Oban is a beautiful coastal location, but as a tourist destination accommodation gets booked up very quickly. If you are interested in attending, it is advised that you book accommodation as soon as you can. Accommodation options can be found on the conference website: https://challenger2024.co.uk
The hashtag for the conference is #challenger2024.
We are pleased to announce that abstract submission is now open for the Challenger 2024 conference which will be held in Oban from 2nd -6th September 2024. The abstract submission deadline is the 30th April. Please find all the information about abstract submission and details of the conference on the Challenger 2024 website.
To help with your planning, here is the outline of events for the week:
Monday 2nd Sept - Registration and ice-breaker
3-5th Sept - Talks and posters
Evening of Thursday 5th Sept - Dinner, prizes and Ceilidh
Friday 6th Sept - Special interest group meetings
Keep your diaries free and please find further information at https://www.sams.ac.uk/challenger2024/
A guidance document with advice on how to create effective and clear posters and presentations can be found here.
2024 Challenger Society Conference
Presidents’ Art and Photography Prize
For the 2024 competition, in a new departure, members are invited to submit all kinds of images (paintings, drawings, collages ...) as well as photographs. We are looking for images relating to marine science or the ocean that are beautiful, impressive, evocative, amusing, quirky or entertaining. The winning image will earn its creator a prize of £100. The winner will be decided by the outgoing President and the President Elect.
You may submit up to three images (each image has a 100MB size limit). For more information and to submit your images(s) see: https://forms.gle/pTjwLMzYXjWoSpKr9
For each image, please provide a title, and a brief explanation of the context. Entries must arrive by 30 August. Images should not have been created for commercial purposes, or have received any previous award.
Photographic images should not have been significantly altered digitally (e.g. using Photoshop) or created with AI. They need to be at sufficiently high resolution to look good when printed, not just on screen. This means that the file size should be of the order of 1 Mb or more, not tens of kb. Images may be used in future publications of the Society, with the owner’s permission.
NB. The competition is only open to members of the Society.
Winners of the President's Photograph Competition can be viewed here.
Latest News
Challenger Society History of Oceanography SIG Webinars
The Challenger Society Special Interest Group on the History of Oceanography will be having a series of zoom webinars in 2025. The talks will be at 5pm UK time on Wednesday evenings (3rd Wed of the month):
Job vacancy
The Ocean Census is actively seeking a Workshop Coordinator to join our dynamic team to manage the workshop and related processes with an international alliance of partners. The deadline for applications is 15th December 2024. Link to further details: https://oceancensus.org/job-opportunity-workshop-coordinator/
Socio-oceanography Workshop sets sights on key climate and ocean challenges
The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is calling on scientists and researchers to participate in its fourth annual Socio-Oceanography Workshop, hosted in collaboration with the Marine Social Science Network.
This international event, set to take place at NOC’s Southampton site 26-28 February 2025, will gather experts across natural and social sciences to tackle the pressing issues linking people and the changing ocean.
This year’s workshop will focus on four key themes, including the impact of climate change-driven shifts in marine species distribution and how these changes will affect the way the UK marine environment is perceived, valued, and managed.
Other topics include integrating digital humans into environmental digital twins, addressing biases in research related to marine carbon dioxide removal, and exploring how local communities can engage in participatory environmental monitoring.