Socio-oceanography Workshop targets 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.

Applications to take part in the event opened today, 1 November, closing on 7 December.

Co-convenor Dr Katya Popova, says, “These are issues that have both global and local relevance and cut across our traditional disciplines in the natural and social sciences. The Socio-Oceanography Workshop aims to bridge the gap, bringing those disciplines together.

“This is increasingly important in our complex and changing world where people and the environment cannot be considered in isolation. It’s imperative that we work across disciplines to really understand the challenges we face and help find solutions to them.”

The workshop is limited to 50 people, with social sciences participants, in particular, being encouraged to apply, to help grow the number of specialists from this discipline engaging with socio-oceanography. Outputs from the workshop include research papers and funding proposals to help address the learnings, identified gaps and further knowledge.

“The first workshop helped to shape the concept of socio-oceanography, which was then published in Marine Frontiers, defining the new ways in which to conduct interdisciplinary research,” says Dr Popova.

“Last year’s event then helped to drive international dialogue on issues such as marine plastics, with a paper in Nature Communications underpinning a key UN message on microplastics ahead of a major summit.”

Outputs from this year’s workshop, held in March, also continue with a recent publication addressing marine heatwaves, particularly in the UK where there is currently little awareness of their potential impacts, ecologically and societally.

Find out more and apply to participate in the workshop.