Julia Uitz received a PhD degree in biogeochemical oceanography from the Aix-Marseille University (France) in 2006. She then spent 5 years (2007-2011) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD, USA) where she was a postdoctoral fellow with the Ocean Optics Lab. Since 2012 she is a CNRS research scientist at LOV.

Julia Uitz has interest in the spatio-temporal dynamics of phytoplankton communities and associated carbon fluxes at global and regional scales. Using large extensive phytoplankton pigments and bio-optical datasets, she has developed a novel approach for estimating phytoplankton group-specific biomass and primary production rates in the world’s oceans on the basis of satellite ocean color observations. As part of the KEOPS project, she has studied the interplay of light and nutrient on phytoplankton distribution in the iron-enriched region of Kerguelen. As she has joined LOV she is pursuing her research and developing innovative coupled in situ-satellite approaches for gaining further insights into phytoplankton community composition and productivity.

Julia Uitz has been deeply involved from the early stages in the children’s outreach initiative « mon océan & moi » and its twin project « adopt a float » on which the team has built for developing the outreach component of this project.