Jill Cainey

Officer in Charge
Cape Grim Baseline Air
Pollution Station, Tasmania

PhD in atmospheric science

"I am very lucky to be in my dream job."

I completed my first honours degree in the UK at Oxford Brookes University (BSc Chemistry and Physics). After two jobs in the UK, one testing nutritional content of dairy products and the other testing the delivery effectiveness of asthmatic devices, I emigrated to Australia to commence a PhD at Monash University (Gippsland Campus) and CSIRO Atmospheric Research in 1993.

My research involved sampling sulfur particles and gases at Cape Grim, Tasmania, for two and half years. I attended several conferences and collaborated with scientists at Miami University, visiting the USA twice. I enjoyed the chance to focus on my chosen area of research – the affect of emissions from natural organisms on global climate.

While I undertook my PhD research I also taught chemistry to first year nursing students at the Peninsula Campus of Monash University (Frankston), which was an interesting and rewarding experience. While most of my research was performed at CSIRO Atmospheric Research (Aspendale), I did spend a significant amount of my writing up time living in halls, on the Gippsland Campus, at Churchill. It's a great location, set in parkland and it allowed me to focus on the arduous task of putting my thesis together, free from interruptions.

I left Australia in 1997 to take up a post-doctoral position at NIWA, in Wellington New Zealand. I was made a permanent staff member in 1998 and worked on natural sulfur emissions, which included spending the day on White Island, New Zealand's most active volcano.

In 2003 I started work as the Officer in Charge at the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station in Tasmania. This is an Australian national facility that has operated for nearly 30 years and is part of the Global Atmosphere Watch program. The program monitors atmospheric chemistry for changes in such things as greenhouse gases and ozone depleting chemicals. The Station is operated by the Bureau of Meteorology with scientific support from CSIRO Atmospheric Research. I manage the operations at the Station, with the assistance of a staff of seven. I decided, when I was a PhD student working at Cape Grim, that my current position was one to aspire to, so I am very lucky to be in my “dream” job.