20th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals
Nienke van Geel
SAMS
20th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Dunedin, New Zealand
I sincerely would like to thank the Challenger Society for granting me a Travel Award which allowed me to attend the 20th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals held in Dunedin, New Zealand in December 2013.
At the conference, I presented a poster on the potential to investigate bottlenose dolphin movements using an array of passive acoustic monitoring equipment when dolphins are moving through geographic bottlenecks, as exemplified by a case study in the Sound of Mull (west Scotland).
Additionally, I attended four workshops, most of which were related to marine mammal conservation: 1) best practice principles for monitoring the effect of coastal development on marine mammals, 2) impacts of cetacean tagging: a review of follow up studies and approaches, 3) species distribution modelling with MGET, and 4) the student workshop, addressing CV writing, grant writing and writing papers.
In addition to being able to present my work, attending this conference also provided the opportunity to get feedback from other researchers, which will contribute to improve the final stage of my PhD. Also, the increased insight into latest research, both within and beyond my particular research direction, through other presentations and posters, was useful to place my research into the wider, most up to date research context. Finally, attending the conference was a great opportunity to network, to discuss current data gaps and future research challenges and to think about future interdisciplinary research collaborations.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference itself, and the various additional experiences including a Maui welcome, the masquerade party, and seeing some sun in the middle of winter!
Nienke van Geel
Scottish Association for Marine Science
Oban, Scotland
Latest News
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.
FMRI Lead Scientist Opportunity
The FMRI programme is now recruiting for a new Lead Scientist. This is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in helping to shape the UK’s future marine research capability.
The team are looking for someone who can connect with scientists and engineers to help define the best strategies for exploiting new technologies. Someone who is excited about new opportunities for marine research and can think across the big challenges. Someone who can peer over the horizon and imagine a different way of doing things.
FMRI is seeking to fund at least 50% of the Lead Scientist’s time to work as a key member of the programme leadership team.
I would be grateful if you could forward the attached flyer to your networks and encourage potential candidates to apply for this important role.
For an informal discussion, please contact the team via: info@fmri.ac.uk
For more information or to apply, please visit: www.fmri.ac.uk/recruit/lead-scientist
Applications close: 28th November, 2024