Overview
The Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) was founded in 1957 to address interdisciplinary questions related to the ocean, with more than 2,300 individuals involved in SCOR activities to date. SCOR has had a specific focus on supporting ‘working groups’ of international scientists that are established in response to proposals from the scientific community. SCOR also sponsors international ocean science programmes, including GEOTRACES, IMBeR and SOLAS, as well as dedicating funds to support capacity building. For more details see: www.scor-int.org
The UK pays annual dues to SCOR, which are split between the Challenger Society for Marine Science (51%) and the Royal Society (49%).
The UK SCOR committee is responsible for delivering a key component of the Challenger Society strategy by ‘maximising the contribution of UK scientists to international ocean science efforts’. Over the period 2026-30, this will be achieved by (i) providing annual reviews of working group proposals and feeding back suggestions for best practice, (ii) compiling data on the engagement of UK scientists with SCOR activity and (iii) highlighting gaps on the committee and developing a new calls for membership as appropriate in association with the Challenger EDIA group. The UK SCOR group meets twice a year, once in person and once online to work towards these goals. The committee currently consists of a chair, two vice chairs, at least two early career members and at present three additional regular members. Early career members have their participation in the in-person meeting supported by the Challenger Society.
The full terms of reference of the UK SCOR committee, including terms of service can be found here: https://challenger-society.org.uk/scor/terms-of-reference/
As part of our work, the UK SCOR committee is calling for new applications for membership. In particular, we are looking to recruit one to two additional members, of which at least one will be an early career member (ECR; https://challenger-society.org.uk/early-career-network/ecr-definition/). We are especially seeking to add marine ecology (e.g., deep-sea, conservation, eDNA) expertise to the committee, but applications from any disciplines are encouraged, especially for ECRs.
Application procedure
Please email your statement of interest (single document, maximum 500 words) to a.poulton@hw.ac.uk by 17:00 GMT on the 18th of November 2026.
Reach out to Alex Poulton (Chair of the committee) or others on the UK’s national committee if you have any questions.
Evaluation criteria
It is essential that the candidate holds a PhD or equivalent experience in a relevant discipline and is enthusiastic about becoming engaged with the role of SCOR in UK marine science. Desirable characteristics would include experience of working on collaborative projects, multi-disciplinarity, science communication, or building networks. Experience with SCOR and its activities would be advantageous, but not essential. A CV is not required.
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