Dr Sophie Berenice-Wilmes
After graduating in Ocean Science at Bangor University, an MSc degree in Climate Sciences at the University of Bern in Switzerland and PhD at Bangor University with Dr Mattias Green and Prof James Scourse, Sophie spent two years as a PostDoc at Oregon State University collaborating with Prof Andreas Schmittner before moving back to Bangor University to work on two international EU projects, BlueFish and COCKLES.
She looks at long-term changes in the tides due to variations in sea-level and climate and has focussed on the impacts of tidal changes on the large-scale ocean circulation during the Last Glacial Maximum. Currently, she is investigating larval transport patterns in UK shelf seas and along the Atlantic margin, which are heavily influenced by the tide. The projects BlueFish and COCKLES are trying to understand the interannual variability in larval supply and the implications of connectivities between different shellfish habitats on their resilience to future climate change.
Joining the Challenger Council , Sophie will mentor the Travel and Stepping Stones awards for Students and Early Career Scientists.
Latest News
Potential Availability of NERC Ship Time During the 25/26 Programme Year
The NERC Marine Facilities Programme for 2025/2026 for the RRS Discovery and the RRS James Cook has been published on the Marine Facilities Planning website.
The RRS Discovery programme currently contains a 79 day alongside slot between the 2nd of November 2025 and the 19th of January 2026, which is available for science delivery if funded science projects can make use of this time. Due to the location of the vessel, the ship is most likely to be able to deliver fieldwork in the North and East Atlantic regions. Some support for science capability within the National Marine Equipment Pool is potentially available, although there is no capacity for use of autonomous vehicles or remotely operated vehicles. Any fieldwork within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) will need the appropriate diplomatic clearance submitted to coastal states at least 6 months in advance, and to NMF with sufficient lead time for processing via the FCDO.
If interested in making use of this ship time, please contact NERC Marine Planning (marineplanning@nerc.ukri.org) ASAP to start discussions.
THE MARINE FACILITIES ADVISORY BOARD – CAN YOU HELP?
The Marine Facilities Advisory Board advises the National Oceanography Centre on marine facilities and services, including the Natural Environment Research Council’s National Marine Equipment Pool (NMEP), the British Oceanographic Data Centre and the British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility.
NOC Association AGM 2025
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. Although discussion topics are being finalised, we 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