As a student of the QMS program, I had access to facilities and expertise from both IMAS and CSIRO. The partnership between these two institutions allowed me to easily contact researchers from fields similar or different to my own. I was also able to see some differences between working in a university and in a research agency, and I feel really lucky to have had this opportunity.
During my PhD candidature I learned how to lead my own research and how to work together with my supervisors, as a team. I had a wonderful team of supervisors that taught me how to think critically and how to conduct a project from beginning to end. I also developed a good set of writing and technical skills that help me immensely on my current role.
I currently work at CSIRO as a physical oceanographer. Most of the time, I am handling ocean data collected by Argo floats and satellite altimeters in real time. I also make sure the data is available for everyone, and provide current information of the ocean around Australia at the IMOS-OceanCurrent website (http://oceancurrent.imos.org.au/). I also monitor the status of the array of Argo floats in the ocean and look for opportunities to deploy new floats, aiming to increase our knowledge of the waters that surround Australia.