Sophie Paul
Report of GLOMAR PhD student Sophie Paul about her participation in the ASLO aquatic sciences meeting 2017 in Honolulu, Hawaii from 26 February to 3 March 2017
From February 26th to March 3rd I attended the ASLO 2017 Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Honolulu, Hawai’i. ASLO is the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography and annually holds one large international conference about marine or aquatic sciences. This year, the theme was “From the Mountains to the Sea”, which emphasized the connectivity and transport from land to sea. Five days packed with diverse sessions from plankton to trace metals, the Arctic to the tropics awaited me.
It was the first big conference I attended for my PhD and I was impressed by the large number of participants from all over the world and the variety of topics covered in the sessions. There were interesting talks that gave some food for thought for my own work which was very helpful. My presentation was part of a special session which was organized as a tribute to the great geochemist Henry Elderfield and his pioneering work about rare earth elements in the ocean. It was an honor to present my work in the frame of this session and among some renowned scientists.
A range of workshops was offered besides the topical sessions. I attended for example a panel discussion about publication tips for young scientists which offered lots of good advice for getting into a writing routine and getting your first papers published. It was great to hear about the publication process from more experienced researchers and editors.
The ASLO conference was a great experience for me and offered a good opportunity to network and meet other scientists, especially during the interactive coffee breaks integrated with the poster sessions and the evening receptions. I am grateful for funding I received from the JPI-O Mining Impact project through the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
