Her research has direct relevance to ocean resource management, conservation, and policy.  Baum was recently awarded a 2012 Sloan Research Fellowship.

After focusing for many years on quantifying impacts of fisheries on large pelagic and ocean sharks (mostly in the Northwest Atlantic), Baum's research is now focusing on sharks on Pacific coral reefs, and trying to understand how these large predators shape coral reef ecosystems, and what the consequences are of losing them. Julia and her team are addressing these questions through field studies on Kiritimati atoll, in the remote equatorial Pacific, and complex statistical analyses of large coral reef monitoring data sets.

When asked what compelled her to pursue her field of research, Julia replied:  "I didn't connect to the ocean early in life: I grew up in Guelph, and didn't even see the ocean until I was ten. What I did connect to, and become greatly concerned with, early on were the impacts that humans were having on the natural world. A grade school project on whooping cranes, an endangered species in Canada, got me going on this. Then I started devouring information on the imperilled state of the great apes and the incredible women scientists who were studying them, and I was hooked on the idea of becoming a conservation biologist (not that I knew that term at the time!).  It wasn't until I took an Aquatic Conservation course in my third year at McGill that I became interested in ocean conservation."

The road to UVic

Baum received her BSc from McGill University, and her MSc and PhD from Dalhousie University, all in Biology. She subsequently held a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, followed by a Schmidt Ocean Institute postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara. She has conducted field research in eleven countries including the Republic of Kiribati, the location of her current coral reef field program.

In terms of ocean sciences there's no better place to be in Canada than at UVic.  It is a very collegial and collaborative research environment and is clearly is heading in the right direction – towards becoming Canada's premier comprehensive research-intensive university – and has the momentum to get there.

When not in the lab, Julia can be found outside, enjoying nature – hiking, camping, snorkelling, diving, and kayaking, and introducing her son to the natural wonders on Vancouver Island.

Find out more about Julia's research.