Challenger Society 2014 conference in Plymouth
Céline Heuzé
Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Challenger Society 2014 conference in Plymouth
On the first week of September I embarked on a (long) journey to Plymouth to attend this year Challenger Society for Marine Sciences Conference. Despite my initial failure at understanding how to switch off the bathroom light, the conference was a great success! Over 300 scientists from the UK and abroad had gathered for four intense days of parallel sessions on various aspects of marine sciences, from thermal vent sea worms to satellite observations. Workwise, this conference was really useful to me as I learnt more about the model I was writing about for my thesis. It was also very relevant for my future post-doc: before the conference, I roughly knew what I wanted to work on; after it, I had a clearer idea of the current research on that topic, and thanks to the Wednesday early-career session I learnt how to make myself more visible to people working on it. The Thursday afternoon “observation and modelling” session was obviously key to me as I gave a talk there. I struggled to attach my microphone, walked in the wrong direction and created a deafening Larsen effect, and could not have the pointer to move slides for me, but the talk itself went very well. I received great encouraging feedbacks in the subsequent coffee break. Even my paper’s reviewer gave me the thumbs up!
A conference is not just about the formal talks, it’s also about the social activities, and this Conference definitely rocked it! Breaking the ice while watching sharks swimming by was a unique experience. Observing said sharks from the tiny divers’ platform with a group of fellow Challenger-ers during the behind-the-scene visit was another one. For the non shark-obsessed readers, I could mention that the coffee flowed at each break, the poster presenters were highly enthusiastic, the glasses of wine (far too) numerous and the weather surprisingly sunny. The pub crawl and conference dinner allowed me to casually chat with people I would not have dared talking to otherwise, and I’m pretty sure one of them said we should work together...
A huge thank you to the organisers for the conference itself and for all the social activities! And of course, I thank the Challenger Society for Marine Sciences for supporting me with the student travel award. I’m looking forward to attending Challenger 2016!
Profile of award-winner: Céline Heuzé
After an engineering degree in hydrodynamics, I realised I did not want to spend my life designing ship and moved to oceanography. Three years later, I have nearly finished my PhD with Karen Heywood (UEA), David Stevens (UEA) and Jeff Ridley (UK Met Office) on Antarctic Bottom Water in CMIP5 models. The Challenger Travel award allowed me to present the work from our upcoming second paper (Journal of Climate): “Changes in global ocean bottom properties and volume transports in CMIP5 models under climate change scenarios”
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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.
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12:00 11th June – 16:00 12th June 2025: NOC Southampton (In-person with online option): Registration deadline 16th May
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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