From October 25th through November 5th, MEOPAR held its Annual Training Meeting (ATM) which seeks to gather highly qualified professionals, academics, researchers and students from across the coasts to mobilize knowledge and connect via workshops on science communication, career development in a digital era, and interdisciplinary collaboration. This year’s annual training meeting theme was Building Future Skills to Address Canada’s Marine Challenges which was aimed at supporting coordinated action for the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development.
The ATM showcased a variety of sessions from anti-racism and equity in science to meaningful engagement with Northern Communities in research, how to cope with eco-anxiety and climate doom, networking in the ocean community and finally how folks can engage with the UN Decade of ocean science. The sessions included notable speakers like Dr. Elin Kelsey, scholar and author of Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical for Solving the Environmental Crisis; Dr. Paul Meyers, physical oceanographer, professor and Lead of the Prediction Core at MEOPAR; Joel Heath, Canadian academic and filmmaker; Dr. Lisa Loseto, Research Scientist at Fisheries & Oceans Canada, Mo Phùng, Marine biologist, visual artist and photographer from Halifax; Suchinta Arif, co-founder and co-director of Diversity of Nature; and Dr. Kika Tuff, scientist and founder of Impact Media Lab. Speakers shared tools, coping strategies and mindset approaches that could help individuals reflect on lessons on ways of knowing and the co-production of knowledge in research environments.
Listed below are a few organizations discussed during the ATM: