Cole, C., & Longnecker, N. (2020). New Zealander's attitudes about collective action against climate change in the wake of COVID-19. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Otago Energy Research Centre (OERC) Symposium: New Energy Futures post COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/oerc

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

More publications...

Dr Cathy Cole

Honorary Lecturer

Publications