Terry Sloane

Industry Liaison and Technology 2010-17

My role on the Challenger Council:

Liaison with marine scientific industry to ensure that membership has access to news, research opportunities, commercial opportunities and employment opportunities from within the ocean business community.
Liaison with AMSI (Association of Marine Scientific industries) trade association to provide an independent conduit to and from appropriate government organisations and policy makers from a lobbying, economic and business perspective and with the international oceanographic, hydro graphic and meteorological instrument manufacturers and suppliers.
To strengthen the relationship between the two organisations to provide a coherent business and science contact point to government and the media.
To provide the council and membership with information on developing technologies, “horizon thinking” sponsorship opportunities, and technology search capabilities, and to respond to membership requests for technical information.
To provide industry with an overview of the future requirements of the oceanographic research community and to publicise requirements of membership within the instrument manufacturers community.
To facilitate introductions between membership with respect to joint venture and licensing opportunities.

How I got into science?

From a very young age I wanted to do “underwater stuff” and trained as an electronics engineer in the mid 70’s working for Marconi Space and Defence Systems, Naval Division on under water acoustics and weapon systems and have been working with underwater technology ever since with a brief break into meteorology. Shortly after qualifying I joined NBA Controls, as a designer working on CTD systems, tide gauges, current meters and wave buoys. The application of electronics in the marine environment has always been extremely challenging. We have placed men on the moon, but not on the deepest seabed of our own planet, have explored other worlds in greater detail than our own oceans and we continue to do fantastic science and engineering on what is realistically a shoe string budget.

Who inspires me?

Like most people of my age I was first exposed to the underwater world through the TV and the exploits of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Hans & Lotte Hass and Troy Tempest! Since those formative days I have been fortunate to work alongside some of the best engineers in the business and still do.

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