Short History

Ocean Challenge was first thought of in 1987. It resulted from a 'meeting of minds' between certain Challenger Council members (notably Martin Angel, Peter Foxton and Anthony Laughton, then Challenger Society President), who were considering the possibility of a Challenger Society publication, and Angela Colling and John Wright, who were wondering how to set up an accessible, multidisciplinary oceanography publication. The Council were keen to use the experience gained by the Open University Oceanography Course Team in making complex scientific material understandable for their students; and informing the scientifically literate layperson about ocean science remains one of the aims of Ocean Challenge.  Ocean Challenge also aims to bring together scientists in various disciplines of oceanography by making different subject areas of marine science accessible to as many readers as possible.

Peter Foxton became the first Editorial Board Chair. He was followed by Bill Prior-Jones, Rachel Mills, Tim Jickells and Mark Brandon. The Editorial Board has evolved over the years, although some stalwarts of the first Board still remain.

Ocean Challenge strives to have a European outlook, and several issues have been published in cooperation with the European Foundation of Marine Science and Technology Societies (EFMS). Until recently, the Editorial Board benefitted from the input of Hjalmar Thiel (Hamburg), who for many years acted as the Board's European representative.

Latest News

Nominations open for the 2024 Challenger Society Marine Science Student Award!

Nominations are now open for the Challenger Society Marine Science Student Award - deadline 31st July!  

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2024 Challenger Medallist and Fellows

We are delighted to announce the 2024 recipients of the Challenger Medal and the Challenger Fellowships. These biennial awards will be presented to awardees at the Challenger Conference in September.


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Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition

Please see a news item from the Royal Society below.

The Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition is now open for entries. Submit your photograph by 23 August 2024 in our categories of; Astronomy, Behaviour, Earth Science and Climatology, Ecology and Environmental Science, and Microimaging.

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