20th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals
Nienke van Geel
SAMS
20th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Dunedin, New Zealand
I sincerely would like to thank the Challenger Society for granting me a Travel Award which allowed me to attend the 20th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals held in Dunedin, New Zealand in December 2013.
At the conference, I presented a poster on the potential to investigate bottlenose dolphin movements using an array of passive acoustic monitoring equipment when dolphins are moving through geographic bottlenecks, as exemplified by a case study in the Sound of Mull (west Scotland).
Additionally, I attended four workshops, most of which were related to marine mammal conservation: 1) best practice principles for monitoring the effect of coastal development on marine mammals, 2) impacts of cetacean tagging: a review of follow up studies and approaches, 3) species distribution modelling with MGET, and 4) the student workshop, addressing CV writing, grant writing and writing papers.
In addition to being able to present my work, attending this conference also provided the opportunity to get feedback from other researchers, which will contribute to improve the final stage of my PhD. Also, the increased insight into latest research, both within and beyond my particular research direction, through other presentations and posters, was useful to place my research into the wider, most up to date research context. Finally, attending the conference was a great opportunity to network, to discuss current data gaps and future research challenges and to think about future interdisciplinary research collaborations.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference itself, and the various additional experiences including a Maui welcome, the masquerade party, and seeing some sun in the middle of winter!
Nienke van Geel
Scottish Association for Marine Science
Oban, Scotland
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Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset
The Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) and OceanWise are delighted to invite you to attend our popular free online training workshop: ‘Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset’ on the 19th – 23rd of May 2025.
Workshop on the contribution of UK Arctic Ocean science to the International Polar Year 32/33
12:00 11th June – 16:00 12th June 2025: NOC Southampton (In-person with online option): Registration deadline 16th May
REGISTER HERE
Pre-meeting questionnaire (open to all)
The purpose of this workshop is for the UK Ocean Science community to discuss and then draft a prospectus document outlining the priority Arctic research questions the community would like to address during the run up to, throughout and beyond the International Polar Year 32/33. Additionally, to identify what unique strengths and technologies the UK has to help fill these knowledge gaps.
The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to writing groups, one for each of the priority research questions identified - from both the pre-meeting questionnaire (HERE) and day one discussion. By the end of the meeting, each group will have produced draft text and sourced supporting figures for the prospectus.
Post meeting, the draft will be opened for comments and suggestions from everyone, regardless of whether they were able to attend the workshop or not. It will then be shared with UK funders (UKRI, FCDO, DSIT, ARIA) and potential international programmes with whom we would like to collaborate (e.g. Arctic 2050, Norway). It will form a basis from which wider integration with terrestrial, atmospheric and cryosphere communities can be built, e.g. at the UK Arctic Science Meeting in September in Northumbria.
To ensure balanced community and ECR representation, and to ensure that the size of the writing groups is efficient and effective, if the number of registrations from individual institutes becomes overwhelming, we may contact individuals or teams and ask that each institute selects a smaller number of individuals to attend in-person. Please wait for confirmation of in-person attendance before finalising travel arrangements.
The workshop will be open to hybrid attendance and contributions on both days.
Challenger Society Council Position Vacancy
The Challenger Society for Marine Science (CSMS) are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to support the next generation of ocean scientists and innovators. CSMS are looking for a new Council member to fill the Student Travel Awards and Stepping Stones Portfolio. The successful applicant will administer the travel and research grants available for Early Career Researchers.
The role involves:
- Receiving applications for the two schemes and responding to applicant inquiries
- Soliciting and compiling input from the rest of the Council for assessing the applications
- Communicating with successful and unsuccessful applicants for the two schemes
- Working with the Honorary Treasurer on allocating funds to successful applicants
- Following up with award winners on their reporting requirements
- Attending Council meetings four times a year (in person or online) and contributing to discussions and decision making for CSMS
The usual term for Council members is three years.
For more information about the CSMS Council, please follow this link: https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/The_Council
For more information about our Early Career Researcher grants and awards, please follow this link:
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Stepping_Stones
and
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Travel_awards
If you are interested in applying or have any questions regarding the role, please contact kathen@bas.ac.uk