- Graduate School GLOMAR
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- Conference Reports 2019
- Mirco Wölfelschneider
Mirco Wölfelschneider
Report of GLOMAR PhD student Mirco Wölfelschneider about his participation in the ICYMARE (International Conference for Young MArine REsearchers) conference – The oceans: our research, our future in Bremen, Germany from 24 to 27 September 2019
The 1st International Conference for Young MArine REsearchers (ICYMARE) took place at the University in Bremen from the 24th until the 27th of September 2019. The icebreaker took place at the MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences.
As the conference was taking place in Bremen, my home town over the last four years, I was very excited to be part of the great organization team making everything possible. The organization was quite a big challenge as there where many young scientists from various countries participating. 20 sessions covered a vast array of topics from “Exploring Social Dimensions of Conservation”, over “Biodiversity and Resilience in the Anthropocene”, to “Climate Change as Seen from the Perspective of the Small: Plankton in a Changing Ocean”. Together with my colleagues Lena Rölfer, Charlotte Kunze, Jana Schmitz, Hanne Banko-Kubis, we additionally hosted the Open Session. The two tasks of being part of conference organization team and hosting a session was quite a challenge for us. Luckily my colleagues and I managed to keep up with the work, overcome all unforeseen obstacles and set up everything for our session just in time.
When the ICYMARE finally opened its gates to welcome all the enthusiastic young researchers, the excitement caught me as well and I was really happy, that I could be part of this event. As our session was split into different sub sections, which were spread along the whole conference, this excitement for me lasted the whole event. In the end I have to say, that the quality of research presented in our session, as well as the other sessions I could attend, really surpassed my expectations. In the end I very much enjoyed the open-minded and pleasant atmosphere during the ICYMARE. An interesting variety of activities, such as courses in science outreach, panel discussions, tours through the research facilities of MARUM, ZMT and MPI and others greatly enriched the whole experience. One of my personal highlights was the outreach campaign #MyAtlanticStory / #GoAtlanticBlue organized by the All-Atlantic Youth Ambassador Natalie Prinz. The campaign aims to raise ocean literacy and awareness for the Atlantic Ocean within communities and across countries. For further details on the campaign follow her on twitter @natalie_prinz.
The next years ICYMARE will take place in Bremerhaven from the 25th until the 28th of August 2020. I can only emphasize each and every one, who would like to get involved by presenting a poster, giving a talk, or contributing in another way! At last I just want to say, that I am very grateful that I had the chance to be part of this event and I hope all the newly created connections here at the ICYMARE will flourish and lead to great research projects in the future.
