Participants aboard the Norwegian, Statsraad Lehmkuhl research vessel which docked at Jamaica’s Port Royal earlier this month, were hosted by UWI's Mona Campus on November 16.
The 33 visiting students and lecturers, who are on the One Ocean Expedition led by University of Bergen (UiB), toured the Mona Campus’ Port Royal Marine Laboratory, then participated in an organised knowledge exchange forum, said a media release.
Mona Campus point and lead organiser Dr Suzanne E Palmer, lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences and academic co-ordinator at the Port Royal Marine Laboratory, said, “It was an inspiring day of knowledge exchange and discussions between international students and lecturers of the One Ocean Field Course and those from the Faculty of Science and Technology here at UWI. We are very much looking forward to building out the partnership with the University of Bergen and colleagues.”
[caption id="attachment_926777" align="alignnone" width="1024"] On November 16, students and lecturers from the One Ocean Expedition attentive during a presentation at The UWI Mona’s Port Royal Marine Laboratory led by Hugh Small, chief scientific officer and Suzanne E Palmer, lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences and Academic Coordinator at the Laboratory. -[/caption]
The group comprised postgraduate students from Norway, US, Canada, Spain, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands, together with two students from UWI Mona, Chauntelle Green and Deron Maitland. They are enrolled as sailing trainees on the "floating university" for three weeks studying ocean sciences. The programme employs active learning methods together with discussions on the consequences and sustainable solutions to climate change. They are being led by an interdisciplinary team of lecturers from the University of Bergen, Scripps/University of California San Diego, University of Washington, University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University, and McGill University.
The release said the tour of the Port Royal Marine Laboratory was led by Palmer and Hugh Small, the lab’s chief scientific officer. It included a visit to its scuba diving facilities and the mangrove nursery which underpin current research projects in coral reef and mangrove restoration.
The forum was held in the Faculty of Science and Technology. Students from the research vessel who completed a one ocean field course webinar series, which ran from September-October, presented their project findings on historical ocean data (including UWI’s Green), sea-level change in the Caribbean (including UWI’s Maitland), hurricanes in the Caribbean, and marine fishable resources (spiny lobster).
[caption id="attachment_926778" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Students and lecturers from the One Ocean Expedition tour The UWI Mona Campus following a visit to the Campus’ Port Royal Marine Laboratory on November 16. -[/caption]
Postgraduate research students from Mona’s departments of life sciences, geography and geology, chemistry and physics
