“Knowledge and science belongs to everybody and we have to all be better at communicating the role of science and also communicating why science is exciting and important to understand, and it’s also fun.”

We were honoured to have Dr Pia Winberg provide a special presentation during Winter Camp, where she shared her journey in marine science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Dr Pia Winberg is the Founder, CEO and Chief Scientist of PhycoHealth and Venus Shell Systems. She is an internationally recognised marine ecologist, seaweed biotechnology pioneer and advocate for action-driven change in sustainability.

Pia has a PhD in Marine Conservation Ecology from University of Wollongong, a Master of Science – MS, Marine Systems Ecology from Stockholm University, and is an Honorary Fellow at Macquarie University.

Through her presentation, Pia explained how seaweed farming can address nitrogen pollution and related ‘planetary boundary’ impacts.

“Science is never black and white, it’s never good and bad, we have to understand the world and science around us in a bigger context to try and make it work for us in the long term and right now we’ve got a pretty poor balance in the situation.”

She argues synthetic nitrogen fertiliser has disrupted global biogeochemical cycles, and gave historical and current day examples of this.

“If we understand how the planet works and the biology and the geology and the chemistry as well as human society and we put these pieces together, we will be able to find new ways to reset the flows around the planet and some of the solutions,” Pia discussed the Master’s Research she undertook in Sri Lanka in 1998.

“The solution I discovered there was seaweed because seaweed globally catches nitrogen from the land. That’s why they’re abundant at the shallow depths around the coastal zones everywhere because it’s catching the nutrient, catching the carbon dioxide from the runoff, turning it into oxygen and protein and food again. And it feeds the fish and the oceans. And so that to me became a key for turning nitrogen around, re-oxygenating the oceans.”

Pia positions the seaweed industry as a way to capture nitrogen, protect coastal ecosystems, and reduce emissions, while also detailing a wide range of products developed using seaweed. She described building a science-based business, starting with her decade-long pilot seaweed farm on the South Coast of New South Wales, which led to an expansion to a larger Northern NSW operation.

She emphasised the health and nutrition benefits that seaweed products can provide, and the need to scale seaweed with market uptake so more people can adopt seaweed-based products, like pasta.

“Because every box of pasta that you would buy from our range has actually been a part of reoxygenating 1,500 liters of seawater, and we’ve protected the coastal zone from nitrogen.”

The students had some thoughtful and interesting questions, with insightful answers from Pia.

Thank you, Pia, for taking time from your very busy schedule to motivate, educate and inspire our students.

Feature image Dr Pia Winberg: Carriageworks – Meet the Producer: PhycoHealth