Dr William Moutier received his Phd in physical oceanography from the University of the Littoral Côte d’Opal (ULCO) at the laboratory of oceanology and geosciences in France. His main research focus was on understanding the impact of phytoplankton heterogeneities on their inherent optical properties and to understand the variability around bio-optical models. During his Phd he combined biogeochemical and cytometric measurements with radiative transfer simulations to analyse the evolution of phytoplankton optical properties at different growth stages linked to their morphological and intra-cellular variations.

On starting his post doc at SOCCO he participated on the ACE expedition where he spent 3 months circumnavigating Antarctica. As part of his postdoctoral research his focus is on the development of new bio-optical algorithms specific to the Southern Ocean that better characterise the phytoplankton population using IOP’s with respect to particle concentration, size, carbon content and functional type.