Carol Turley was a senior scientist and Head of International Affairs at Plymouth Marine Laboratory until March 2023 when she became a PML Fellow. Her research has been centred on the ocean’s biogeochemical cycles looking at habitats from shallow and deep-sea sediments, estuaries, frontal systems to large enclosed waters. In the last 15 years she became interested in ocean acidification and other aspects of ocean-climate change.
Turley was a member of The Royal Society Working Group on ocean acidification, a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report on Climate Change and a Review Editor for the 5th IPCC Assessment Report on Climate Change and its Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
She was a member of the Executive Board of the EU funded European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA), the EU funded Mediterranean Sea Acidification in a Changing Climate (MedSeA) project and the Knowledge Exchange Coordinator for the UK Ocean Acidification (UKOA) Research Programme funded by NERC, Defra and DECC.
Turley has contributed to many United Nations events, including giving evidence to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, a subsidiary body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP), and since 2009 organised and presenting at side-events at the annual COPs, at the Earth Summit Rio+20 and at the UN in New York.
She briefs a wide range of interested global stakeholders including UK Government departments, Ministers and Chief Scientists on the latest science on the ocean-climate nexus and has presented in the Houses of Parliament, European Parliament and the US State Department.
She has over 120 peer reviewed publications and has been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences and been a member of many national and international working groups throughout her career. She received an OBE for services to science in the 2011 New Year’s Honours List.
NERC, Defra and DECC: KE coordination for the UK ocean acidification Research Programme (2010-2015)
NERC: KE award for production of a film on ocean acidification (2010-2013)
EU FP7: Mediterranean Ocean Acidification in a Changing Climate (MedSeA)(2010-2013)
RCUK: UKERC Energy and Environment theme (2009-2012)
EU FP7: European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA)(2008-2012)