John Bacon
John spent 20 very happy years working as a Civil Engineer in many parts of the UK, but also with 10 years in Tanzania, Dubai and Oman before returning to study Geophysical Sciences at UEA as a mature student. He discovered the science of oceanography and in particular coastal processes and carried on to complete a PhD at UEA, working with an inspiring research group at UEA, guided by Chris Vincent in 2004.
After a UEA post doc job, a lecturer's post and a further three years working as a marine specialist with Meteorologists Weatherquest Ltd, he moved to Cefas eight years ago and is a Principal Scientist in Coastal numerical modelling and also leads High Performance and Scientific Computing at Cefas. Much of his work involves numerical modelling of coastal processes, geomorphology and water quality, particularly in respect of shellfish health. Cefas is a hugely diverse organisation and although a government department (executive agency of Defra) is one of the foremost organisations to work in marine science research.
He has been a member of the Challenger Society since 2002 and was elected as Honorary Secretary, despite attrocious spelling! He now runs the web development for the society and Mattias Green is the Honorary Secretary.
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.