Inaugural Science Symposium

At the Inaugural TREVOR symposium that was held at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) on 9-11 August 2023, Dr. Venetia Stuart, former Project Scientist of the International Ocean Colour Coordinating Group (IOCCG) was awarded the first Trevor Platt Science Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for her role in capacity building in ocean colour. The award was presented to her by Prof. John Field from South Africa, who had been Venetia’s PhD thesis supervisor. He noted that she had been an exemplary student and it made him feel very old to have his former students retiring from their employment. It was through John Field that Trevor Platt met Venetia Stuart, and their association with IOCCG was legendary.

During the presentation ceremony, Dr. Shubha Sathyendranath spoke for the awards committee. The award recognized Dr. Stuart’s outstanding service to the ocean colour community over many decades. Her selfless and self-effacing attitude to all her actions, and the invariably pleasant manner in which she communicated with everyone came in for high praise. She is noted for her positive attitude to all challenges that come her way, and for never saying no to any request addressed to her. Furthermore, when she said yes, her follow-through was impeccable and she could be relied on to do an outstanding job. The quality of her outputs was always of the highest standard. As the Series Editor of the IOCCG Reports, she maintained a very high standard for each of the reports, working unstintingly to ensure quality of content and presentation. The award is a recognition of Dr. Stuart’s dedication and commitment to capacity building, beyond the call of duty.

Accepting the award, which came as a complete surprise, Dr. Stuart expressed her profound sense of honour at being recognized. It also provided her with an opportunity to acknowledge the incredible mentorship provided by Dr. Trevor Platt since their collaborative journey began in 1997. His invaluable guidance and profound insights helped to strengthen numerous international capacity-building programs, including the IOCCG’s, and also played a pivotal role in shaping her career, for which she is forever grateful.

On the last day of the TREVOR Symposium, a network session (Lessons learned and the way forward) led by Dr Raisha Lovindeer (IOCCG) and Dr Sophie Seeyave (POGO),  a live poll was conducted to assess the opinions of the ~120 participants on their capacity development and funding needs.

When asked about their struggles to find funding opportunities, the most frequent answers by students, researchers and senior researchers identified respectively the need for training, equipment and in situ measurements.

When consulted on their struggles to find training opportunities, most students identified lack of fellowship as the most frequent reason, whereas for researchers and senior researchers ,the most frequent answer was lack of time. On the subject of training, the audience indicated a preference for in-person trainings, either entirely in-person or in hybrid format (online component + in-person component). The training components organised in connection with the TREVOR symposium, in fact, followed the hybrid model. It was therefore gratifying to note that this format was appreciated by the trainees.

These results were welcomed by the session panellists, who were representatives of POGO, IOCCG, EUMETSAT, TPSF and the Nansen Scientific Society, which are some of the organisations who sponsored the TREVOR Symposium.  These organisations also provide capacity development opportunities.

Networking Sessions

Three networking sessions are being conducted as part of the TPSF symposium to expand the professional network of the participants and build new scientific collaborations.

1. What worked well in capacity building and how to sustain it?

The session will be led by Dr. Vivian Lutz (Argentina), Dr. Margareth Kyewalyanga (Tanzania), and Dr. Sophie Carler (Sweden). The session will highlight the success stories of past and current capacity building initiatives, and discuss the difficulties encountered by participants from developing countries in capacity building initiatives, when they return home, and try to implement follow-on activities.

2. UN-SDGs related to water

The session will be led by Dr. Stefano Ferretti (Italy), Dr. Milton Kampel (Brazil) and Dr. Gemma Kulk (UK).  This session has been organised to bring together experts and institutions from diverse backgrounds, to explore the challenges and solutions related to sustainable management of water resources in the context of Sustainable Development Goals and the concept of One Health.

3. Wrap up: Lessons learned and way forward

The session will be led by Dr. Lilian Krug (Portugal) and Dr. Raisha Lovindeer (Canada). The concluding session will give an opportunity to the funding agencies to discuss take-home messages from the TPSF training and symposium, and for the participants to provide feedback and suggestions for follow-up activities.