Julie Pringle Stewart is the Chief Operating Officer at the National Oceanography Centre.
Julie studied for a BA in Commerce at Napier University in Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the ACCA. She began her career in the financial sector before moving into the Research Environment over 25 years ago, initially working with the British Geological Survey in commercialising its portfolio.
One of her main areas of interest is the sustainability of publicly funded research establishments having worked with the original BIS (then DST) team on the reform of the dual support funding system, including the introduction of TRAC (TRansparent ACcounting) and then its implementation into the RCUK Research Institutes.
Julie went on to work at the NERC Research Ship Unit, heading the finance and operation team, and following a period as Deputy Director Finance at NERC Head Office, Julie then joined NOC in a Director role in 2013.
Recently, in addition to her Director role, she has worked as the NOC lead (chairing the board on behalf of NERC for a period) on the Governance, Responsibilities and Ownership Programme which is looking at the potential for future independence of the Research Centres.