July  2014  

1 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

   Monthly  newsletter  of  the  Challenger  Society  for  Marine  Science  (CSMS)    The  Editor  thanks  RS  Aqua  for  sponsoring  this  month’s  edition  of  Challenger  Wave.    

Roger Scrivens retires RS Aqua Ltd, the Hampshire based distributors of ocean research equipment and frequent sponsors of Challenger Wave, have announced a change of ownership accompanied by news of the retire-ment (from full time duties at least) of founder Roger Scrivens. On the 30th May, Roger and his wife, Sandie, sold their 100% equity in the company to sales director Martin Stemp at the conclusion of a long planned management buyout. The contractual terms were designed to suit the requirements of both parties and are targeted at supporting RS

Aqua in continuance of it's current growth path. With immediate effect, Martin Stemp assumes the role of Managing Director. It is planned that Roger will continue his involvement with the Company in an ambassadorial role. Roger Scrivens first entered the "ocean" world in 1974 as Commercial Manager for Aldershot based NBA (Controls) Ltd, believed to be the UK's first independent ocean instrumentation manufacturer. He recalls walking straight into the chaos of the government versus unions "3 day week" action of that era but also looks back with fondness to heady days of significant electronic, software and data storage developments when every supply seemed to incorporate a new leap in technology. By the end of that decade, Roger was

 

NEWSNEWS

July  2014  

2 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

MD and leading the company into an expanding global market. However, internal politics caused him to walk away in 1982 and, in conjunction with partner, Jim Wardle, form what is now RS Aqua Ltd. By 1990 he had acquired sole ownership of RS Aqua Ltd which, over the years, flirted with manufacturing, rental, distribution and even, via subsidiary InstallOcean Ltd, field operations. Roger does not recall a conscious decision to fa-vour the distribution sector but feels that some-thing clearly directed him that way around the turn of the century. It is of great satisfaction to Roger that several of the companies that RS Aqua currently trade with are suppliers and clients dating back to links formed in the 1980s. He often cites corporate and personal names that cover the decades and comments how fortunate he feels to have con-ducted his business activities within such an ex-citing and diverse sector. One of his firmest busi-ness creeds is "customer service" and he is often at pains to point out that RS Aqua's reputation for support, both pre and post supply, has been well earned over the years.

Martin, Sandie and Roger enjoy a celebratory drink Roger has served within many trade and learned associations during his career including current positions on the Association of Marine Scientific Industries (AMSI) council and as a member of the Steering Group for the Marine Measurement Forum (MMF) series. Roger was extremely proud to receive the AMSI "Business Person of the Year" award at the March "Catch the Next Wave" conference in London. Nowadays the RS Aqua product range is exten-sive indeed. Physical, biological and chemical ocean measuring equipment sits alongside glid-

ers, fish tracking systems, Iridium telemetry ser-vices, pressure housings, mooring aids and so much more. Roger says he looks back with pride on what has been accomplished during his busi-ness life but sees so much more potential in the coming years. He is satisfied that he leaves the company in safe hands. On the personal front, Roger and Sandie are both heavily involved with the charity SUDEP Action (http://www.sudep.org/) where Roger is a Trustee. Ignoring his age and creaking muscles, Roger, for the fourth time, took part in the London 10K run in July to raise funds for the charity in memory of daughter Becky. MATE Scotland ROV Challenge Bowtech Products Ltd, a global market leader in subsea vision systems, is delighted to support the MATE Scotland ROV challenge, secondary school underwater robot competition. Bowtech Products Ltd undertook the underwater filming of the competition using MCVIS-1 mini compact video inspection systems and have gifted a colour tooling camera and LED light to the Mintlaw Academy team ROV.

Left-Right: Brian Hector, Technical Director, Bowtech Products Ltd with Kieran Yule, Scott Turriff, David Fin-nie & Gareth Swinney of the Mintlaw Academy ROV team and their winning vehicle at Subsea Expo exhibi-tion. The MATE competition challenges school, com-munity college, and university students from all over the world to design and build ROVs to tackle missions modelled after scenarios from the ocean workplace. The competition provides students with the opportunity to develop and build upon their engineering skills and more that are transfer-rable through to their curricular studies. Students are required to think of themselves as

July  2014  

3 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

en-trepreneurs and transform their teams into companies that manufacture, market, and sell products. In addition to engineering their ROVs, the students are required to prepare technical re-ports, poster displays, and engineering presenta-tions that are deliv-ered to working professionals who serve as competition judges. There are 22 regional contests this year, taking place across the US and in Canada, plus Hong Kong, Japan, Egypt and Scotland the winners of each then go-ing forward to Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan to take part in the 2014 Mate International ROV final on 26-28 June 2014.

The Mintlaw Academy ROV team (L-R: Gareth Swin-ney, Douglas Leel, Liam Forbes, Kieran Yule, Scott Turriff & David Finnie) at the MATE Scotland ROV Challenge at Robert Gordon University The competition was held in April 2014 at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. The Team of pupils from Mintlaw Academy, Aberdeenshire beat off the competition from Alford Academy, Alness Academy, Banff Academy, Bridge of Don Acad-emy, Bucksburn Academy, Craigmount High School, Edinburgh, Mackie Academy, Menzieshill High School, Dundee, Peterhead Academy and Robert Gordon College to achieve first place for the second consecutive year. The Mintlaw team will travel to the Thunder Bay Finals and hope to improve on their performance at last years’ finals in Seattle. Ali Hynd, Principal Teacher of Tech-nology at Mintlaw Academy said “The project has grown arms and legs since (Seattle) and the team now collectively spend approx. 40 hours a week designing, building and experimenting with the vehicle and the tooling, the rewarding thing from my point of view is that most of this is done in their own time, at lunch or after school”. Develop-ing their public speaking, 2 of the Mintlaw stu-dents have also spoken about their experiences

to over 800 subsea professionals at the Sub-sea Expo Awards dinner, a daunting task for any ex-perienced after-dinner speaker.

By connecting students with employers and pro-fessionals from the workplace, the competitions also expose students to ocean-related career op-portunities and help them to see the pathways to those careers. Brian Hector, Technical Director of Bowtech Products said “The biggest challenge facing our industry today is lack of engineers, we need to do all we can to encourage school leav-ers and graduates into the subsea Industry”.

To see footage of the Mintlaw Team ROV taking part in the Scottish heat at Robert Gordon Unver-sity go to www.bowtech.co.uk/video-archive-bowtech-php

For more information on MATE Underwater Ro-botics Competitions please visit http:// www.marinetech.org/rov-competition/ SCOR Funding The National Science Foundation recently approved SCOR’s request for renewal of its grant for developing country scientists to ocean science meetings. In view of the importance of the Challenger Society in SCOR’s UK support and visibility, the SCOR Committee on Capacity Building has approved US$4900 for the Challenger Conference 2014. The recipients will be early-career scientists from developing countries who will be giving a contributed presentation. The President’s Photographic Competition at the Challenger Conference 2014 The President’s Prize is given to for the photo-graph judged by the President and President Elect to best convey a theme related to marine science. This year’s theme will be “Interaction with marine science”. Submitted photographs will be displayed in the poster hall at the conference. The owner of the winning entry will be awarded the prize at the conference dinner. To enter the competition, please submit your pho-tograph, in paper and digital format. Paper ver-sions to be submitted to the conference registra-tion desk by Tuesday lunchtime, 9th September or posted to: Kate Brailsford, Challenger Photo-graphs, SAHFOS, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill,

July  2014  

4 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

The Hoe. Plymouth, PL1 2PB Your name and a title, relevant to the overall theme of “Interaction with marine science” and a short description of what the photograph portrays, should be written on the back of the photograph using soft pencil. In addition please email a digital copy of your photo to csms@noc.ac.uk in a commonly ac-cepted image format (JPEG/TIFF/BMP). All im-ages are requested at high resolution but no more than 10Mb due to email limits. Please name your photograph so that credit can be allocated when appropriate (e.g. john_r_smith_1.jpeg). and to avoid filename duplication. All entries must be taken by the person submitting the photograph and must not be overly post-processed (e.g. colours should be natural and objects should not be added or removed). Black and white images are acceptable. The maximum size of the photograph should be A4. All entries will be judged anonymously. Entry to the competi-tion constitutes agreement for the Challenger So-ciety to use the photos (with attribution) in public-ity material (but they will not otherwise be distrib-uted). - Hilary Kennedy, President Election of Council members At the Challenger Society (CSMS) Annual general Meeting, to be held during the CSMS Conference at Plymouth University, 8-11 September 2014, two new members will be elected onto Council. We currently have two nominees Mattias Green from Bangor University and Ruth Airs from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Members are invited to make any further nominations to fill the vacancies at Council, by email, to the President, Hilary Kennedy (h.a.kennedy@bangor.ac.uk) by 1st August 2014. Royal honour for SAMS president The president of SAMS (Scottish Association for Marine Science) has been awarded a royal medal for his lifetime’s work developing and promoting glaciology. Glaciologist Professor Geoffrey Boulton received The Royal Geographical Society’s prestigious Founder’s Gold Medal at this year’s recent annual presentation. Approved by the queen, the Soci-ety’s royal medals are among the highest awards of their kind in the world, and are presented anu-ally in recognition of excellence and outstanding

achievements in geographical research and fieldwork, teaching and public engagement. SAMS Director, Professor Laurence Mee, said: “We are delighted that Geoffrey has been hon-oured with the Royal Medal. The founder of SAMS, the pioneering oceanographer Sir John Murray, was honoured with the medal in 1895 and it is wonderful to see that medal awarded to our president on the centenary of Murray’s death.”

Professor Boulton, who is also Regius Professor of Geology Emeritus and former Vice-Principal of the University of Edinburgh, has led research that has been integral to the improved understanding of glacial sediments, the development of ice sheets and quantitative theories of erosion and deposition. He has published more than 150 re-search papers. RGS President Professor Dame Judith Rees said: “Within the field of glacial science, Professor Boulton is one of the most influential practitioners of his generation. Current generations follow and test concepts set out by him. Even in retirement he is still pushing frontiers: using geophysics be-neath an Antarctic ice stream to observe the process of drumlin formation.” Professor Boulton, who was elected president of SAMS in 2012, has held numerous powerful posts, including member of the prime minister’s Council for Science and Technology, the Scottish Science Advisory Committee and the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He cur-

July  2014  

5 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

rently chairs the Royal Society’s Science Policy Centre. The Royal Geographical Society awarded its first gold medal in 1831. Since 1839 the Society has awarded annually two royal gold medals, the Founder’s Medal and the Patron’s medal, that are of equal value and merit. For over 180 years they have recognised “the encouragement and promo-tion of geographical science and discovery”. Previous recipients include Captain Robert Fal-con Scott, David Livingstone, Fridtjof Nansen and Sir David Attenborough. Professor Boulton received his medal at the Royal Geographical Society’s annual general meeting at the Society in central London in June.

Challenger Society Travel Award Report – Charlotte Eve Davies (Dept. Biological Sciences, College of Science, Swansea University) On the 18th May 2014, with funding support from the Challenger Society for Marine Science, I trav-elled to Cancun, Mexico for the 10th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management, hosted by the Institute of Ma-rine Sciences and Limnology of the National Au-tonomous University of Mexico. This was my first international conference. This conference only happens once every 2 years, so it was therefore a great opportunity for me to at-tend in terms of career development and network-ing. I gave an oral presentation on my PhD re-search findings, which investigate the disease susceptibility of the European lobster in relation to the American lobster as an ‘invasive’ species. Be-ing able to present my work and receiving feed-back from the experts in my field, was, although nerve-wracking, a fantastic experience. Lobster catch in the UK is a multimillion pound industry so my work is important for fisheries and future re-search – there is currently a team in Norway look-ing into Euro-American hybrid lobsters being found in Europe ! In addition to being able to attend presentations on areas such as fisheries, management, stocks, genetics, behavioural ecology and diseases and

parasites, there was also a poster session. This event enabled me to catch up with past collabor-ators and share ideas with possible future ones, some of whom have been a great inspiration to me since I began my PhD – is it possible to be ‘starstruck’ by lobster scientists ?

Conference attendees The conference proceedings are to be published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science later this year, for which I hope to submit an abstract in-volving my current work surveying a UK Marine Conservation Zone. I thank the Challenger Society for Marine Science for the travel grant, without which I would not have been able to take part in this event. I also thank the conference coordinators for not only organizing a conference where I was able to learn so much, but a conference which was amazing fun – there are not many events like this where you would be able to spend a free afternoon snorkelling on a reef!

BRITICE-CHRONO project Research Cruise 2014 The BRITICE-CHRONO project is running cruises this summer and next. They now have a dedi-cated web site, which can be accessed at britice-chrono.org Colm O’Cofaigh and his team have been working like crazy in preparation for the imminent re-search cruise, due to set sail from Southampton, from 16th July to 25th August on the NERC ves-sel RRS James Cook. This is the first of the two research cruises which form the Marine Geology

SALTSSALTSSS

VIEWSVIEWS

July  2014  

6 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

element of BRITICE-CHRONO. The itinerary takes the team through the Celtic and Irish seas, the northern approaches to the Barra Fan, and the NW and western Irish shelf. Geophysical data in the form of multibeam echo sounder and sub-bottom profiler data will be collected and will be used to identify targets for coring. Coring will utilise a British Geological Survey 6 m long vibro-corer system and the National Oceanography Centre 10 m piston corer.

RRS James Cook We wish all the best for a successful trip to eve-ryone on board, and welcome Alex Ingle who will be photographing and producing film footage for the second leg. Make sure you check the blog and twitter feed for all the latest news while the team is at sea, including a list of cruise partici-pants and hopefully a live ‘ish’ track log of the ships location. – Prof. Grant Bigg,

29th-31st July 2014: UKPN Polar Marine Sci-ence Workshop The workshop is an interdisciplinary meeting of early career researchers, focussing on all aspects of marine sciences in the polar regions. It will be hosted at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, registration closes May 21st The theme of the workshop is polar marine sci-ence, including physical, biological and chemical sciences of the oceans, as well as links with at-mospheric and cryospheric processes. The workshop is funded by the NERC iSTAR project, itself an interdisciplinary project researching the

impact of ocean heat transport on the melting of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica. This workshop aims to bring together 40 – 45 early career polar researchers to present their science and gain knowledge of cutting edge re-search, funding opportunities and career path-ways. We invite talks or posters in any field of po-lar marine science and also welcome research in progress from early career research students. It will be a great opportunity to present in front of peers and get feedback on your research from a wide range of specialists. There will be excellent opportunities to build net-works with fellow early career scientists as well as senior scientists, who will share their perspectives in a series of panel debates and workshops. Our keynote speaker on Tuesday night is polar ex-plorer Antony Jinman, who also specialises in educational outreach whilst on expedition. Polar technologies such as Autosub, UAVs, AUVs, seal tagging and moorings will be introduced by ex-perts in the field and provide the opportunity to learn more about how they could be used in your research. There is a registration fee of £50. Some funds will be available to cover this, as well as travel to Norwich and accommodation for the workshop, depending on demand. For more information and registration please visit: http://polarnetwork.org/events-and-workshops/2014-polar-marine-science-workshop/ You can connect with fellow participants on Face-book: https://www.facebook.com/events/1377274915857549/

14th-18th August 2014: The third International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) Scottish, Exhibition & Conference Centre, Glasgow, UK. The IMCC is currently the most important international meeting for marine conservation professionals and students. Organised by the Society for Conservation Biology, the first IMCC in Washington DC, 2009 and the second in Victoria, 2011 each attracted over 1,200 participants. As well as the main conference there are a variety of workshops, short courses, symposia, focus groups and student activities. More information on the content of the event is

CALENDARCALENDAR

July  2014  

7 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

available at www.conbio.org/mini-sites/imcc-2014. 3rd-5th September 2014: MASTS Annual Sci-ence Meeting: Making Waves The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland will hold its fourth Annual Science Meeting (ASM) on Wednesday 3rd – Friday 5th September 2014 at the Heriot-Watt University Conference Centre, Edinburgh. Submit an abstract now ! – http://www.masts.ac.uk/annual-science-meeting/2014-abstract-submission/  Abstracts should be submitted before 13:00 on Monday 30th June 2014 to masts@st-­‐andrews.ac.uk    using the abstract template document. Abstracts can be submitted to one of the following areas:

· General Science Session · Marine micro-plastic litter · Marine Biogeochemistry · Fish Discards · MPAs and their future management

There is space in the programme to accommo-date one more special session - if you would like to run one please get in touch by email to masts@st-andrews.ac.uk. This cross-disciplinary meeting brings together all members of the Scottish marine science commu-nity, with the aim of promoting and communicat-ing research excellence and forging new scientific collaborations. The cross-disciplinary nature of the event as well as the high calibre of the se-lected talks means that scientists and practitio-ners can broaden their knowledge in marine sci-ence as well as benefit from expertise and ideas gained in a range of fields other than their own. Science presentations and e-poster sessions will take place on the first two days, together with op-portunities to network. Plenary speakers have been confirmed as Dr Richard Sanders (NOC) and Dr Niall McDonough (European Marine Board). We also invite you to join us at the conference dinner to be held at Edinburgh Zoo on the eve-ning of Wednesday 3rd September (featuring MASTS own Prof Nick Hanley and his Hoochie Coochie Ceilidh band). On the third day, the venue will host a number of meetings and workshops. If you would like to host

a workshop or side meeting – contact ecd2@st-­‐andrews.ac.uk for details If you would like to exhibit at the event, or show-case a piece of equipment please contact ecd2@st-andrews.ac.uk for details. For more details visit http://www.masts.ac.uk/about/annual-science-meeting.aspx or contact me at ecd2@st-andrews.ac.uk. We look forward to welcoming you at the MASTS ASM in September. Early bird registration for the event will open on Monday 1st July. The MASTS ASM is an inclusive event and we encourage all members of the Scottish Marine Science community to attend so please circulate this notice widely. 8th–11th September 2014: Challenger Society for Marine Science Conference Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK

   

This biennial conference attracts over 300 leading UK marine scientists and science managers, as well as showcasing cutting edge marine science and technology. The conference is noted for its

July  2014  

8 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

training of young scientists and networks, and in-cludes a fantastic optional 3 course dinner at Plymouth Guildhall, and a public lecture by an eminent authority on relevant societal marine is-sues. Please join us in September for a truly memorable conference. Quality campus accom-modation is available as part of the booking proc-ess. Please book early to avoid disappointment, and before 30th June for earlybird registration. http://2014.challenger-society.org.uk/  

 29th September - 1st October 2014: 2nd Inter-national Symposium on Submarine Canyons British Geological Survey, Edinburgh The 2nd symposium of the International Network for submarine Canyon Investigation and Scientific Exchange (INCISE) will take place at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh from 29th Sep-tember to 1st October 2014. The symposium will combine traditional conference-style oral and poster presentations with a set of break-out work-ing-group discussions focusing on key themes. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 1st July 2014. See www.incisenet.org for further de-tails. 28th–31st October 2014: ESA – Earth Obser-vation for Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions Science 2014 Frascati (Rome), Italy

14th-15th November 2014: Sail Training Inter-national Annual Conference A Coruña, Spain. The research strand builds on work by STI over the last 10 years to develop research in sail train-ing and is in response to an increasing amount and quality of research in this area. The audience for the event will be from the broader STI confer-ence so presenters should be aware of the need to connect theory and practice. The research strand is designed to both create a forum to dis-cuss research processes but primarily to dissemi-nate research findings (philosophical and empiri-cal) to enhance practice. The purpose of the research strand within the an-nual conference schedule is to advance the em-pirical, conceptual, and theoretical bases of sail training. The aim is to bring together a wide array of researchers to explore current and future trends in using the sail training for educational and therapeutic purposes. Deadline is 15 June 2014 For further information about the conference, and the detailed abstract submission instructions con-tact the STI office: http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/ Persons wishing to present (oral and/or poster) at the conference must submit an electronic copy of their abstract, following submission requirements, to: Paul.Bishop@sailtraininginternational.org

CSMS email addresses are president, admin, membership, secretary and treasurer@challenger-society.org.uk Contributions for next month’s edition of Challenger Wave should be sent to: john@vectisenvironmental.com by the 31st July We continue to send printed copies of Challenger Wave to members of the CSMS without email addresses. However it is in everybody’s interest to send your email address to Jennifer Jones jxj@noc.ac.uk as soon as possible

__________________________________________________

July  2014  

9 www.challenger-­society.org.uk/      

PhD opportunities at UHI SAMS and Marine Scotland Science in general, funded through MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland) UHI SAMS studentship.

· Impacts of basin-scale forcing on the circulation of the Faroe Shetland Channel http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=55557

Other MASTS studentships:

· Projection of North Atlantic thermal anomalies onto the European Shelf Seas (MASTS E3, students would be registered with the University of Edinburgh) http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=55550

· A 100-year record of changing toxic algae in Scottish coastal waters related to change in land use and temperature http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=55563

University of Edinburgh and SAMS Collaborative PhD studentship:

· Microbial and biochemical controls on the sinking rates and export of marine aggregates http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=46061

 

JOBSJOBS