Challenger Society 2014 prize winners

The Challenger Society would like to thank all the members who contributed to this year’s successful conference through poster submissions, presentations, photographs and attending as delegates.

Awards and prizes are presented at the conference dinner and reception held during the biannual event, and hosted this year at the Plymouth Guildhall. Many thanks to Challenger Captain Nick Owens and Challenger President Tim Jickells for presenting the awards.

In particular the Society would like to congratulate the following members on their achievements:

The Challenger Medal

Harry Bryden

The Challenger Medal is the premier award of the Society. The award is for a distinguished UK marine scientist or other person who has made a single major contribution, or a sustained contribution, to the development of marine science, or whose innovation has opened up new perspectives. The medal is presented on the occasion of the Challenger Lecture by the recipient during the Challenger Society biennial meeting.

Challenger fellowships

Mark Moore, NOC
Will Homoky, University of Oxford

Fellowships are awarded to early career-stage marine scientists who are members of the Challenger Society, for their achievements and promise in a branch of marine sciences: marine biology, marine chemistry, marine geology and marine physics.

Norman Heaps prize for best early career talk

Mike Blackett, University of Southampton and SAHFOS

The Norman Heaps prize was first awarded in 1988, and is awarded for the best oral presentation by an early-career stage non-established scientist.

Mike Blackett's presentation was on 'Long-term variability of the calycophoran siphonophores Muggiaea atlantica and M. kochi in the Western English Channel'

Cath Allen prize for best poster

Eleanor Jameson, University of Warwick

For the best poster presentation at the Challenger biennial meeting. The Best Poster Prize was first awarded in 1988 and was renamed in the honour Cath Allen, a research scientist at POL in 1991.

Eleanor Jameson's poster was entitled 'Data-mining bacterial pathways of TMA production'

IMarEST prize for best poster on operational oceanography

Hemanaden Runghen, Mauritius Oceanography Institute

The poster was on "Managing geophysical data in the South West Indian Ocean using GeoMapApp".

IMarEST Tripartite Undergraduate Award

Christine Mckenna, University of St Andrews

Christina was awarded this prize for her dissertation “A reconstruction of water mass distributions in the Faroe-Shetland Channel using Parametric Optimum Multi-Parameter analysis” written while studying her BSc Geography and Mathematics.

Dr. Bee Berx, her sponsor, collected the award on her behalf as she was unable to attend the dinner.

MBA prize for the best poster by a student

Natalie Wager, UEA

The poster was on "Distribution of sea surface nitrous oxide and methane in the Atlantic Ocean".

Tripartite award winner

Christine McKenna, University of S Andrews

This prize given by IMarEST, SUT and the Challenger Society.

Dissertation title: A reconstruction of water mass distributions in the Faroe-Shetland Channel using Parametric Optimum Multi-Parameter analysis. Course: BSc Geography and Mathematics.

President’s photographic competition

Robert Cook, Heriot Watt University

For the best photograph on a designated theme. This year’s theme was “Interaction with marine science”. The President's Prize was introduced in 1994 (President Dr Brian McCartney).

Latest News

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

NOC Association (NOCA) AGM 2025

The 14th AGM of the NOC Association will be held on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th May 2025. This free, on-line event will take place on Zoom, across two consecutive mornings, each starting at 10:00 and ending at 12:30. The agenda will focus on national capability (NC) science, ships, and autonomous vehicles, and how the community can engage. There will be an update on AtlantiS and on the new marine science scoping group. All are warmly welcome to join.

To participate, please complete your registration here.

For enquiries: Jackie Pearson, Secretary to NOCA: jfpea@noc.ac.uk