Dr Craig Stevens

Principal Scientist - Marine Physics

Qualifications

B. Eng. (Hons), Ph.D.

Location
Wellington
Science Centre

Contact Details

Biography

Craig Stevens is an oceanographer based in New Zealand with a joint position as Principal Scientist Marine Physics at NIWA and as Professor in Physics at the University of Auckland. His research focus is on the ocean’s role in climate with a focus on mixing in extreme environments such as the ocean beneath ice shelves and sea ice, tidal turbulence, greenhouse gas uptake in the Southern Ocean, mixing in water filled mine pits and biological survival in the wave swept intertidal. He grew up in Kaurna country in South Australia and studied in Australia and Canada before moving to New Zealand in the 1990s. 

He leads the NZ Antarctic Science Platform Ocean Mechanics Project, as well as NIWA’s Ocean Flows and Productivity Programme.  He has been PI or AI on nine Marsden Fund projects. He has held offices of the President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists and Chair of the Aotearoa Wave and Tidal Energy Association. He has participated in 15 Antarctic field campaigns and nearly 50 ocean experiments and was presented the 2018 NIWA Research Excellence Award. He was the NZ Team Leader for the 2024 RV Laura Bassi voyage to the Ross Sea.