Rose Leeger, BSc

What’s the work that you do?

I am an early career researcher passionate about utilizing interdisciplinary methods to understand fisheries management and policy. My PhD focuses on demersal fish in the Southern Ocean with specific chapters looking at otolith microchemistry on Antarctic toothfish at a circumpolar scale as well as stomach content analysis from my two field seasons in Antarctica aboard the RV Nuyina and RV Polarstern. I also am a CCAMLR scientific scholarship recipient and attend annual working group meetings on translating science into policy.

What keeps you going?

I have loved animals- especially penguins- my entire life. In elementary school I had done so many projects on penguins that I was “banned” from doing any more! From my time as a NOAA intern studying penguins from drone imagery to my PhD on fish ecosystems that directly impact all Antarctic life, I am incredibly lucky to be studying my passion I’ve had since I was a child.

What’s your message to the world?

Being an early career woman of color in this field can be daunting, and progress is slow, but that does not mean that we are not here in the polar space and beyond. Being a Project Group leader of APECS, as well as a member of MISS and several other non-profits working towards elevating minoritized voices in the field grounds me, and reminds me not of what the field could be, but what it should be.