OceanTeacher Global Academy

Summary

Global change requires studying the ocean in more detail and at longer and larger scales. Capacity development and training on standard survey techniques and the use of simple sensors has been identified as a tool to enhance ocean observation. This course serves as an introduction to oceanographic survey techniques and data processing. It is designed for Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs), students, and other oceanographers who intend to pursue oceanography and marine sciences. Relevant oceanographic (physical, chemical, and biological) datasets will collected and used during the training, making it easy to relate, understand, and apply the course concept.

Venue: AquaBioTech Group, Mosta, Malta

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, the learners are expected to:

• Be familiar with oceanographic survey techniques.
• Understand how to use simple data collection tools and sensors.
• Be familiar with measurement of temperature, salinity, turbidity, depth oxygen and chlorophyll.
• Produce meaningful descriptive statistics and informative graphs from raw data.
• Results interpretation and discussion for scientific communication and writing.

Course contents

The course will be divided into 4 modules:

Module 1: Field sampling techniques for basic coastal oceanographic parameters

• Introduction to oceanographic parameters temperature, salinity, turbidity, depth oxygen and chlorophyll.
• Preparing a field work checklist,
• Safety measures during field work
• Calibration, and deploying of sensors and equipment
• Field surveys

Module 2: Data visualization and management

• Data retrieval
• Data entry
• Data visualization in R software using ggplot package
• Simple analysis using R
• Data management: storage, sharing and repository

Module 3: Basics of scientific writing

• Language and structure
• Graphics and visuals
• Citation and referencing
• Plagiarism

Module 4: Basics of science communication and outreach

• Language and sentence structure in science communication
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Visuals for infographics
• Policy briefs

Target audience

ECOPs who are enrolled in a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, or have completed their Masters Degree and intend to use this knowledge in their academic or research related work. No prior R knowledge will be required, but knowledge on basics of oceanography is desired.  The current course is specifically targeting ECOPs from and/or based in the Mediterranean region (from Southern Europe, Northern Africa and Western Middle East).

Language of instruction: English

Moderators and Instructors

Ines Boujmil – Aqua Biotech Group

Dr. Anabel von Jackwoski - Stockholm University

Mr. Gabriel Akoko Juma – Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany

Organizers

This course is being organized with the support of the Early Career Ocean Professionals Programme, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Stockholm University, Aqua Biotech Group, International Ocean Institute, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Blue Economy and UNESCO-IOC Ocean Teacher Global Academy.

This course will provide a comprehensive introduction for the management and archive of marine biological data, including the guiding principles of biological data management and typical responsibilities for data managers. Several types of biological data will be tackled, including observational data, image-derived data and omics data and how these data can be formatted, standardized and quality controlled before being submitted to wider regional, national and international initiatives. Watch the video below for a brief overview and introduction.

Find all the information on how to enroll in this course on OceanExpert: https://oceanexpert.org/event/4213

The course serves as an introduction to R programming language and software environment (RStudio) for data exploration, cleaning, organizing, analysis and visualization. Relevant oceanographic (physical, chemical and biological) datasets will be used in the training, making it easy to relate, understand and apply the course concept. The course is designed for Early Career Ocean Professionals, hence, no prior experience is required. 

The course serves as an introduction to R programming language and software environment (RStudio) for data exploration, cleaning, organizing, analysis and visualization. Relevant oceanographic (physical, chemical and biological) datasets will be used in the training, making it easy to relate, understand and apply the course concept. The course is designed for Early Career Ocean Professionals, hence, no prior experience is required. 

The training course provides an introduction to (genetic) data management and publication through the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN), as well as an introduction to the GGBN and the use of its data portal, the data standards and several case studies from Latin American institutions that have published data from different types of collections through the GGBN. The course purpose is to give the necessary foundations to professionals from Latin America to use the GGBN data infrastructure for publishing and giving visibility to the information they preserve.

This training course will focus on raising the awareness for the need for Quality Assurance and Quality Control on Marine Ecosystem-based Management. Participants will be introduced to up-to-date best practices and standards as well as the quality assurance and quality control on marine ecosystem observation, and marine instrument measurement testing, specifically on the four important sectors of the whole process of QA and QC, namely sensors, laboratory, data processing, and product application. The course will use case studies relevant for the Western Pacific.

O curso decorrerá em três módulos: (1) instrumentos e técnicas de recolha de dados in situ; (2) acesso de dados (oceanográficos) gratuitos em linha; e (3) desenvolvimento de um produto/serviço baseado nos conteúdos do curso.

Mais informações em https://oceanexpert.org/event/3533

Prazo para candidaturas: 17 de Abril 2022

Unit on Timescales of Element Cycling in the Ocean-Analytical, Experimental and (radio) Tracer Approaches

Unit on Statistics