Fulton was born in 1973 on a farm near Goulburn, NSW, and expressed a keen interest in maths as well a curiosity about the natural environment.
Fulton started working at CSIRO in 2001, investigating indicators of the ecological effects of fishing.
[4] She also worked on the model InVitro, which explores the impacts and managements of different pressures on coastal and marine environments.
[6][7] Fulton has described the process of building complex models as follows: "We need to talk to the people who’ve spent their lives studying the different bits of the system – currents, climate, plankton, fish, sharks, whales, fisherman, local shop keepers, managers, the whole kit and kaboodle.
"[8]Fulton has published her marine biology work in The Conversation,[9] on extreme weather impacts due to climate change,[10] on exploring the future with models,[11] on how Australia could be self-sufficient,[12] warming oceans changing the fishing industry,[13] as well as damage to Australia's coasts, from extreme weather.