 The Great Australian Bight, a vast expanse of unspoiled coastline and an important region for global conservation. The Bight's remote waters play host to thriving industries such as fishing, aquaculture and ecotourism, and a myriad of iconic species like great white sharks, southern right whales and orcas swim just under the surface. Deeper still, buried beneath the ocean floor, is an underexplored resource of oil and gas. Not so long ago, very little was known of the Bight's deep water ecosystems. A greater understanding was needed to enhance our knowledge of its ecology before any potential development. And so, in 2011, BP CSIRO, the South Australian Research and Development Institute, Sadi, the University of Adelaide and Flinders University launched the Great Australian Bight Research Program to get an in-depth understanding of the environmental, economic and social values of the region. The research results were nothing short of spectacular. In just a handful of years, we have virtually transformed our understanding of the Bight. Our knowledge of ocean processes has vastly improved and we are now equipped with insights into what drives productivity in the open ocean. In the process, we discovered nearly 300 new species and got a rare glimpse into the algae and animals living on the sea floor. The upshot? We now have a deep understanding of how marine life relies on the Bight, key insights which will be used to support management of the region. We have also developed models that illustrate how different parts of the marine ecosystem fit together and how change in one part of the ecosystem, particularly human-induced change, is likely to affect other parts of the same ecosystem. This series will take you through the main themes of the research program, including ocean physics, open water research, sea floor animals, iconic species and apex predators, petroleum geology and socio-economics of the great Australian Bight.