Josephine Anselin
PhD Student
Biography
I am a PhD student based at BAS as part of the Polar Oceans team, and at the University of Cambridge as part of the Ocean Dynamics group in the Applied Mathematics department.
I am particularly interested in ice/ocean interactions and my current research focuses on improving the representation of ocean-driven melting of Antarctic ice shelves in large-scale ocean models used for global sea level change projections. More specifically, the aim of my PhD project is to develop new parameterisations of ice shelf basal melting and vertical mixing across the ice shelf/ocean boundary layer, using a combination of fluid dynamics theory, numerical simulations, and under-ice observations.
My path into research hasn’t been linear. After graduating from the University of Oxford with a Masters in Engineering Science in 2012, I worked as a Drilling Engineer in the Energy Industry for four years. Driven by my passion for the outdoors, I then started my own Digital Marketing consulting company specialised in the Outdoor Adventure Industry. These were all brilliant experiences which gave me the opportunity to live and work in four different countries and collaborate with talented professionals in a range of different fields. But my time outside academia also made me realise how much I missed science and research. So in 2020 I decided to go back to university to complete an MSc in Physical Oceanography at Bangor University in North Wales. It is during that time that I developed a fascination for the polar regions, and more specifically for the complex physical processes that take place when ocean water interacts with ice, which is what my current PhD research is all about.
Education:
- 2021-present: Ph.D., Applied Mathematics / Physical Oceanography, University of Cambridge and British Antarctic Survey, UK.
- 2020-21: M.Sc., Physical Oceanography, Bangor University, UK.
- 2008-12: M.Eng., Engineering Science, University of Oxford, UK.
Twitter: @joanselinocean
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/josephine-anselin