Copy
Marine Studies Institute
November 2021 Newsletter
Share Share
Tweet Tweet
Forward Forward
Share Share
Welcome
New Co-Directors
Congratulations to A/Prof Ana Vila-Concejo and A/Prof Eleanor Bruce for their new appointment as co-directors of MSI. Their primary goal is to increase the visibility of the Marine Community at the University of Sydney, including teaching, research and outreach. They are looking forward to engaging with all MSI members at the board meeting that will be held on 16th November at 12noon via Zoom.

A/Prof Ana Vila-Concejo is interested in the contemporary processes and morphodynamics of coastal systems, with research interests in the morphodynamics of coral reefs, beaches in estuaries and bays, oyster restoration in estuaries and embayed beaches.

A/Prof Eleanor Bruce’s research interests focus on the geographical dimensions of coupled human-environment systems and how spatial models can be used to examine drivers of change. This has involved investigating biophysical coastal process response to climate variability, landscape change detection and the role of participatory mapping and Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in building socio-ecological resilience. 
New MSI Coordinator
 
Dr Anneke van den Brink is the new MSI coordinator dealing with much of the MSI communication and social media. She is also starting a new position at DPIE as a Coast and Estuary officer. Anneke studied marine science in her home country of New Zealand and received her PhD during the 11 years she worked in the Netherlands as a marine ecologist and lecturer.
 
Please send your news items for inclusion to future newsletters and social media to our MSI Coordinator via the button below. All suggestions/feedback are also welcome!
Contact Us
Events
A World of Oysters: Protecting Their Future

A panel of farmers, chefs and researchers discussed the vital role of oysters within Australia’s marine biodiversity and culinary culture.

On 20th October 2021, the MSI held a joint event with the Sydney Environment Institute (SEI) and the network for Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP). This online-only (due to covid) event covered multidisciplinary aspects of oyster research and uses with representatives from the community, industry, and academia. The event was very successful with 80 participants.

For more details, click here.

News Stories
Research Spotlight: Dr Ana Bugnot
Research Lead on the Oyster Reef Restoration Program 

Reviving our estuaries: oyster reef restoration

Australian estuarine environments have been modified greatly since European colonisation. Whether it was in the search for food or materials for constructions, we have been extracting resources from coastal ecosystems, often with unintended long-term consequences to the environment. One of the most significant early impacts on estuarine ecosystems is the degradation of oyster reefs. Oysters reefs spreading over hectares were a common feature of Australian estuaries. Oysters feed by filtering water, and in doing so, they clean water playing a key role in the regulation of water quality in estuaries. However, the harvesting oyster shells to use in mortar has seen the decimation of over 90% of the oyster reefs. Since this habitat has been greatly degraded for generations, there is little understanding on the ecology of these pristine habitats. Moreover, oyster reefs seemed to have been almost erased from human memory until recently, when government agencies and NGOs started efforts to restore these reefs. At MSI, we are studying remnant oyster reefs around NSW to understand how they are formed and the benefits they provide to the NSW coastal areas, such as supporting biodiversity, coastal protection, water filtration and the processing of contaminants.

Dr Ana Bugnot
Senior Research Associate | School of Life and Environmental Sciences

 
In 2018, Ana started a joint Research Fellowship at the University of Sydney and Sydney Institute of Marine Science, where she is the Program Manager of the Sydney Harbour Research Program and leads the development of an oyster restoration program in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, DPI Fisheries and DPIE NSW. Ana has made major contributions to the marine ecological community in New South Wales. She has been a Doctoral Fellow and collaborator at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (since 2010) and a Councilor for the Australian Marine Science Association (since 2011).
 
2021 Eureka Prize Winner

Congratulations to The Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP) for being awarded the 2021 Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science!

The Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP) is a world-first, national citizen science program that empowers people of all ages to document microplastic pollution. An immersive experience, participants are educated on the prevalence of microplastics around our waterways and trained to collect scientifically valid data that is used to design effective mitigation strategies for plastic pollution.

Learn more about AUSMAP here.

RBR Award for Innovation in Marine Science
The University of Sydney's Alex Jones is the recipient of the RBR Award for innovation in marine science. Her research investigates the significance of Jervis Bay for humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) mother-calf groups during their southern migration. Alex's research has direct implications for the conservation significance and environmental management of the Jervis Bay Marine Park area. Keep up the great work Alex!

You can read more about Alex's research here.
Congratulations Jamie Simpson!

Congratulations to the 2021 Esri Young Scholar Award Winners

Coordinated by Esri's international distributors and Esri's international and education teams, the Esri Young Scholars Award program was launched in 2012, and winners are honored each year at the Esri User Conference. In 2021, the User Conference, and the celebration for the Young Scholars, was conducted virtually.

Congratulations Jamie Simpson from The University of Sydney! You can check out Jamie's work here: The University of Sydney COVID-19 Community Profiles Mapping Tool.

The program recognizes the exemplary work of current undergraduate and graduate students majoring in geospatial science disciplines at international universities. Winning entries are selected by a university panel formed by Esri's distributor in the recipient's respective country. Award winners are celebrated in front of the more than 50,000 GIS professionals expected to attend the 2021 Esri User Conference. Congratulations to each of the 2021 Esri Young Scholars!

#Coast2Coast Seminar Series
The #Coast2Coast zoominar series includes a series of seminars delivered by Zoom by internationally recognised researchers in the field of coastal geoscience and engineering. Coast2Coast started during the May 2020 COVID lockdown, as a way of facilitating networking and interactions between researchers in a year when conferences and travelling were not going to happen. Coast2Coast quickly grew to become a prestigious seminar series with presenters from many parts of the world.

Giovanni Coco (University of Auckland), Mitch Harley and Kristen Splinter (University of New South Wales), Ryan Lowe (University of Western Australia), and Ana Vila-Concejo (University of Sydney) are the hosts of #Coast2Coast.

Make sure you listen to our very own Dr Thomas Fellowes'
#Coast2Coast zoominar on 'The stability and susceptibility of coral reef islands'.
Dr Thomas Fellowes is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Geocoastal Research Group and the Marine Studies Institute at The University of Sydney.

Listen to the #Coast2Coast seminars on YouTube.
Listen to #Coast2Coast
#Coast2Cast Podcast
In early 2021, Ana Vila-Concejo (University of Sydney) and Giovanni Coco (University of Auckland), decided to interview coastal scientists, engineers and oceanographers from around the world about research and non-research topics. The idea was that, as COVID madness continued, students and scientists around the world could still "meet" coastal scientists and hear directly from them.
Listen Now
Opportunities
Scholarships
Watch this space for upcoming scholarship opportunities with MSI, which range from One Tree Island Field School opportunities and Ecology Research Areas!

Educational Outreach
A/Prof Eleanor Brue and Dr Kevin Davies are collaborating with the Geography Teachers Association of NSW to deliver a series workshops titled More than Maps 2021-2022 to year 10 high school students and pre-service teachers. 

This initiative has been funded through the British Council and coordinated by the University of Southampton and involve a series of international coastal ecosystem services workshops to be held in the UK, Australia, Ghana and the West Indies the outcomes of which will be presented at COP26 in November 2021. The workshop series will disseminate the knowledge and spatial modelling and remote sensing methods developed through climate change adaptation research at the University of Southampton (UoS), The University of Western Australia (UWA), The University of Sydney (USYD), University of Ghana (UoG) and University of the West Indies (UWI).
Twitter Feed
Follow Us on Twitter
Marine Studies Institute
Email: sydney.msi@sydney.edu.au
Phone: 02 8627 0450
School of Geosciences | Faculty of Science
Rm 308, Madsen Building F09 | The University of Sydney | NSW | 2006
Facebook
Twitter
Website
Copyright © 2021 Marine Studies Institute, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
sydney.msi@sydney.edu.au

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
 






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
Marine Studies Institute · Room 308, Madsen Building, Eastern Avenue · Sydney, Nsw 2000 · Australia

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp