Karen Donaldson obtained her BSc in Environmental Biology from Queen’s University, Canada. While completing a bilateral exchange at the University of Warwick in her third year, she gained an interest in the science-policy interface, especially for marine conservation. She obtained her MSc in Marine Science Policy and Law from the University of Southampton and conducted an internship at EMB in summer 2014 while working on her thesis. As Junior Science Officer with the EMB Secretariat since February 2015, Karen has been supporting the WG Deep Seas and other tasks, including further developing the deep seas investment study.