Nancy Bertler

Professor Nancy Bertler is an internationally respected research leader at Victoria University of Wellington's Antarctic Research Centre and GNS Science's New Zealand Ice Core Research Facility. As Director of the Antarctic Science Platform (2018-2025) and current leader of the Antarctic Sea-Ice Switch Programme, she has established herself as a leading authority in Antarctic climate research. Her joint appointment between Victoria University and Earth Sciences New Zealand positions her at the forefront of polar science in Aotearoa New Zealand.

• Director of the Antarctic Science Platform (2018-2025)
• Principal Scientist - Ice Core Research Leader at GNS Science
• Professor of Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington
• Chief Scientist of the 9-nation Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) project
• Co-Chair of the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS)

Dr. Bertler earned her BSc from Munich University, MSc in Quaternary Sciences from University of London, and PhD in Geology from Victoria University of Wellington. Her educational background provided the foundation for her pioneering work in Antarctic ice core research in New Zealand.

Professor Bertler's research focuses on the recovery, analysis, and interpretation of high-resolution ice core records from coastal Antarctica to understand the continent's response to and influence on global climate change. Her work has significantly advanced our understanding of Antarctic climate history spanning 70,000 years and beyond. She specializes in using ice cores to quantify Antarctica's response to, and its ability to force, global climate change, with particular attention to the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to sea level rise. Her research integrates field campaigns, laboratory analysis, and climate modeling to address critical questions about past, present, and future climate dynamics.

Her major research initiatives include the Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) project, which drilled a 764m deep ice core from West Antarctica, and the Antarctic Sea-Ice Switch Programme (2024-2029), an eight-nation initiative investigating abrupt changes in Antarctic sea-ice dynamics. She has led over a dozen field campaigns in Antarctica and currently serves as Co-Principal Investigator of Tiaki Moana, focusing on climate change impacts in the Ross Sea region.

• 2019 Prime Minister's Science Prize for the 'Melting Ice and Rising Seas' team
• Blake Leader Award 2016
• Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (2012-2017)
• Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) leadership roles

As an exceptional science communicator and mentor, Professor Bertler has established new educational models including the course 'Climate Change and New Zealand's Future' at Victoria University. She serves as a scientific advisor to New Zealand's delegation to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and has presented to the New Zealand Parliament on Antarctic ice sheet vulnerability. Her leadership extends to international collaborations, including chairing the International Science Advisory Panel of Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future research programme. Professor Bertler's National Ice Core Research Facility is renowned as one of the most advanced facilities of its kind globally, supporting both national and international research efforts in paleoclimatology.