[1][2] Part of the 1930s "Cambridge school" of biologists, she contributed to two seminal reports on freshwater fish in eastern Africa.
In 1970, Bertram became the second ever President of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, a position she held until her retirement in 1979.
The Kate Bertram Prize is awarded at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, to students receiving First Class results in non-tripos examinations.
[3] Bertram also had an extensive fieldwork career with her husband, travelling to Australia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Belize and the Guianas to study manatees and dugongs.
[2] From 1962 to 1977, they published almost two dozen scientific articles and books, including in Nature, on the ecology, economic uses, and conservation of sirenians.