Forams 2018: Edinburgh
Rehemat Bhatia
University College London
From June 18th-22nd, over 400 foraminifera enthusiasts from all over the world descended upon the city of Edinburgh, Scotland for the Forams 2018 conference. This conference is held once every four years, and pretty much covers anything to do with foraminifera, from genetics to geochemistry to the use of foraminifera in biomonitoring! I was quite excited to attend, as it was aptly timed with the end of my PhD (I successfully defended my PhD thesis with minor corrections just over a week before the start) so presented an opportunity to share my foram stories.
The conference icebreaker was held on June 17th, at the Playfair Library at Old College Hall, which provided a picturesque backdrop for everyone to mingle and catch up. I also helped to organise a ‘tweet-up’ with two early career researchers – Adriane Lam (PhD candidate at UMass, USA) and Jennifer Hertzberg (postdoc at Old Dominion University, USA). There are a large number of foram workers on Twitter, so we thought it would be fun to host a tweet-up for everyone to meet, and for those travelling alone to meet others. Many people came along to say hello, which was great!
Throughout the week, I attended talks both pertinent to my PhD and those that were slightly outside my research, as well as exploring the poster sessions throughout the day. At the conference, I presented two posters, one on Monday 18thentitled “Palaeoecology of Eocene planktonic foraminifera inferred from paired trace element and isotopic data” and a second on Tuesday 19thentitled “The mysterious palaeoecology of the genus Globigerinatheka”. Both were well received and I had some really useful discussions based on the data I presented, which will be useful for when I write up my PhD results into research papers. The feedback I received for the poster I presented on Monday was particularly useful for doing my thesis corrections, as I was able to talk with other ECRs and senior scientists who perform individual foraminifera analyses using highly spatially resolved analytical techniques. There was a good “work hard, play hard ethic” at the conference too, with a ceilidh on Tuesday evening and field trips to a variety of locations on Wednesday. The ceilidh was loads of fun (and definitely good exercise after sitting down listening to talks all day!) and the field trip to the Isle of May was puffin-tastic!
I thoroughly enjoyed attending Forams 2018, and it was the perfect ending to my PhD. I learnt lots of new science, was able to network with other scientists, and have returned to London with new motivation to do my thesis corrections and write up my data into papers. Forams 2018 is a micropalaeontological menagerie, and for students reading this I would encourage you to attend. I would like to thank the Challenger Society for allocating me a student travel grant and for making this experience possible – I had an awesome time!
Profile: Rehemat has just defended her PhD at University College London. Her PhD research focused on using the trace element and stable carbon and oxygen isotope signatures of Eocene and Miocene planktonic foraminifera to understand more about their ecologies, namely their depth habitats and relationships with photosymbionts.
Latest News
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