Links

Memorandum of Understanding:

The Challenger Society for Marine Science and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology have a Memorandum of Understanding in order to create a more powerful voice for marine science professionals in the national and international community. The initial action items to be implemented through this MoU are given here.

UK Science Societies:

British Ecological Society: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/
Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association: http://www.ecsa-news.org/
The Foundation for Science and Technology: http://www.foundation.org.uk/default.htm
Geological Society: http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/society
IMarEst: http://www.imarest.org/
Institute of Biology: http://www.iob.org/

Institute of Physics: http://www.iop.org/
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: http://www.mba.ac.uk/
Marine Conservation Society: http://www.mcsuk.org/
Porcupine Marine Natural History Society: http://www.pmnhs.co.uk/
Royal Meteorological Society: http://www.rmets.org/
Royal Society of Chemistry: http://www.rsc.org/
Scottish Association for Marine Science: http://www.sams.ac.uk
Society for Underwater Technology: http://www.sut.org.uk/

International links

The European Federation of Marine Science and technology Societies (EFMS) was created in 1998 by representatives from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Finland and Belgium. The UK member Societies are the Challenger Society for Marine Science, the Marine Biological Association, the Scottish Association for Marine Science and theSociety for Underwater Technology.

The International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO)is one of eight Associations of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) which, in turn, is one of the Unions of the International Council for Science (ICSU).

The Challenger Society is the UK Society nominated by the Royal Society and its IUGG panel to select the UK delegate to IAPSO. The UK delegate is currently Professor Harry Bryden. Previous UK delegates include Professor John Simpson and Professor Steve Thorpe. The UK delegates meet with the IAPSO Executive every two years at each IAPSO Assembly and report back to the Royal Society IUGG Committee and the Challenger Society. The report of the IAPSO Joint Assembly meeting in July 2009 is  here.

The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) is a research programme that studies the interactions between biological, chemical and physical processes and interactions with human systems in order to impart the understanding necessary to respond to global change. Founded in 1987 by the International Council for Science (ICSU), IGBP implementation began in the early 1990s with the official launch of five projects (BAHC, GCTE, IGAC, JGOFS, and PAGES). Current IGBP projects include GLOBEC, IMBER, SOLAS and LOICZ as outlined in the IGBP Science Plan.

At least 75 countries have IGBP National Committees which assist in the national co-ordination of relevant studies and facilitate linkages between national and international global change research. The UK IGBP National Committee is chaired by John Ingram (Oxford University) and current members include Prof Heiko Baltzer (University of Leicester), Prof John Dearing (University of Southampton), Prof Sandy Harrison (University of Bristol), Prof Paul Monks (University of Leicester), Dr Carol Robinson (University of East Anglia), Dr Roland von Glasow (University of East Anglia) and Dr Mathew Williams (University of Edinburgh).

The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) was formed in 1957 to address interdisciplinary oceanographic questions. This non-governmental organisation promotes international co-operation in planning and conducting oceanographic research. SCOR co-sponsors large scale ocean research programs such as GLOBEC, GEOTRACES, IMBER, JGOFS and SOLAS, funds working groups on internationally relevant topical questions e.g. WG 129 Deep Ocean Exchanges with the Shelf and WG 131 The Legacy of in situ Iron Enrichment, and co-sponsors timely symposia e.g. The Ocean in a High CO2 World.

The UK is one of 35 nations which subscribe and participate in SCOR activities. The UK SCOR Working Group is chaired by Prof. Karen Heywood (UEA) and meets annually to review and contribute to proposals for new SCOR workshops and international activities. The President of the Challenger Society is a member of the UK SCOR Committee. Other current members are Prof. Gideon Henderson (Oxford University), Prof. Peter Burkill (SAHFOS), Prof. Tim Jickells (UEA), Prof. Nick McCave (Cambridge University), Prof. Nick Owens (BAS) and Prof. John Shepherd (NOC).