Katy is the Coordinator for the Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science based in Fiji, a position she took up in January 2021. Before joining SPC, Katy was at the University of the South Pacific (USP) holding a range of positions including as a Lecturer at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and a Manager of the Pacific Natural Products Research Centre. She grew up on the island of Rendova, in the Solomon Islands. Dr. Soapi completed a bachelor’s degree at the USP, a master’s at the University of Sydney in Australia and a PhD at the University of East Anglia in the UK. She has a keen interest in science capacity development and is passionate about working at the community level on natural resource management.