Nancy A.N. Bertler

I hold a joint appointment with Victoria University of Wellington and Earth Sciences New Zealand where I lead the National Ice Core Research Programme. My research focuses on the recovery, analysis, and interpretation of high-resolution ice core records from coastal Antarctica to better understand the continent’s response to—and influence on—future global climate change.

I have led 13 major Antarctic field campaigns, including the internationally Roosevelt Island Climate Evolution (RICE) Programme, involving nine nations which seeks to understand Antarctic contributions to future sea level rise. From 2018 to 2025, I served as the inaugural Director of the Antarctic Science Platform (ASP), a initiative supporting New Zealand’s strategic climate research under the Paris Agreement.

Currently, I lead the Antarctic Sea-Ice Switch Programme (2024–2029 ), an eight-nation initiative investigating the recent abrupt changes in Antarctic sea-ice dynamics and their global implications. I also serve as Co-Principal Investigator of Tiaki Moana, one of two flagship research programmes in the next phase of the Antarctic Science Platform (2025–2032), which focuses on climate change impacts in the Ross Sea region, including the stability of the Ross Ice Shelf and the health of its ecosystems and Marine Protected Area.

Internationally, I serve as Co-Chair of the International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) and represent New Zealand as Alternate Delegate to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). I’m proud to chair the distinguished International Science Advisory Panel of Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future research programme led by Monash University.

I’m a member of the Melting Ice and Rising Seas team, which received the 2019 Prime Minister’s Science Prize, and have served as a scientific advisor to New Zealand’s delegation to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, the Committee on Environmental Protection, and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.