Susana Simanca

The International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS 2021) is one of the largest gatherings of scientists from all aspects of coral reef studies worldwide. In this opportunity, the gathering took place for the first time in a virtual format. For this version, early career researchers were the focus of attention of the conference. Typically, this symposium is hos­ted every four years, being the ICRS Congress from this year 2021, the first virtual ICRS ever. Moreover, Bremen was the location from where the event was organized and will be as well the location for the next ICRS, which will take place in person during the incoming year 2022. 

Around 1300 participants from 80 different countries joined the meeting this year. They shared their work in a week full of exciting talks in diverse areas of study. Furthermore, at least 60% of the participants attending were female, according to the organizing committee highlights of the event, and 500 attendees were early-career students. Even though the challenging conditions due to the current COVID -19 pandemic seemed to be particular for developing this new conference format, I had a highly enriching experience. The active contributions from all participants and efforts from the organizing team allowed a successful congress and an enjoyable exchange through the sessions. Moreover, most oral and poster presentations transmitted during the congress will remain available in the archive on the platform until the next congress in 2022. Thus, constituting a tremendous accessible compendium of the most recent findings on the field, plus a source that may incentive further discussions and exchanges on the state of the art knowledge beyond the timeframe for the event of this year.  

On the last day of the congress, Friday 23 of June, I presen­ted res­ults from our latest publication, included as one of the chapters from my PhD pro­ject. The talk en­titled “Organic eutrophication and ocean warming effects on the ecophysiology of the soft coral Xenia umbellata”. This talk was presented as a prerecorded video of 12 minutes during session 11C, followed by 3 minutes of questions live. In this session, I had the opportunity to share and learn as well from other contributions following the same line, particularly relevant in light of global and local effects of climate change, where eutrophication and warming temperatures are expected to increase. I found these talks fascinating, and some of them strongly connected to my own research. At the same time, I was also delighted to get in contact with colleagues working in the same area of knowledge. In my particular case, I also had the priceless opportunity to be part of a mentorship event where I exchanged with Dr Katharina Fabricius. A renowned coral scientist and the author of one of the books in Octocorals that I have been deeply fond of during my formation as a coral researcher. This opportunity was indeed a great inspiration!

To summarize, my participation in the ICRS 2021 virtual conference has been highly enriching. Attending this conference has enabled me to share the findings byproduct of my PhD research project with fellow international scientists with similar interests in the field. Furthermore, this symposium represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand my understanding of the most current research and gain knowledge on my field while sharing and expanding my professional network. Thus, attending the ICRS 2021 has been highly beneficial to my personal and professional growth. Finally, In this regard, I would like to express my gratitude to GLOMAR, Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences, for their financial support.