Present honorary members

Angela Colling

Angela has been editor of Ocean Challenge since its launch, and been largely responsible for its development and continuing success. By paying meticulous attention to the style of language in each and every contribution, Angela has ensured that all the articles, no matter what discipline they address, are accessible to all readers. She has been able steadily to improve standards of presentation and production without exorbitant increases in cost, so that the journal plays a key role in communicating the activities of the Society both here and abroad

Dr Robert L Fisher

Dr Robert L Fisher has made a huge and unique contribution to scientific knowledge of the world's trenches and the crustal structure of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Since 1991, a research geologist emeritus at Scripps Institute of oceanography, he organized and led major expeditions to the Pacific, Indian and Arctic Oceans. In 2004, he was awarded the inaugural Drake medal by the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) organization. See here and the PDF of a recent interview.

Professor Ernest Naylor

Throughout his career Ernest Naylor has had a prominent role in the development of marine sciences within the UK and he has an international reputation in crustacean rhythm research and taxonomy. During his career and into retirement Ernest has been a member of the Challenger Society for 50 years. In his late thirties he became Director of the Port Erin Marine Laboratory, Isle of Man where he built up the facilities for both teaching and research. In the early eighties he moved to Bangor University where he became the Lloyds Roberts Professor of Zoology and later oversaw the development of Marine Sciences as Head of the School of Ocean Sciences. He was awarded an OBE for services to Marine Science.
Since retirement he has kept active by writing, particularly retaining links with Ocean Sciences. His latest venture, published last year, was a popular science book for OUP in which he tried to bring the notions of circatidal and circalunar biological rhythms into the public domain.  the work was based on personal research in earlier years and continuing contact with ex-students.

Rear-Adm George Stephen Ritchie CB

Prince Albert of Monaco

Prince Albert’s active interest in marine-related issues and climate change is helping to raise the profile of oceanographic research around the world. Most recently, his support for the Monaco Declaration gave a global voice to the problems of ocean acidification. The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation encourages research which contributes to solutions for climate change, biodiversity and the water cycle, three topics which are at the heart of UK marine research.

Dr Phil Williamson

Phil has played a leading role in the success of a number of the largest and most important of the NERC Programmes over the last 25 years including BOFS, M&FMB, SOLAS and Oceans 2025, UK Ocean Acidification and Shelf Seas Biogeochemistry. In all these projects, Phil has been the person who has found a way to let the best science happen despite the inevitable complications of ocean research such as lost gear and broken ships. He succeeds in this partly because of his wealth of knowledge and experience of the science and the “system”, partly through his tenacity and determination, but perhaps most by his sheer enthusiasm for the science and the scientists and his charm and good humour. Phil’s contribution to UK Marine Science has been enormous, selfless and easily overlooked, but without him UK Marine Science would not be in its current high status position and all members of the Challenger Society owe him a great debt of gratitude which this award attempts to acknowledge.

Malcolm Woodward

Malcolm has been a Nutrient Chemist at PML for 35 years and has led its nutrient facility for the last 25 years. In that time his expertise in detailed and high quality nutrient analysis has supported a wide range of world-class research on land and also at sea on numerous research cruises around the globe, such as the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT), UK Geotraces, numerous EU programmes and recently, the UK Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB)  Programme; providing data and advanced knowledge to improve understanding of nutrient flows in the marine environment. Malcolm has also mentored many students during those years.
This award reflects the enormous amount of work Malcolm has done for the whole community in leading cruise logistics and planning, in helping design the operating space on several of new and planned research ships and in providing a lot of the nutrient data that has underpinned so much of the UK community biogeochemistry effort for the last 30 years, including his major contribution to the development of high sensitivity measurement techniques and to international nutrient quality control efforts.

Tim Jickells

Tim recently retired from his post at UEA as Professor of Biogeochemistry. At UEA since 1985, Over this period Tim held a series of influencial posts advising many government and scientific organisations on Marine scientific policy and research. He established and was the first director of the Laboratory for Global Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry. He was appointed as NERC Theme Leader for Earth System Science in 2007-2012. He was a member of the Earth and Environmental Sciences REF panel and a member of the DEFRA Scientific Advisory Council. He was awarded the Challenger medal by the UK Challenger Society in 2006, became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2012 and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2016. He served as President of the Society from 2014-2016 but has been an enthusiastic and very active member for many years.
In addition to his many professional achievements, Tim has been a fantastic teacher and mentor to thousands of undergraduate and research students over his years of teaching at UEA. He has always been ready to listen and help with skill and enthusiasm, such that all who've studied with him hold him in such high regard.