Below the surface: all the news from SAMS
THE largest ever intake of postgraduate students arrived at SAMS UHI in October, as a cohort of 15 international Masters and PhD students began their studies.
Twelve of the postgraduate students have begun PhDs in topics as diverse as the Arctic, microplastics, and oil and gas industry decommissioning, representing the wide range of expertise at SAMS UHI. The other three will begin an MSc in Marine Science, focusing on algal biotechnology.
The arrivals, who hail from the UK, Europe and Canada, come just a month after SAMS UHI welcomed the largest undergraduate intake (38 students) to its BSc Marine Science degree.
Dr Bhavani Narayanaswamy, head of SAMS UHI Graduate School, said: ‘I think the numbers of postgraduate students we have taken in recently shows that SAMS has excellent researchers working in a range of exciting areas of marine science.
‘This is reflected in the high number of applications we received for these PhDs - every student here was keen to work with scientists that excel in their area of research.’
❒ Tomorrow (Friday November 3) SAMS UHI will host an open day for prospective students from 1pm to 4pm.
Visitors will have the chance to tour the facilities and meet staff and students but must register their attendance in advance via www.sams.ac.uk, as spaces are limited. SAMS UHI will also host the University of the Highlands and Islands Research Student Conference next Tuesday and Wednesday (November 7-8), with postgraduate students coming from across the university partnership.
Students will be giving talks and presenting posters followed by the conference ceilidh on the evening of November 7.
❒ AS PART of Oban Winter Festival, SAMS’ Ocean Explorer Centre will be opening its doors on November 18 to welcome budding young marine scientists.
Between 11am and 4pm, students will be demonstrating a flow tank, a ‘skate photobooth’, touchscreen habitat and treasure hunt, as well as offering advice and information about marine life. ❒ SAMS is used to daily visitors but one such guest, who is more familiar than most, is former PhD student and staffer Dr Karen Alexander.
Dr Alexander, who hails from Kilchrenan, now works at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies in Hobart, Tasmania. She has been invited to SAMS UHI as a guest lecturer on the Aquaculture, Environment and Society (ACES) joint Masters degree, during which time she’ll lecture in governance, management and knowledge exchange.
During her five-week homecoming, Dr Alexander will conduct fieldwork for a new project, SustainFish, which addresses a call by the Norwegian Research Council to explore the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability.