Challenger Society 2014 conference in Plymouth

Andrew Gravelle

University of Southampton

Challenger Society 2014 conference in Plymouth
The Challenger 2014 Conference in Plymouth was fantastic. In particular, the conference reignited a sense of inspiration and enthusiasm that had dwindled slightly through the narrower focus of my own PhD work. The wide variety of oceanographic topics presented and discussed during the conference reminded me of all the fascinating areas of research within contemporary oceanography, and helped put my own work into perspective. Plus, it can’t go without saying, that meeting and socialising with other PhD students and academics in the pubs and restaurants of Plymouth added a lot of fun to the conference and helped develop new contacts and friendships. The highlight of these evening-socials was, for me, the ‘icebreaker’ at the Plymouth Aquarium where we were able to spend the night chatting and drinking while admiring the spectacular marine life!

I would like to thank The Challenger Society for supporting me in attending and presenting my poster at the Challenger biannual conference. I found discussing ideas during the presentation of my poster extremely useful. In fact I think that overall, the general discussion of work and ideas was just about the most valuable experience I took away from the conference.

Profile  
Andrew Gravelle is a biophysical oceanographer at the University of Southampton. He is currently investigating the physical causes of inter-annual variability in primary productivity within the North Atlantic. He has just completed the second year of his PhD and is currently applying cluster analysis techniques to satellite chlorophyll data of the North Atlantic.