Previous Honorary Members

R G Williams OBE

Former Secretary of the National Institute of Oceanography at Wormley and former Treasurer of the Challenger Society for Marine Science from 1956 - 1973. Sadly, Ray died in January of 2016 aged 92.
Ray Williams played a key role in managing the Institute’s finances and most notable in managing the funding the construction of the new (1962) RRS Discovery.

1987

Prof RI Currie

1977

Commander WJ Copenhagen

1973

Sir George Edward Raven Deacon FRS 1906-1984 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1985 vol 31 pp 111-142)
Dr Cyril Lucas, biography
Sir Frederick Stratten Russell FRS 1897-1984 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1986 vol 32 pp 461-493)

1966

JN Carruthers

1964

HO Bull

1958

Eric Henry Edwardes Havelock CB, CBE, OBE, FRSE

1957

Joseph Proudman FRS 1888-1975 (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1976 vol 22 pp 319-333)

1951

William Thomas Calman FRS 1871-1952 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1952-1953 vol 8 pp 355-372) HU Sverdrup

1950

GP Bidder

1948

Dr HR Mill
Mr HG Maurice

1939

Edgar Johnson Allen FRS 1866-1942 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1942-1944 vol 4 pp 357-367)
HB Bigelow, biography
E le Danois
G Gilson
B Helland-Hansen
O Pettersson
G Schott

1929

Schmidt
Swire (last surviving member of officers and scientific staff of HMS Challenger)

1923

Dr Johan Hjort FRS 1869-1948 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1950-1951 vol 7 pp 167-181)

1915

Prof Georg Ossian Sars

1910

H.S.H. The Prince of Monaco

1905

Prof Dr Karl Brandt
Prof Dr Carl Chun
Prof Max Wilhelm Carl Weber FRS 1852-1937 (Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 vol 2 pp 347-355)

Latest News

Workshop on the contribution of UK Arctic Ocean science to the International Polar Year 32/33

12:00 11th June – 16:00 12th June 2025: NOC Southampton (In-person with online option): Registration deadline 16th May

REGISTER HERE

Pre-meeting questionnaire (open to all)

The purpose of this workshop is for the UK Ocean Science community to discuss and then draft a prospectus document outlining the priority Arctic research questions the community would like to address during the run up to, throughout and beyond the International Polar Year 32/33. Additionally, to identify what unique strengths and technologies the UK has to help fill these knowledge gaps.

The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to writing groups, one for each of the priority research questions identified - from both the pre-meeting questionnaire (HERE) and day one discussion. By the end of the meeting, each group will have produced draft text and sourced supporting figures for the prospectus.

Post meeting, the draft will be opened for comments and suggestions from everyone, regardless of whether they were able to attend the workshop or not. It will then be shared with UK funders (UKRI, FCDO, DSIT, ARIA) and potential international programmes with whom we would like to collaborate (e.g. Arctic 2050, Norway). It will form a basis from which wider integration with terrestrial, atmospheric and cryosphere communities can be built, e.g. at the UK Arctic Science Meeting in September in Northumbria.

To ensure balanced community and ECR representation, and to ensure that the size of the writing groups is efficient and effective, if the number of registrations from individual institutes becomes overwhelming, we may contact individuals or teams and ask that each institute selects a smaller number of individuals to attend in-person. Please wait for confirmation of in-person attendance before finalising travel arrangements.

The workshop will be open to hybrid attendance and contributions on both days.

Challenger Society Council Position Vacancy

The Challenger Society for Marine Science (CSMS) are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to support the next generation of ocean scientists and innovators. CSMS are looking for a new Council member to fill the Student Travel Awards and Stepping Stones Portfolio. The successful applicant will administer the travel and research grants available for Early Career Researchers.

The role involves:
-          Receiving applications for the two schemes and responding to applicant inquiries
-          Soliciting and compiling input from the rest of the Council for assessing the applications
-          Communicating with successful and unsuccessful applicants for the two schemes
-          Working with the Honorary Treasurer on allocating funds to successful applicants
-          Following up with award winners on their reporting requirements
-          Attending Council meetings four times a year (in person or online) and contributing to discussions and decision making for CSMS

The usual term for Council members is three years.

For more information about the CSMS Council, please follow this link: https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/The_Council

For more information about our Early Career Researcher grants and awards, please follow this link:
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Stepping_Stones
and
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Travel_awards

If you are interested in applying or have any questions regarding the role, please contact kathen@bas.ac.uk

NOC Association (NOCA) AGM 2025

The 14th AGM of the NOC Association will be held on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th May 2025. This free, on-line event will take place on Zoom, across two consecutive mornings, each starting at 10:00 and ending at 12:30. The agenda will focus on national capability (NC) science, ships, and autonomous vehicles, and how the community can engage. There will be an update on AtlantiS and on the new marine science scoping group. All are warmly welcome to join.

To participate, please complete your registration here.

For enquiries: Jackie Pearson, Secretary to NOCA: jfpea@noc.ac.uk