SCAR Biology Symposium: Belgium
Leyre Villota Nieva
Bangor University
The 2017 SCAR Biology Symposium (SCARBio17) in Leuven, Belgium was a busy and information packed 6 day conference, covering a diverse range of Antarctic Biology related topics such as “Understanding Physiology (incluiding ‘-omics’ approaches)”, “Astrobiology”, “Adaptation and processes in top predators” amongst others. This year there were panel presentations from top physiologists and ecologists, a one day early career workshop organised by APECS (Association of polar early career scientists) and several lunch time and evening meetings. I was fortunate enough not only to attend the conference, but also to give an oral presentation on my current PhD research at the Physiology and omics” theme and attend the mARS meeting (Microbial Antarctic Resource System). This was only possible because of the generous funding by the Challenger Society for Marine Science.
SCAR Biology is held once every four years alternating between several destinations in the world and is the only conference specific to Antarctic Biologists. This is the only time Antarctic Biologists come together to discuss the state of the art and it’s an ideal conference for early career scientists to meet other researchers in the field and practice feeling comfortable presenting to a larger audience. This was a very important conference for me to attend, since it would not happen again during the course of my PhD. The conference was very well attended, with teams coming from all over the world: from Chile to New Zealand amongst others. This was an invaluable experience, particularly because although we all worked on Antarctic Biology, it is not often that we get to meet each other in person and share our research.
My oral presentation was titled “Heating up the ocean: effects of in situ oceanic warming on marine benthic recruitment and community development” and focused on one chapter from my PhD thesis: the heat shock response and acclimation in Romanchella perieri, an Antarctic benthic worm. I generated much interest in the topic and received some positive feedback from the presentation.
Most valuable to me however, were the connections I made outside my normal UK Antarctic network. It was very exciting to finally meet researchers such as Chris Cheng from the University of Illinois (USA), who’s work I have studied very extensively but not had the opportunity to meet in person. She also attended my talk to my surprise! I walked away from the conference with new projects, new ideas and the satisfaction feeling of having presented part of my PhD research to such an experienced audience. Thank you again to the Challenger Society for Marine Science for providing me with the funding to attend this amazing conference.
Profile:
I am a third year PhD student at Bangor University and the British Antarctic Survey, studying the effects of in situ oceanic warming on marine benthic recruitment and community development in Antarctica. I am interested in understanding how organisms adapt to their environment. I look at how environmental stress affects organisms across many levels of biological organisation, from cellular to physiological responses and how this knowledge can help us predict future responses to climate change.
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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