Professor David Thomas
My main academic interests include: Antarctic, Arctic and Baltic sea ice ecology & biogeochemistry; Role of dissolved organic matter in aquatic systems and land-ocean transitions; Inorganic nutrients & phytoplankton primary production; Industrial-scale microalgal biomass production & utilisation; Seaweed & halophyte ecology & physiology; Conveying science to non-specialist audiences; Connections between science & art.
My work is international in scope (worked & lived - apart from UK - in Germany for 7 years; Finland for 2.5 years; Denmark 10 months; Israel for 6 months).
Since the award of my PhD in 1988 I have:
- Participated in 14 research-cruises of between 2 weeks and 3 months: Southern Ocean (6), Arctic (2), North Sea (5) & North East Atlantic (1).
- I have conducted other fieldwork in the Baltic Sea (Finland & Sweden), Red Sea (Israel & Egypt) & White Sea (Russia), The Philippines, Vietnam & Wales.
- I have also led teams of between 10 and 20 scientists in 4 large-scale facility ice tank experiments in Hamburg (≈30 days each).
Latest News
Net Zero Oceanographic Capability: Workshop
The Net Zero Oceanographic Capability (NZOC) project is running a virtual workshop: ‘The 21st Century Marine Scientist: delivering science in a net zero world Workshop 1’ on Wednesday 27th January 2021
Challenger Society 2020 Conference
Conference Postponed until Sept 2021 due to Covid-19 outbreak.
Challenger Society 2020 Conferenceat SAMS , Oban

6th-10th September, 2021
Registration, and Abstract submission is available on the conference website at https://challenger2020.co.uk
Ocean Challenge search function
There is a new online search function for all Ocean Challenge issues that allows anyone to easily search for articles on a specific topic. We hope this will be used not just by the marine science community but by educators who would otherwise not have access to such resources.
(8/11/2017).