A seagoing science bursary, supported by insurance provider West, has provided two overseas students with unique science experiences at sea, aboard the National Oceanography Centre’s (NOC) global-class research vessels.
The Seagoing Science Bursary, now in its fourth year at NOC, enables students and early career scientists from across the globe, including from developing countries, to gain practical experience of ship-borne science, empowering them in their future marine science careers.
The students were matched to mentors and expeditions based on their research interests. Student Genia Fernanda joined leading NOC scientists onboard the RRS Discovery, on their 20th anniversary expedition researching the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), as part of its RAPID programme. The expedition saw the team service and update the RAPID-AMOC 26°N array, one of the longest running sustained deep-ocean observation arrays in the world.
Genia, from Indonesia, studying at the University of the Basque Country, Spain said: “The highlight of this bursary was my involvement in the RRS Discovery research cruise for the RAPID project monitoring, as it is closely related to what I am currently doing for my dissertation.
“I gained hands-on experience with data collection and processing from various instruments and learned about day-to-day research activities and planning from the senior scientists.”
Ehoumi Paul Sossou joined a Spring expedition onboard the RRS James Cook, helping scientists to make the latest observations at the world’s longest-running abyssal ecology time series, the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO).
Ehoumi Paul Sossou on completion of his expedition onboard RRS James Cook.
Paul, from University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin “Through the program, I became familiar with the methodology of sampling sediments, water, and benthic organisms in the open ocean. Additionally, the mentoring program greatly improved my presentations at conferences and workshops and writing of scientific documents.
The students were selected for this unique opportunity through a competitive selection process, from a class of five bursary recipients. All students had received six months of mentorship from NOC scientists Dr Alice Horton, Dr Claire Evans, Dr Vanessa Monteleone, Dr Tillys Petit, Dr Sophie Clayton and Dr Sourav Sahoo.
Celebrating a successful fourth year of this 10-year partnership with West, Holly Evans, Head of Philanthropy at NOC said: “We are incredibly thankful to West for funding this life-changing initiative. At the heart of our mission as a charity is training the next generation of ocean scientists. The mentorship and seagoing experiences provided through the bursary are invaluable for students and could mark the beginning of a lifelong career studying the ocean.”
Suzanne Byrne, Group Head of Claims commented “Now in its fourth year, we are thrilled that the West Bursary continues to provide NOC students with this unique opportunity to join leading research scientists onboard one of their NOC expedition vessels. We are committed to supporting NOC, one of the world’s top oceanographic research centres and the role it plays, in the education and training of future generations of scientists. We very much look forward to following the careers of those students who have benefited from this bursary and wish them well in their future studies”
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Paul shared his experiences through the expedition’s blog.
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Learn more about our education fund: Education Fund | National Oceanography Centre (noc.ac.uk)