Robert Murray McKay is a New Zealand paleoceanographer who specialises in sedimentology, stratigraphy and palaeoclimatology, specifically gathering geological evidence to study how marine-based portions of the Antarctic ice sheet behave in response to abrupt climate and oceanic change.

He has been involved in examination of marine sedimentary records and glacial deposits to show melting and cooling in Antarctica over the past 65 million years and how this has influenced global sea levels and climate.

He said that "uncertainty about how Antarctic ice sheets will respond to global warming remains one of the most important issues facing climate change scientists...[and]...better knowledge in this area has particular relevance for New Zealand because we sit at a major gateway where water from Antarctica enters the world's oceans".

[13] Research in 2020 in which McKay was involved, explored why in recent decades, contrary to models generally showing a decrease, Antarctic sea-ice has increased while the ice shelf has thinned.

A Holocene sediment core off East Antarctica was examined and showed that there had been a rapid sea-ice increase during the mid-Holocene period, despite melting glaciers and climate warming.

[13] Subsequent work on this core showed biological productivity in this region was heavily influenced by sea ice break up events associated with the El Nino Southern Oscillation.

[14] McKay has explained that when he joined Peter Barrett on the Antarctic Geological Drilling project (ANDRILL) in 2005, the original purpose of the work for his PhD was to focus on sedimentary petrology.

"[2] A paper published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin in 2009,[15] was described as "the most complete single record to date of Late Neogene and Quaternary Antarctic Ice Sheet oscillations.

"[21] For his contributions to developing an understanding of the implications of historical environmental change in the Antarctica for ongoing global warming, McKay received the New Zealand Prime Minister's MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize 2011.

[22] Tim Naish, described McKay as an "articulate communicator and a talented emerging scientist that New Zealand needs to maintain its world class Antarctic and climate research capability", and Robert Dunbar, Professor of Earth Science at Stanford University noted that McKay's work in "analysing what happened the last time Earth experienced atmospheric CO2 levels comparable to what we expect in the next 20 years is leading edge, invaluable research as we struggle to understand our future in the face of a rapidly changing climate".