MarineSci Camp

Week 1: Training

Training at the Tenerife HQ of the Spanish Oceanographic Institute:

– Introduction to programming in Matlab for oceanographers

– Training in specific instruments and preparation of reagents and analytical techniques

– Masterclasses of volcanology of the Canary Islands, submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal vents (past, present, future).

SciCom Training

A with all our programmes, there will be an element of SciComm included.

At GeoTenerife we are passionate about ensuring early career scientists acquire key skills in communication.

Science is at its best when it is effectively communicated – to the public, funding bodies and your future employers – and we teach you how to do this effectively.

Our Science Communication programme is run in association with Andy Ridgeway, a senior lecturer from UWE responsible for the university’s MSc in Science Communication and Hannah Little, lecturer in Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool.

The science communication training teaches the latest practical skills including science writing, video production and communicating science through social media. It is taught in an interactive way that will enable you to develop confidence and skills when communicating. Students will have the opportunity to undertake science writing and develop a short video and receive feedback on their work.

The key skills students will learn are:

• How to write in a lively, engaging way about science for articles in the media and blogs.
• Producing a short video about your research and the research of others.
• Essential skills in presenting in front of a camera and in front of a live audience.
• How to use social media effectively to communicate about science/the environment.
• Adapting your communication to different audiences.
• How to do an engaging interview for written articles, podcasts and videos.
• Sound and video editing for brilliant audio (podcast) and video clips.
• Scripting podcasts and vodcasts.
• The art of telling a good story about science and the environment.
• Using your knowledge of science and the environment to help bring about change.

Students will receive feedback on longer pieces of written work and videos and start developing their portfolio.

This week you will also receive training for the collaborative research you will conduct in Tenerife whilst not onboard.

Week one will also include the 2VulcanaSypmposium where you will have the opportunity to hear and speak to leading scientists and researchers from a range of institutions.

Weeks 2-4

Students will join the Spanish Institute of Oceanography’s research vessel on a rotating basis, two at a time, on different “legs” of the cruise. Exact outline is yet to be determined and will be confirmed nearer the time.

GeoTenerife will transfer you to/from neighbouring islands if you are joining a cruise that starts or fishes there. Previous cruises have included research on the Lanzarote coast (bathymetries); physical-chemical monitoring of Volcán de Enmedio (between Tenerife and Gran Canaria islands);  research on the submarine volcano Tagoro, the underwater volcano that erupted in 2011 off the coast of El Hierro island or research on the lava delta created during 2021’s eruption of La Palma volcano (Tajogaite).

Research work to be done onboard:

• acquisition and processing of bathymetric data (3D reconstruction of the marine seabed)
• acquisition and processing of physical-chemical data with CTD (programming in Matlab)
• acquisition of biogeochemical samples with in situ water samples from an oceanographic rosette (niskin bottles) – dissolved oxygen, inorganic nutrients, DIC, POC, DNA, etc

The four students remaining inland while the other two join the cruise on a rotating basis will carry out their SciComm projects and participate in research for GeoTenerife’s VolcanoStories in collaboration with Drones4Geology (using their drone and submarine “Fifish” ROV) and a range of associated experts to map, sample and interpret targeted underwater and coastal environments in Tenerife.

Scholarship

GeoTenerife is committed to open access. We are passionate about making our programmes accessible to talented young scientists wherever possible, and our scholarships are intended to support students who otherwise would not be able to apply. This scholarship will cover the full course fee (which includes accommodation, half board catering Monday to Friday, all local transfers, tuition and excursions and insurance but not flights to/from Tenerife) plus a stipend of €350 to help towards other costs.

To see how previous scholars got on, please see our dedicated Twitter feed @GeoTScholar.

Teaching Staff

Eugenio Fraile Nuez

He graduated in Marine Sciences from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the year 2000. Four years later he received his doctorate from the same university, obtaining the extraordinary prize for the best doctoral thesis in the area of Experimental Sciences. Since 2009 he has been a Senior Scientist at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography at the Oceanographic Center of the Canary Islands, Tenerife. His research on Climate Change focuses on the variability of thermohaline properties, mass and heat transport of large-scale ocean processes. In 2011 he started a new line of research focused on submarine volcanological processes, hydrothermal sources and volcanological risk. submarine, with a training stay at the Universitè Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France, in the laboratory, LOCEAN.

He has actively participated in more than 20 national and international research projects, he is the author of more than 55 scientific articles in journals with a high impact index, books, book chapters and popular science magazines, as well as institutional technical advice. He has considerable experience in the design and execution of oceanographic campaigns, accumulating more than 1,200 days at sea in various research vessels. He is a member of the working commission of experts on Climate Change of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography and the Community of Murcia and since 2014, he has been an Advisor to the National Council for Maritime Safety of the Government of Spain on submarine volcanological risk.

He is currently Principal Investigator of the VULCANA project (www.vulcana.eu) for the study of physical-chemical-biological and geological properties in  submarine volcanoes of the Canary Islands.

Jesús M. Arrieta

Jesús he is currently holds a permanent position as Senior Scientist at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). He graduated in Biological Sciences at the University of the Basque Country where he received the Honorary Collaborator award. After his graduation he moved to the University of Vienna (Austria) and later to the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (The Netherlands), where he obtained his PhD degree at the University of Groningen with the mention “Cum Laude” (top 5%) in 2005. After a postdoctoral period, he held a Ramón y Cajal research position between 2008 and 2014 at the Mediterranean Institute for Advance

Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC). Between 2015 and 2017, he worked at the Red Sea Research Center of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST, Saudi Arabia) as Research Scientist (R5). He has published over 50 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals including some of the top-tier journals like Science, Nature and PNAS. His scientific interests focus in marine microbial ecology and the role of microbes in the functioning of the biosphere and the regulation of climate processes. Currently leading project POSEIDON, he aims to shed some light on the mechanisms that allow the long-term storage of dissolved organic carbon in the deep ocean.

Juan Tomás Vázquez

Born in Albolote (Granada) in December 1962, he graduated in Geological Sciences (Dynamic and Structural Geology specialty) in 1985 at the Universidad Complutense (Madrid) and received a doctorate from the same university in 2001, with a thesis entitled “Structure of the Northern Margin of the Alboran Sea”. In 1986 he joined the Marine Geology Service of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME), first as a postgraduate fellow and later as a Contract Researcher.

Between 1993 and 2007 he was a professor at the University of Cádiz (Associate Professor since 2004 at the Internal Geodynamics area) where he taught Marine Geology and Tectonics. Since October 2007 is Tenured Scientist at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Centro Oceanographic of Malaga), forming part of the Marine Geosciences Group (GEMAR). Their lines of research focus on the study of active geological processes in continental margins and ocean basins: geomorphology and active tectonics, emissions of fluids from the subsurface, mass flow processes and tsunami generating mechanisms, developing this work in various areas of the continental margins of Iberia, of the Canary Islands and Antarctica. He has participated in more than 25 national projects, 2 of them as coordinator and principal investigator: MONTERA (Seamounts of the Margins Southern Iberia: Alborán Sea and Gulf of Cádiz) and SUBVENT (Emissions of fluids in the Continental Margins of the Canary Islands and the Gulf of Cadiz), various projects of the ESF, including one from the EUROFLEET programme. Participant in a research group Junta de Andalucía (RMN-0328, of which he was coordinator between 2006 and 2007), of a Group of Research of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2009SGR1071), of 5 UNESCO groups (IGCP and SCAR-IPY), and 2 from INQUA. Since 1986 he has participated in 50 scientific campaigns of a national and international, several of them as chief scientist. He has been the author of numerous scientific papers published in journals and books, 33 of them within the SCI ranking, has participated in more than 250 contributions to national and international conferences, and has been guest editor of 4 special volumes of national and international magazines.

Andy Ridgway

An award-winning journalist who spent nearly 20 years in the profession before becoming an academic. After starting his career working on local newspapers, he moved into science journalism and became Deputy Editor of BBC Focus, the BBC’s science magazine. During his time at Focus, he was named Editorial Person of the Year in the BBC Magazines Awards for Excellence. Since becoming a lecturer, Andy has continued to write for BBC Focus, New Scientist and The Economist, among other publications. Andy is a researcher on the European Commission-funded research project, RETHINK, which is exploring the challenges and opportunities presented by online science communication.

Hannah Little

Her research interests are digital communication, linguistic and cultural evolution, experimental methods and data analysis. Before going into academia, Hannah worked in science communication professionally. She worked full time co-ordinating the STEM Ambassador programme and the Nuffield Research Placements in the North East of England. Since then, she has facilitated science communication training with many organisations including the British Council, the UK Environment Agency and “I’m a scientist, get me out of here!”

COST of the Training Programme

MarineSciCamp costs £1,250 for  four weeks.

What is included in your programme fee?

You will be learning highly transferable skills in you time with us.

The scientists you will be training with are industry-recognised experts, and you will be learning directly from them.

You will receive feedback and guidance about your training. This is an opportunity for you to develop a range of skills that are directly transferable to the workplace and will strengthen your CV.

You will also receive intensive science communication training to ensure you can present yourself and your work effectively in future from professional lecturers.

We are passionate believers in the need to train young scientists to communicate well to both scientific and non-scientific audiences. This training will add to your highly transferable skills for your future career, help with your general confidence when speaking about your work and with future job applications, funding applications or gaining support for your research.

The fee covers the teaching costs and expenses as well as all your accommodation, half board catering Monday to Friday (breakfast and supper) when you are onshore, full catering when you are onboard; transfer costs to get to to/from the pick-up point for your designated leg onboard (including inter-island transfers); airport/port transfers, daily transfer to your changing work environment.

The fee does NOT cover your flights to/from Tenerife, which are your responsibility to book and pay for.

MarineSciCamp begins and ends in Tenerife and we will transfer you to other islands from here if required by your cruise leg.

We organise any required permits to enable you to participate in our fieldwork as well as any medical certificates you may need to be able to work in certain industrial installations where applicable. We endeavour to ensure you always have access to WIFI and a shared kitchen (except onboard).

Your fee also covers our excursion programme, to ensure you learn about and enjoy the particular nature of the environment you are working in from our associated local experts. All associated costs (including extra insurance where required, or government permits) are included in your fee.

Part of your fee covers GeoTenerife running costs in the UK and Tenerife (to ensure a successful programme we have a permanent, fully-owned subsidiary in Tenerife), our ABTA membership (the UK travel trade association for tour operators and travel agents which protects your payment so your booking is secure) and comprehensive work and liability insurance cover.

A further percentage of your fee supports our Scholarship programme to enable wider access to our training programmes.

Some of our participants each year are part or fully-funded by their home university to participate in our programme, so it is worth asking your tutor if funds are available for this purpose.

On successful graduation, we are here to advise, promote, support and act as referees for you long after your month with us in the Canary Islands ends.