News Archive

The Australian National Network in Marine Science (ANNIMS) held its second annual student conference at James Cook University (JCU), Townsville, on July 21-22.

Twenty PhD and Honours students from the Oceans Institute attended the fully-funded conference titled ‘Marine Science in Tropical, Temperate and Southern Oceans'. According to PhD student Asha de Vos, it was a great opportunity for students to present their work, exchange ideas, and learn what the other universities are doing.

The broad diversity of presentations allowed students to hear about research outside of their usual focus. "It's really good because it covers all different areas of marine science, from ecology to very technical oceanography," said Asha. Depending on the stage of their research, students gave 15 minute talks or presented posters.

The presentations were interspersed with half-hour lectures by plenary speakers, including Dr Chris Battershill (AIMS), Emeritus Professor Howard Choat (JCU), Professor Rocky de Nys (JCU), Professor Mike Kingsford (JCU), Dr Morgan Pratchett (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies), Professor Peter Ridd (JCU), and Professor Tarmo Soomere (Tallinn University of Technology - Estonia).

Prior to the conference, Professor Soomere ran a two day workshop titled ‘Furious sea: a short course on waves for non-specialists with emphasis on wave related coastal hazards.'

Asha said that the workshop, which addressed topics such as tsunamis and the environmental problems of ship waves, was interesting and delivered with great enthusiasm, enabling those without a strong background in physical oceanography to understand and appreciate it.

UWA will host the 2011 ANNIMS student conference.

For further information please contact Maryann Evetts on (08) 6488 8116 or email: [email protected]