Prof Lisa Levin is a professor and researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego and director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps. She studies the ecology of animal communities in marine sediments, particularly those of stressed environments, from the intertidal zone to the deep sea. Her research themes include adaptation to stressful environments, the study of food webs, ecosystem-level effects of plant invasions, and connectivity of coastal populations. She was a POGO Visiting Professor at the National Marine Information and Research Centre in Namibia from January to June 2011.