Marine science meeting in the city
19 May 2010
This
year, the UK’s Oceans 2025 Annual Science Meeting (ASM) was held in
Plymouth, home to PML, Marine Biological Association of the UK and
Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Sciences. The meeting was
organised by Dr Phil Williamson, Science Coordinator for Oceans
2025, and the National Marine Coordination Office based at the
National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton.
Over 130 researchers and stakeholders attended from all over the
country, including delegates from Defra, Natural England, the Crown
Estate and the Living with Environmental Change programme.
The meeting focused on how marine science can meet societal
needs by enabling and encouraging discussion groups to review,
define and refine future UK research objectives. Topic areas
included technology development, the economics and social value of
ecosystem services, energy, defence and security.
A wide range of science was presented and funding was a key
issue, which was positively addressed as it became clear that the
scientific community is working hard to nurture innovative
solutions. In a period of political coalition, there was also an
emphasis on maintaining and enhancing collaboration between science
centres and discipines, to work together for a greater purpose;
that of increased understanding and development of sustainable
management of our marine environment for the benefit of society.
Plymouth was regarded as an “excellent example” of creating such
partnerships, specifically the Plymouth Marine Sciences
Partnership, and this experience has provided advice and
suggestions on how to progress other partnerships, such as the
Oceans 2025 programme. In addition the discussions covered methods
of building on past achievements on reduced budgets, key areas of
future research, future policy direction and the engagement of
policy regulators.
Professor Stephen de Mora, who gave the opening address and
is Chief Executive of PML commented: ”We are delighted to
host the Oceans 2025 annual meeting in Plymouth. This meeting is an
important part of the development of the Oceans 2025 programme,
allowing free flowing dialogue and exchange of ideas between the
UK’s leading marine scientists. The addition of stakeholders
enables a slightly different focus from traditional science
meetings, as scientific research can be discussed alongside issues
facing society. We look forward to following up on the ideas and
partnerships that have arisen.”