minews · reveal the ‘hidden secret’ of disability, arguing that this ‘secret’, if...

RESEARCHISSUE 15 | 2014

IN THIS ISSUE

MINEWS

Sue Austin: Marine Institute Artist in Residence

Something in the air? The Penlee Point atmospheric observatory will tell us

An innovative and environmentally friendly gel-coating technology for composites

IN THIS ISSUE

Sue Austin: latest Marine Institute Artist in Residence 03

Plankton Themed Swimwear 07

Sounds of the Tamar Estuary taken to international arts exhibition 12

Wembury Marine Centre Celebrates 20th Anniversary! 13

In Memory of ex-MI Director Laurence Mee 15

2015 Malacological Society of London Spring Meeting & AGM 16

Undergraduate Published in PLoS One 16

MI & EU combine to enable Fellowship Visit overseas 21

Announcements 22

NEWS

Assessing the Impact of Toxic Paint from Old Vessels 04

Something in the air? The Penlee Point atmospheric observatory will tell us 06

RESEARCH

Innovative and environmentally friendly gel-coating technology 08

TECHNOLOGY

CCOSE staff win New Research Council Grant 05

Plymouth University’s Team now holds record for fastest human-powered UK submarine 10

SUCCESS

Transiting the Panama Canal 14

MI Education Fund Awards – Grant in Aid 2013 18

REPORTING BACK

Student Paper wins 3rd place 17

AWARDS

Front cover and inside cover images: Artist: Sue Austin Copyright: www.wearefreewheeling.org.uk Photo: Norman Lomax

03

04

08

10

18

17

2 MI NEWS Issue 15 | 2014

www.wearefreewheeling.org.uk

Sue Austin: latest Marine Institute Artist in ResidenceWe are delighted to announce that Sue Austin has become the MI’s fifth artist in residence.

Sue is a multimedia, performance and installation artist with a socially engaged practice shaped by, and emerging from, her experience of disability. As Artistic Director and Co founder of Freewheeling she aims to find dramatic and powerful ways to reveal the ‘Hidden Secret’ of disability, arguing that this ‘secret’, if explored, valued and then shared, can act to heal the divisions created in the social psyche by cultural dichotomies that define the ‘disabled’ as ‘other’. In particular Sue has developed and pioneered the use of her underwater wheelchair, creating a groundbreaking series of live art and video works of the aquatic wheelchair as it flies along mid water with its human occupant (Sue herself), transforming preconceptions through images that aim to excite and inspire. Her artwork has received international attention, with Sue giving interviews across the world, being awarded further commissions, being invited to speak at TEDxWomen and TEDMED (with a video featured on TED.com) and even being asked to speak at NASA, Stanford University and Monterey Bay Aquarium. This has lead to an estimated 150 million people becoming aware of the artwork through those channels.

The Artist in Residence position will enable Sue to work with the Marine Institute in order to help develop her art and to look to use her unique and inspirational interaction with the marine environment to highlight key issues around ocean conservation. Sue and her team have also exciting plans to develop a flying wheelchair and even look to zero gravity trips into space, so we are delighted to form this partnership with her.

The Marine Institute’s other Artists in Residence are Alexis Kirke (composer), Philip Hoare (writer), Deborah Robinson (video artist) and Caroline Carver (poet).

NEWSwww.plymouth.ac.uk/marine

MI NEWS Issue 15 | 2014 3 3

www.plymouth.ac.uk/marine

TED.com



The instrument is able to provide rapid ‘mapping’ of the metal content of various structural components of old boats

An abandoned boat on the sandflats of the Gannel estuary, north Cornwall

RESEARCH

In 2012, the Marine Institute funded an upgrade to the field portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer (FP-XRF) housed in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (SoGEES). The upgrade allowed toxic heavy metals to be determined rapidly in thin films like plastics and paints without having to process or manipulate samples. With several masters’ students from the applied Marine Science programme, Drs Andrew Turner and Sean Comber (SoGEES) coordinated various research programmes investigating the content of boat paint waste throughout the EU.

The results revealed dangerously high levels of banned or restricted substances in many cases, including lead at concentrations exceeding 20% on interior and exterior paints of Thames barges abandoned in eastern England, and elevated concentrations of tin (as tributyltin) in paint wastes from various boat- and shipyards. The first of three papers arising from the research and dealing with the problem of abandoned boats was published this month in Science of the Total Environment (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969714009206).

Assessing the Impact of Toxic Paint from Old Vessels – Dr Andrew Turner


www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969714009206

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969714009206

‘Dunraven in South Wales’ Dr Tim Poate

SUCCESS

The Coastal Processes Research Group (CPRG) are pleased to announced the awarding of an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council award to Prof. Gerd Masselink for the project Waves Across Shore Platforms (WASP).

Starting at the beginning of September the project focuses on rocky shore platforms, which are ubiquitous features of coastlines around the world, and the control they have on wave transformation and energy dissipation. All rocky coastlines are eroding with recession rates primarily controlled by the balance between rock strength and wave energy. Cliffs and shore platforms are linked dynamically; specifically, shore platform characteristics directly control wave transformation across the platform and, in combination with the water level, determine how much open-ocean wave energy is allowed to reach the base of the cliff.

Dr Tim Poate will be joining Prof. Masselink as the full time post-doc on the grant leading much of the

fieldwork which will be undertaken during the two year project. Building on the success of the recent New Understanding and Prediction of Storm Impacts on Gravel Beaches (NUPSIG) project the CPRG mobile field station will be used to collect in-situ field measurements at six contrasting platforms around the UK. A combination of pressure sensors, video cameras and terrestrial LiDAR will be used to measure the transformation of waves across the platforms under a range of wave conditions. Existing numerical models will be improved through parameterisation of the bed friction, related to the platform surface, and thus allow us to predict energy delivery across the platform to the base of the cliffs.

The project is a joint award and will be working closely with colleagues at Bangor University in Wales and Deltares in the Netherlands. For further information please contact Dr Tim Poate ([email protected])

CCOSE staff win New Research Council Grant


MI NEWS Issue 15 | 2014 5

mailto:[email protected]



RESEARCH

Something in the air? The Penlee Point atmospheric observatory will tell us

Initial groundwork of instrument installation has now taken place to kick-start Plymouth’s first long term coastal atmospheric observatory to monitor atmospheric deposition and air quality over Plymouth Sound and in the western English Channel. This comes thanks to initial support from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and Plymouth University Marine Institute HEIF funding.

The Penlee Point Observatory (PPO) is near the tip of the Rame Peninsula in South East Cornwall and provides an ideal location to intercept ‘clean sector’ Atlantic air masses as well as polluted coastal air masses impacted by ship emissions and Plymouth’s urban environment. The PPO has recently been established as a collaborative project between the Marine Institute and PML. Dr Tim Smyth (PML) explained “… a great advantage of the site is its proximity to and links with the important marine time-series stations that constitute PML’s Western Channel Observatory.”

The observatory is currently in its infancy – a small 3x3m building, 8m above mean sea level with sensors and inlets mounted at the top of a 12m retractable mast (~20m above sea level). However it already sports an impressive array of real time sensors and instruments making measurements of the meteorology


Plankton Themed SwimwearMarine Institute research fellow and plankton scientist Dr Richard Kirby teamed-up with UK Fashion designer Sir Paul Smith to create the world’s first swimwear featuring plankton. Using Richard’s popular images of phytoplankton two designs of men’s swimwear were created. Most plankton are small, but despite their small size, they play an essential role in life on Earth. Not only do the phytoplankton (plant-like cells) that are featured on the swimwear colour the sea, but importantly, they harness sunlight to produce sugar from carbon dioxide and water, in the process known as photosynthesis. In this way the phytoplankton begin the marine food chain to determine the productivity of the oceans. Because of the importance of the plankton but their ‘out of sight’ existence, Richard believes passionately in bringing the plankton to public attention – and so what better way than having their images on swimwear in a collaboration with Sir Paul Smith. Not only does the swimwear look great, but when beachgoers wear the striking prints they will be helping to raise awareness and interest in this very special world. And today, we need to consider the plankton more than ever. Increasing global temperatures from the burning of fossil fuels (their remains) are raising sea surface temperatures, thereby altering the plankton’s habitat and bringing about changes in their abundance, their distributions and their seasonality, with ensuing ramifications for the ecology of our entire planet. So, the next time you visit the seaside and look at the sea or go for a swim in its water, consider the hidden world of the plankton just beneath the sea surface.

You can read more about this collaboration in the Paul Smith World Opinion article ‘The Hidden World of Plankton’. www.paulsmith.co.uk/ us-en/paul-smith-world/opinion/hidden-world-plankton

Paul Smith Ocean Drifters swimming shorts

NEWS

(e.g. wind speed and direction, pressure, humidity, air temperature, rain rate) as well as continuous measurements of sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). The PPO uses line-of-sight radioethernet communications to deliver the data back to PML (see www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/penlee).

Recent fund from the Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) will allow a new rain sampler and a single high volume sampler (currently on loan from Dr Alex Baker, University of East Anglia) to be installed this year and these will be controlled remotely thanks to collaboration with a local consultant (Ruthern Instruments). Once complete this will also allow routine aerosol and rain sampling for soluble trace metals, sulphur compounds and macronutrients to begin.

According to Marine Institute collaborator Dr Simon Ussher (Biogeochemistry Research Centre) “The long term goal for the observatory is to develop a centre to monitor vital baseline atmospheric composition, including greenhouse gases, trace metals, sulphur and nitrogen compounds, and for it to be a focus for collaboration with other research laboratories, local authorities and business.” Dr Tom Bell (PML) reports “new International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations require the shipping industry to use cleaner fuels or alternatively install technology. We are interested to see what effect this has on sensitive parameters such as sulphur chemistry, precipitation pH and trace metal solubility in environments impacted by shipping.”

For those MI Staff interested in learning more about the HEIF V funding opportunities please contact Jo Thompson-Byrne, Senior Project Officer, Marine Institute.

Email: [email protected]



www.paulsmith.co.uk/us-en/paul-smith-world/opinion/hidden-world-plankton

www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/penlee

www.westernchannelobservatory.org.uk/penlee



RESEARCHTECHNOLOGY

An innovative and environmentally friendly gel-coating technology

for composites


Plymouth University’s Advanced Composites Manufacturing Centre (ACMC) led a consortium of eight European partners in InGeCt, a €1.4M project funded by the Framework Programme 7 (FP7) initiative to encourage Research for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME). Running from December 2011 until November 2013, the project was tasked with developing an innovative environmentally friendly gel-coating technology for composites for marine and wind-turbine applications to reduce Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions, processing time and cost.

Gel coats are applied to fibre-reinforced composite materials for aesthetic or protection purposes. Styrene (a VOC) is an essential part of these gel-coats. Styrene emissions during processing cause irritation and neurological effects and can be an odour nuisance at factory boundaries. In the USA, styrene is controversially listed as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”. As a result styrene emissions are limited under the Solvent Emissions Directive. Although the adoption of closed mould technologies for the production of composite parts have gone a long way to reducing styrene emissions during manufacture, gel-coating must still be undertaken under open-mould

conditions as no viable in-mould gel-coating technology is commercially available. Plymouth University helped develop innovative in-mould gel-coating processes, requiring minimal equipment modification (and therefore low capital expenditure) based on the application of low-viscosity gel-coats and either a spacer fabric or a silicone shim. The proof-of-concept work undertaken to date shows that this technology has the potential to achieve significant benefits beyond the current state of the art to produce parts that are fit for purpose whilst reducing styrene emissions to <5ppm.

The overall aim of the InGeCt project was to develop technical textiles and gel-coat formulations in combination with process design and optimisation that will enable significant reductions in VOC emissions whilst reducing production times by 18.5% and manufacturing cost by 10.5%. Our technology will therefore be very attractive to composites processors, giving significant economic and societal benefits to consumers and manufacturers. This technology will make a significant contribution to reducing VOC emissions, enabling EU SMEs to meet their immediate and forthcoming legislative requirements.

Further information is available at www.ingect.eu

Demonstrator components were moulded using a double-opposed-tetrahedron mould tool to study the limits of the gel-coating systems for complex geometry parts


9

www.ingect.eu


Plymouth University’s Team now holds record for fastest human-powered UK submarineJuly saw the successful return of the School of Marine Science and Engineering’s human-powered submarine team, PULSE (Plymouth University Leg-powered Submarine Engineering).

The team, led by postdoctoral researcher Keri Collins and composed of four Mechanical Engineering students, placed third overall in the second European International Submarine Races, which took place in Qinetiq’s Ocean Basin in Gosport. The team was also awarded the top prize for the most reliable submarine and now holds the record for the fastest UK submarine, having achieved 4.6 knots.

The PULSE submarine, Mayflower, was essentially an underwater bicycle: the pilot’s pedalling powered a 1:2 bevel gearbox connected to a contra-rotating propeller to provide the thrust and the submarine was controlled using an all-mechanical system. Since the hull was flooded, the pilot was attached to a SCUBA system. The design of Mayflower was kept deliberately simple

for their first entry into submarine racing but owing to the short timescale, the final components were added in the car park while at the competition itself.

Local businesses helped with manufacturing; GMD Eurotool provided many of the drive train components and the propeller blades were bought from Teignbridge Propellers Ltd.

Support for diving came through the School and the University’s own Marine Centre, and donations gratefully received from the Marine Institutes Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) and R & I HEIF Proof of Concept Fund.

The PULSE team hopes to build on its amazing first-time success by entering in the long-standing American International Submarine Race, to be held in the David Taylor Model Basin, Maryland, in June 2015.

You can keep up with the latest news from PULSE by going to their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/plymouthpulse

SUCCESS


www.facebook.com/plymouthpulse

Inset above (left to right): Alastair Reynolds (technician), Matt Merrett (student), Keri Collins (staff, project manager), Doug Megran (student), Daryl Oosthuizen (student).

The PULSE team on the final day of racing at the 2nd eISR competition, July 2014




Photographs by Guy Harris, courtesy of the River Tamar Project

NEWS

An innovative sonic arts project which aimed to immerse audiences beneath the surface of the River Tamar was showcased at a major new exhibition in Turkey. Fathom, created by Plymouth University artist Jane Grant (Centre for Media, Art & Design Research) and musician/composer John Matthias, initially used cutting edge technology to create an artificial surface 6ft above the floor of the 17th century Royal William Yard. Now they have gone international, showing their work at the Kasa Gallery in Istanbul as part of a new exhibition, which aimed to provide visitors with an insight into sound art practices. Using equipment, supplied by leading loud speaker technology company Martin Audio, a combination of live and recorded sounds were transmitted, enabling visitors to walk around and hear the sounds below the surface of the estuary. They were also able to lift their heads above the ‘Fathom’ to hear the sounds above the water.

Jane and John, who won the PRS Foundation’s New Music Award in 2008 for their celebrated work, The Fragmented Orchestra, said: “When it was originally shown in Plymouth, Fathom captivated audiences by creating an immersive sonic experience where the volume of one material, water, meets another, air.

The changeability of the interaction of these two materials brought together the atmospheric and the submarine, lived human spaces, temporal and ethereal. This was a fantastic opportunity to be able to share Fathom with a much wider, and international audience, and we hope they too were inspired by the sounds emitted from beneath the ocean waves.”

Fathom (commissioned by the Marine Institute-sponsored River Tamar Project) was conceived as the centrepiece of a public event to launch It’s All About the River. This year-long project culminates in a film festival which celebrates the historical, cultural and industrial importance of the River Tamar, which forms the border between Devon and Cornwall.

It’s All About the River Film Festival – supported by the Arts Council England, Peninsula Arts at Plymouth University and the Marine Institute – will take place from 12 September – 12 October 2014, with films screening in venues and open air locations along the tidal reach of the River Tamar, including a unique waterborne screening of Apocalypse Now on the Torpoint Ferry. For more information, visit www.tamarproject.org.uk/projects/its-all-about-the-river

Sounds of the Tamar Estuary taken to international arts exhibition


www.tamarproject.org.uk/projects/its

www.tamarproject.org.uk/projects/its-all-about-the-river

Wembury Marine Centre Celebrates 20th Anniversary!This July Wembury Marine Centre celebrated its 20th Anniversary. The Marine Centre was first opened in July 1994 by Counsellor John Squire, Chairman of South Hams District Council, with funding from South Hams District Council, the European Regional Development Fund, English Nature and the Countryside Commission.

On July 12th 2014 partners’ volunteers, supporters and members of the public joined together to celebrate 20 years of marine awareness and education work at Wembury. The day’s events included a strandline walk led by the MBA, a rockpool ramble led by past and present WMC wardens and volunteers, stream dipping with the National Trust and a variety of arts and crafts going on at the Centre.

Once the day’s events had concluded, a VIP reception was held at the centre for representatives from the various funding partners (including local counsellors who were present at the first opening), long term supporters, volunteers and the local community. The reception provided an opportunity to reflect on a wonderful 20 years and to thank everyone that was involved in setting up the centre and those that continue to support it today.

In 2012 the Marine Institute joined the WMC partnership providing vital funding support. A summer internship programme has been set up for undergraduate students hoping to gain experience in marine awareness and education. This year’s interns, Emma Shipsides and Maia Ridley helped organise and deliver the celebration events and Dr Pete Cotton attended the VIP reception on behalf of the Marine Institute.

Today, Wembury Marine Centre is managed by a partnership of Devon Wildlife Trust, Devon County Council, Plymouth University Marine Institute, South Hams District Council and the National Trust, with support from Wembury Parish Council and with guidance from the advisory group of the Wembury Marine Conservation Area. The visitor Centre is open to the public between April and September every year and runs a programme of outreach events for schools and the public. For more information please visit www.wemburymarinecentre.org




www.wemburymarinecentre.org



RESEARCH

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of the Panama Canal on 8 August 1914. The Canal was the inspiration of the French architect and engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, developer of the Suez Canal. Prof Geoff Millward had the pleasure of passing through the Canal on board the container ship ‘Matisse’ courtesy of the French Line, Compagnie Générale Maritime (CMA-CGM). Stretching from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, the Canal is approximately 80 km long and the transit time is of the order 15-20 hours. Typically, the cost of a transit for a merchant vessel is in the range $100,000 to $300,000 US. While the price and the transit time might appear rather onerous they are both considerably less than a 27 day passage around Cape Horn.

The word ‘canal’ may not accurately define the structure because the main part comprises the Gatun, a vast, artificial freshwater lake. The annual rainfall in Panama City is 1,906 mm so the Lake is continuously refreshed during the rainy season from May to December. The Gatun is about 30 m above sea level requiring locks to raise vessels from the sea to the Lake before transit and returning them to sea level afterwards. In order to pass through the three separate lock systems each ship requires an average of 200,000 m3 of freshwater provided from Gatun Lake, and its supporting reservoirs. Depending on its loading, the draft of a ship can increase up to 25cm

between Caribbean seawater (density~1023kg m-3) and tropical freshwater (density~995kg m-3) making vessel management in the relatively shallow Lake an important priority for the pilots. However, during rare occasions of drought, when the maximum allowable draft is reduced, some ships might be required to wait several days offshore until rainfall occurs and the water level in the Lake rises. Water management is made even more complex by the fact that in the Caribbean Sea the tides are microtidal, with a maximum range 0.3m, whereas they are macrotidal on the Pacific side with a mean high water springs of 4.9m.

Currently, the Canal can accommodate a variety of ships, boats and, interestingly, nuclear submarines, provided they have a length <294m, a beam <32m and a draft <12m. However, the locks are now too small to accommodate the new generation of ships, for example modern container vessels can hold between 10,000 and 16,000 units. Now, new sections of Canal at Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks are being constructed to accommodate vessels of length 366m, with a beam of 49m and a draft of 15m (www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html).

The authorities are predicting that the new Canal should be functioning at the end of 2015 but it may be too little too late as the dimensions of some vessels currently under construction will exceed even the enlarged Panama Canal.

Transiting the Panama Canal

REPORTING BACK


www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

NEWS

In Memory of ex-Marine Institute Director Laurence MeeProfessor Laurence Mee came to Plymouth University in 2000 with a wealth of marine science knowledge and experience gathered from a career which had taken him from Mexico to Monaco and the Black Sea. As a result Laurence had an unparalleled depth of understanding of the central problems facing the marine environment and was dedicated to finding solutions which would improve the state of the marine environment or at the very least, slow its decline. He saw in Plymouth an opportunity to take forward this vision.

Laurence joined the University at a time when it was losing its focus in marine science. Where there had once been a marine faculty, the word marine was no longer used in the name of any school but he identified the need for a central focus for marine affairs in the University and steadfastly worked towards the introduction of the Marine Institute. In this way he reinvigorated marine sciences in Plymouth University creating an institute which welcomed individuals representing all elements of marine understanding in one organisation to enable an holistic approach to marine science and management. This ethos is still evident in today’s MI.

Although his background was in marine chemistry (his PhD was in chemical oceanography from Liverpool), Laurence saw that to improve the state and management of the oceans it was necessary to use science to inform and influence policy at all levels and he brought this understanding to his teaching and research at the University. He led the development of marine and coastal policy in Plymouth in the form of a masters programme in coastal and ocean policy and the Centre for Marine and Coastal

Policy Research (MarCoPol). MSc and PhD graduates from this area can be found throughout the marine science community encouraged by the example set by Laurence to use their knowledge and experience to improve our understanding of and actions in the marine environment.

Laurence put the Marine Institute at Plymouth University back on the map, working with international organisations such as the Global Environment Facility’s International Waters programme, on national initiatives, for example as a special advisor to House of Commons Select committee on the oceans, and also on local projects such as the Devon Maritime Forum which he chaired for several years. With so many different interests and activities he was sometimes spread very thin and could be exasperating to work alongside but he was always so good humoured, charming and fun that you could forgive him almost anything. He was an ideas man, who acted as a catalyst bringing people together to enable them to achieve their full potential. Most of all he inspired and enthused us all. His untimely death is a sad loss for the marine community and Plymouth University has a great deal to thank him for.




NEWS

2015 Malacological Society of London Spring Meeting and AGM will have a Planktic Gastropod ThemeThe planktic gastropods (pteropods and heteropods) are truly amazing zooplankton. Their weird and wonderful morphologies have led to a number of charming names, including the ‘sea angels’, ‘sea butterflies’ and ‘sea elephants’. Recently, research has increased our awareness of these charismatic creatures, highlighting their importance to the ocean food web and the grave sensitivity of shelled forms to ocean acidification.

Undergraduate Student Published in PLoS OneStudent Carlotta Molfese relates her experienceI began my degree in Marine Biology at Plymouth University in 2010 but at that time I would have never imagined that three years later I would have published my first research paper in an internationally renowned scientific journal.

My first year at university was all about discovery and exploration of my scientific interests and getting to know the people that would accompany me on this journey. In the second year I decided to switch to the Marine Biology and Oceanography degree as I realised the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to my understanding of the marine world. The third year was all about challenge, and I endeavoured to investigate a controversial yet very important issue: overfishing. I produced a first class dissertation that revealed historical changes in the landings from the English Channel and detected a trend for “fishing down marine food web” in a region where it had not been reported before. With the help of inspiring individuals including my supervisor and co-

To bring together the increasing research in this field and encourage collaborative relationships and the 2015 Malacological Society of London spring meeting and AGM will have a planktic gastropod theme. Organised by members of the Plymouth University Marine Institute, Deborah Wall-Palmer, Malcolm Hart, Christopher Smart and Richard Kirby, the meeting will be held at the Natural History Museum, London, on the 1 April 2015. This opportunity will draw experts in the field from all over Europe and include talks on all aspects of planktic gastropod biology, ecology and palaeontology. Those interested in contributing a talk or poster, should register their intent by emailing [email protected].

Further information will be posted on the Malacological Society of London website in the coming months.

author Prof. Jason Hall-Spencer (MBERC) and Dr Doug Beare (The WorldFish Centre), we submitted a revised version to the scientific journal PLoS One which published my manuscript ‘Overfishing and the replacement of demersal finfish by shellfish: an example from the English Channel’ on 10 July 2014. It was extremely important for us to provide further evidence to the ecological deterioration of this marine system and to promote the implementation of recovery areas to allow the regeneration of marine life and to increase the resilience of this ecosystem.




Student Paper wins 3rd place Participants from around the world attended the 25th IET Signals & Systems Conference 2014 which was held in conjunction with the 2014 China – Ireland International Conference (ISSC 2014/CIICT 2014) on ICT at the University of Limerick, Ireland on 26-27 June 2014. The paper titled ‘Innovative Adaptive Autopilot Design for Uninhabited Surface Vehicles’ by the authors Andy SK Annamalai, Robert Sutton, Chenguang Yang, Philip Culverhouse, Sanjay Sharma was invited for an oral presentation. In this paper a novel approach that enables an autopilot to cope well with significant changes in the system dynamics and empowers uninhabited surface vehicles such as Springer (developed by Plymouth University) to accomplish their desired missions was presented. After critical enquiry by a panel of judges who are experts in the field, this presentation was awarded 3rd place in the best student paper award. Further details about this event can be found from www.issc.ie

THIRD PLACE Innovative adaptive autopilot design for uninhabited surface vehicles Andy SK Annamalai (Plymouth University), Robert Sutton (Plymouth University), Chenguang Yang (Plymouth University), Philip Culverhouse (Plymouth University), Sanjay Sharma (Plymouth University)

AWARDSwww.plymouth.ac.uk/marine


www.issc.ie


MI Education Fund Awards – Grant in Aid 2013

REPORTING BACK

Lukas Smik Awarded £300 – attends 3rd Sea Ice Proxy Synthesis(SIP) Workshop 23-25 June 2014


Lukas reports: I was privileged enough to attend the Sea Ice Proxy workshop in Bremerhaven, Germany. The workshop was the 3rd in the series and built on the progress made during the first two workshops held in Montreal, Canada, in 2012 and Cambridge, United Kingdom, in 2013.

As a young scientist trying to enter this relatively small but unique scientific community I was extremely excited to be part of this workshop. I was able to meet a number of international scientists all working on different aspects of sea ice related processes trying to share approaches with a view of improving the outputs from each.

As part of this workshop I was able to present my latest work, focusing on analysis of organic geochemical biomarkers present in Antarctica. Presented as a poster I was able to see first-hand the incredible reaction from scientists specialising in Southern Ocean science. As such I was able to discuss possible future collaborations with scientists from leading polar institutes in Germany and UK, which was especially encouraging for my future development.

The workshop was attended by a number of other early career scientists. It was great to meet and hear

their views and opinions as these are the people that I’ll very likely be collaborating with during my career. What was especially positive was their enthusiasm for what they were doing. This made me feel really comfortable to be part of this community.

What was however less comfortable was chairing one of the sessions. This was a complete surprise and was one of the most daunting experiences in my life. Something that I never envisaged doing, but the outcome was absolutely fantastic. Everyone kept to their time slots, questions were flying and I had one of most confidence lifting experiences.

Overall, I feel that my involvement in this workshop was the one I`ll look back on as the main step forward in my professional career. Since then I have been in contact with a number of people either finalising possible collaborations or just exchanging few friendly words. And all of this was possible thanks to the Marine Institute Educational Fund Grant in Aid award for which I would like to express words of thanks to the Marine Institute for making this unique opportunity possible.




REPORTING BACK

Madeleine Vickers Awarded £200 – attended summer school ECORD – Urbino Summer School in Palaeoclimatology, University of Urbino, Italy 9-25 July 2014 The 11th USSP took place in the beautiful ancient city of Urbino, Italy, from 9-25 July 2014. This summer school integrated lectures, symposia, fieldtrips, and exercises on the many different areas of paleoclimatology including biogeochemical cycling, paleoceanography, continental systems, and all aspects of deep-time climate modelling. As a first year PhD student studying Early Cretaceous high latitude climate, I was lucky enough to be able to attend this highly relevant summer school with support from the Plymouth University Marine Institute, the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD), and the Plymouth University Earth & Environmental Sciences Doctoral Training Centre.

As my fieldwork will involve collecting samples of marine sedimentary rocks from outcrops on Spitsbergen, I was pleased to be able to discuss the sedimentary sequence on Svalbard with Appy Slujis, and the climate proxies that might be applicable to Cretaceous samples from the succession. As a result of this discussion, and a lecture on dinoflagellate life cycles, I am keen to analyse any palynomorphs in my samples, as this has the potential to tell us a lot about climate in the Cretaceous.

Other highlights included the fieldwork day spent looking at orbital cycles recorded in the pelagic Cretaceous section at the Vispi Quarry (near Gubbio), even getting to touch the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (see photo); and the Cioppino Conference, with talks that varied from the edgier ideas about astronomical forcing of Earth’s climate (from Michael Rampino) to hair-raising predictions about possible changes in the cryosphere and sea-level following ice-shelf collapse in Antarctica (from Rob DeConto).

It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow PhD students in the field of palaeoclimatology from all over the world (exchanging ideas and discussing research questions), as well as a chance to chat to experts in the field both formally and informally after lectures. I have learned a lot, have made some useful contacts as well as new friends, and am now very excited to get out into the field and apply some of the techniques I have learned about.

For those MI Staff interested in learning more about the Grant -In-Aid opportunities please contact Jo Thompson-Byrne, Senior Project Officer, Marine Insitute. email: [email protected]



NEWS

Dr Mark Fitzsimons of Plymouth University’s Biogeochemistry Research Centre participated in a 3-month research project at the Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR) located in Roscoff, France during 2013. The project entitled ‘Abundance and speciation of organic nutrients during algal growth cycles’ was funded by the Marine Institute and as a transnational access activity by the EU infrastructure program ASSEMBLE. Dr Fitzsimons collaborated with Drs Andy Rees (PML) and Ian Probert (SBR) to culture a number of significant algal species found in the English Channel, using different forms of the nutrients Nitrogen and Phosphorus. Concentrations of the different nutrient forms were monitored over time and the results suggest that, contrary to canonical

thinking regarding nutrient limitation, organic forms of nitrogen were utilised in preference to inorganic nitrogen, resulting in phosphorus limitation of all algal species monitored. As a result of this collaboration Drs Fitzsimons and Probert were awarded a studentship under the EU-MARES programme, which will start in October 2014.

Grant Award calls are made annually by the Marine Institute to allow members of the Marine Institute to spend a period of time overseas to enrich and embed collaborations with colleagues in their research subject area.

www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/mfitzsimons

Marine Institute combines with EU to enable Fellowship Visit overseas

Photo NOAA Phytoplankton



www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/mfitzsimons


NEWS

Plymouth academic to address global aquaculture conferences in China

A world-leading aquaculture expert will represent Plymouth University at two major conferences examining the future of the global food industry.

Professor Simon Davies, Chair in Aquaculture Nutrition in the University’s School of Biological Sciences, will be among the keynote speakers at Aquatic China 2014 taking place in Beijing in September.

He will then also be among the senior delegates at VIV China 2014, which is supported by the Dutch government and is one of the biggest global gatherings of researchers, suppliers and buyers in the international aquafeed industry.

Aquatic China 2014 is being held at the Kuntai Hotel in Beijing on 21 and 22 September, with VIV China taking place in the city’s New China International Exhibition Center (NCIEC) from 23-25 September.

Congratulations to Dr. Luke Holmes who will be joining the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences as a lecturer in Environmental Science from September 2014.

Luke completed his undergraduate degree at Plymouth University in 2009 and continued on to obtain his PhD. His research looks at interactions between trace metals and plastics in the marine environment. Before being appointed to his current post Luke also worked as a member of the Marine Institute’s Marine Protected Area monitoring team.

Fond Farewell

The MI said farewell in July to Lyn Stott and Paul Wright who have both recently retired. They both worked tirelessly for the MI and we wish them well in the new chapters in their lives. Frankie Peckett and Luke Arthur our Marketing and Communications Officers have also left. We shall miss you dearly.

A Warm Welcome

The MI welcomed on board Katie Pritchard as our Senior Support Administrator. For all our internal staff please feel free to come in and introduce yourself to help her place faces to your names.

Marine Institute shines at the 3rd International Marine Conservation Congress

The Society for Conservation Biology’s third International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) was held in Glasgow in August 2014. With over 800 delegates attending, IMCC is recognized as the most important international meeting for marine scientists, marine conservation professionals and students. The Marine Institute was strongly represented, with the second highest number of representatives at the event giving between them six talks and running three workshops.

The Marine Institute also took up an exhibition stand (see below), where videos from various research projects, such as VALMER and PEGASEAS were displayed.

Making Marine Science Matter was the overall theme of the Congress, which played to the strengths of the centre for Marine and Coastal Policy Research (MarCoPol) which was highlighting its work at the stand. The strength and depth of marine science at Plymouth University truly stood out over the five day event and new contacts with academics from all over the globe were made as a result.

NEWS

Announcements

MI stand, hosted by the MarCoPol team


FROM THE EDITOR

Thank you to all who have contributed to Issue 15.

Please provide all your news articles, success stories and innovative collaborations to the following email address: [email protected] titled ‘MINEWS’. Our next issue will go to print around December 2014. We also welcome details of your future Events for 2015.

Thank you. Jo Thompson-Byrne, Senior Project Officer, Marine Institute – Newsletter Editor







SEA CHANGEBIOGEOCHEMISTRY

BUSINESS & LEISURE

COASTAL & OCEAN ENGINEERING

EARTH SCIENCES

ECOTOXICOLOGY

GEOGRAPHY

HYDROGRAPHY

LAW

MARINE BIOLOGY

MARINE CONSERVATION & POLICY

MARINE TECHNOLOGY & ROBOTICS

MARITIME LOGISTICS & ECONOMICS

MEDIA, ART & DESIGN

NAVIGATION

OCEANOGRAPHY

PSYCHOLOGY

RENEWABLE ENERGY

SHIPPING & MARITIME ENTERPRISE

Marine InstitutePlymouth UniversityMarine Building, Level 3Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AAUnited Kingdom

T: +44 (0) 1752 584955F: +44 (0) 1752 584950E: [email protected]/marine@PlymUniMI

For innovation and growth support in south west-based marine businesses, contact the Marine Innovation Centre (MARIC)T: 0800 052 5600 E: [email protected]

Awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education: education and research solutions for the global marine sector.

The University is committed to the promotion of equality and diversity. If you require this publication in an alternative format, please contact us on the number above.




minews · reveal the ‘hidden secret’ of disability, arguing that this ‘secret’, if...

Documents