The Challenger Society for Marine Science

Scientific Committee for Oceanographic Research (SCOR)

The Challenger Society is the UK affiliated body responsible for the UK’s subscription to the international Scientific Committee for Oceanographic Research (SCOR).

SCOR (http://www.scor-int.org/) is the leading international non-governmental organization for the promotion and coordination of international ocean research. SCOR does not fund research directly, but supports international cooperation and networks in planning and conducting research, and solving methodological and conceptual problems that hinder research. SCOR promotes capacity building (https://scor-int.org/work/capacity/) for marine scientists in developing countries and countries with economies in transition through special efforts to include such scientists in SCOR activities, travel grants, SCOR Visiting Scholars, and joint activities with other organizations.

SCOR presently sponsors five Large Scale Ocean Research Projects: GEOTRACES, IIOE-2, IMBeR, and SOLAS (see https://scor-int.org/work/research/ for details).

SCOR organises and funds a number of Working Groups to address discreet areas of ocean science requiring international co-ordination. There are currently 15 international Working Groups funded (https://scor-int.org/work/groups/). Proposal for new working groups are considered once a year and SCOR approves new working groups each year at its the annual SCOR meeting. The number of proposals funded each year depends on both the results of the proposal review process and the availability of funding, with 1-3 new Working Groups typically funded each year. SCOR is an organization that promotes science that comes from the “bottom up” from the ocean science community and Working Groups are an important vehicle to bring attention to the important ocean science issues identified by the global community of ocean scientists.

If you want to…

Submit a proposal for a SCOR Working Group

As a non-governmental organization, individuals representing national SCOR committees, not national governments, are the members of SCOR. The nominated SCOR representatives for the UK are:

• Chair – Alex Poulton (Heriot Watt University)
• Vice-Co-Chair – Alice Marzocchi (National Oceanography Centre)
• Vice-Co-Chair – Will Homoky (University of Leeds)
• ECR Representative – Aly Lough (University of Leeds)
• ECR Representative – Elise Droste (National Oceanography Centre)
• Regular member – Malcolm Woodward
• Regular member – Yueng Lenn (Bangor University)
• Regular member – Emma Boland (British Antarctic Survey)

The role of the National SCOR Committee is to ensure strong links between SCOR and UK ocean research. This involves:

• Representing SCOR to the Challenger Council, on which the chair serves in an ex officio capacity, and acts as a conduit between the society and SCOR as appropriate.
• Annually co-ordinating input to provide a UK ranking and assessment of proposals for new Working Groups to the SCOR meeting.
• Attending the international SCOR meeting each year (in-person or online).
• Sending on information from international SCOR to members of the Challenger Society and UK oceanography community.
• Completing an annual report on UK SCOR activities for the Royal Society as part of an application for continued support via its International Organisation Grants (IOG).