Retrospective

The coronavirus pandemic forced a lot of well-established scientific habits to move forward into new ways. Also, ICYMARE could not happen in the way it was originally planned. However, this did not stop the ICYMARE family from organizing a successful networking event. With support from the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven, we organized an online conference and over 180 people from about 40 countries and over 110 institutions joined this experiment. “Most of the people in our generation are used to chatting and videocalls”, states Erik Sulanke, research assistant at the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries in Bremerhaven, Germany. “At a normal conference it’s difficult to approach somebody. There you have to have the courage and you also usually stick with colleagues and people you already know. Hence, this was a great opportunity to make new contacts. I also liked that everyone had to present something. And you didn’t need to perform a lecture about your actual results. Instead you could also present your opinion on a topic or throw some ideas in the room and hear what the others say about it.”

ICYMARE 2020 consisted of 16 video conferences as topical or open interdisciplinary sessions. Those sessions provided room for 10 to 20 early career researchers who gave short introductions about themselves, their research and possibly their future projects. “The interdisciplinary approach in the open sessions widened my horizon and I was able to make many new contacts”, says Alexandra Blöcker who does her PhD at the Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fishery Science in Hamburg, Germany.

The session hosts did not only moderate the sessions but also facilitated the in-depth discussions among the participants to make sure everybody is included and connected to the group. Before and after the video conferences, all participants were invited to a group working tool to intensify their connections and to stay in touch afterwards.

Thanks to everyone who also participated in the session “Beyond Professional: Exploring the emotional impacts of COVID-19 in Academia” and for opening up and sharing your experiences with us. Our session found that many of the professional and personal challenges that early career researchers faced during this pandemic are related to each other. The main challenges we talked about were the unexpected plan changes, mobility issues, isolation, and an overall overwhelming sense of uncertainty. Reflecting upon their experiences during ICYMARE, we found the informal format to be helpful for allowing participants to relate to other early career researchers and to foster a sense of community with a willingness to share and help each other overcome those challenges. By combining the insights from our session with the results from the Social Network Analysis and other surveys, we are hoping to identify and further help implement best practices for online networking events that can help us all connect with each other and promote emotional wellbeing in academia. We look forward to sharing the results with you.

It was great having you on board. Thanks for everyone who joined and supported ICYMARE 2020. If you like let’s stay connected and see each other at ICYMARE 2021 BERLIN (22 – 24 May 2021).

 

Wednesday - 26 August 2020

Parallel 1

  • 9 - 12 am CEST
  • Session 2.1) Molluscan studies – through time and space
  • Fedor Lishchenko (A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia)
  • Christopher Barrett (Cefas – Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, United Kingdom)
  • 12 - 3 pm CEST
  • Session 4) Seafood production in a blue economy of the future
  • Erik Sulanke (Thünen Institute for Sea Fisheries, Bremerhaven, Germany)
  • 3 - 6 pm CEST
  • Session 7) Marine Aquaculture
  • Federica Romina Schanz (University of Bremen, Germany)
  • 6 - 9 pm CEST
  • Session 9.1) Understanding social-ecological systems: Towards a sustainable management of marine resources
  • Xochitl Elias (Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany & Future Oceans Lab, Vigo, Spain)
  • Michael Kriegl (Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany & Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, Rostock, Germany)

Parallel 2

  • 9 - 12 am CEST
  • Session 5) The next generation is here – genomic approaches in marine science
  • Jonathan Wanderley Lawley (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)
  • Tessa Page (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)
  • 12 - 3 pm CEST
  • Session 1.2) Open Interdisciplinary Session
  • Clara Antonia Klöcker (University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom)
  • 3 - 6 pm CEST
  • Session 11) Approaches to model the complex biodiversity of marine ecosystems, a multidisciplinary perspective
  • Pedro Carrasco (Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, University of Oldenburg, Germany)
  • 6 - 10 pm CEST
  • Session 3) Plastic and Microplastic Pollution
  • Sonja Ehlers (University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany & Federal Institute of Hydrology BfG, Koblenz, Germany)

Parallel 3

  • 9 - 12 am CEST
  • Session 1.1) Open Interdisciplinary Session
  • Alexandra Blöcker (University of Hamburg, Germany)
  • 3 - 6 pm CEST
  • Session 1.4) Open Interdisciplinary Session
  • Hisham Shaikh (Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee, Oostende, Belgium)

Thursday - 27 August 2020

Parallel 1

  • 9 - 12 am CEST
  • Session 2.2) Molluscan studies – through time and space
  • Fedor Lishchenko (A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia)
  • Christopher Barrett (Cefas – Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, United Kingdom)
  • 12 - 3 pm CEST
  • Session 10) Marine Phycology
  • Helen Feord (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
  • 3 - 6 pm CEST
  • Session 6) Marine Engineering
  • Jan Boelmann (University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven, Germany)
  • 6 - 9 pm CEST
  • Session 9.2) Understanding social-ecological systems: Towards a sustainable management of marine resources
  • Xochitl Elias (Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany & Future Oceans Lab, Vigo, Spain)
  • Michael Kriegl (Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany & Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, Rostock, Germany)

Parallel 2

  • 9 - 12 am CEST
  • Session 8) Marine Restoration Ecology – current proficiency, best practices and future perspectives
  • Natalie Prinz (University of Waikato, Tauranga, New Zealand)
  • 12 - 3 pm CEST
  • Session 1.5) Open Interdisciplinary Session
  • Darya Maximenko (A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia)
  • 3 - 6 pm CEST
  • Session 1.6) Open Interdisciplinary Session
  • Stefania Piarulli, Lucy Gillis, Marìa Lòpez-Acosta (OYSTER – Orienting Young Scientists of Euromarine)

Parallel 3

  • 9 - 12 am CEST
  • Session 1.3) Open Interdisciplinary Session
  • Charles Cadier, Naima Iram (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)

Sessions of ICYMARE 2020

Session hosts:

  • Clara Antonia Klöcker (University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom)
  • Charles Cadier (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)
  • Naima Iram (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)
  • Alexandra Blöcker (University of Hamburg, Germany)
  • Hisham Shaikh (Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee, Oostende, Belgium)
  • Darya Maximenko (Moscow Agricultural Academy, Russia)
  • Stefania Piarulli (OYSTER – Orienting Young Scientists of Euromarine)
  • Lucy Gillis (OYSTER – Orienting Young Scientists of Euromarine)
  • Marìa Lòpez-Acosta (OYSTER – Orienting Young Scientists of Euromarine)

Session hosts:

  • Fedor Lishchenko (A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia)
  • Christopher Barrett (Cefas – Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, United Kingdom)

Session host:

  • Sonja Ehlers (University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany & Federal Institute of Hydrology BfG, Koblenz, Germany)

Session host: 

  • Erik Sulanke (Thünen Institute for Sea Fisheries, Bremerhaven, Germany)

Session hosts:

  • Jonathan Wanderley Lawley (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)
  • Tessa Page (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)

Session host:

  • Jan Boelmann (University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven, Germany)

 

Session host:

  • Federica Romina Schanz (University of Bremen, Germany)

Session hosts:

  • Natalie Prinz (University of Waikato, Tauranga, New Zealand)

Session hosts:

  • Xochitl Elias (ZMT – Center for Tropical Marine Research, Bremen, Germany & Future Oceans Lab, Vigo, Spain)
  • Michael Kriegl (ZMT – Center for Tropical Marine Research, Bremen, Germany & Thünen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries, Rostock, Germany)

 

Session hosts:

  • Helen Feord (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)

Session host:

  • Pedro Carrasco (Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, University of Oldenburg, Germany)

Thanks for everyonewho joined and supportedICYMARE 2020.