Centre for Marine Science Director's Message - December 2023

Welcome to the last Centre for Marine Science (CMS) newsletter for 2023.

It has been a busy few months for CMS and our members. In this edition, we showcase world-leading research and the excellent engagement activities of our research stations. First though we want to congratulate some of our members for recent outstanding achievements. Congratulations to Catherine Lovelock, Richard Fuller, Hugh Possingham, James Watson (all from SENV), Phil Hugenholtz and Christian Rinke (both SCMB) for being named as 2023 Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers. This puts them in the top 1% of their field with regards to number of citations over the last 10 years, an extraordinary achievement. Congratulations also to Angela Dean (SENV) and Miguel Frohlich (CivEng) for winning UQ EMCR Industry Engagement Awards. Daniel Dunn (SENV and CBCS) and Ben Hankamar (IMB) should also be congratulated for leading successful ARC Discovery proposals, ‘Understanding marine migratory connectivity for more sustainable oceans’ and ‘Structure-guided optimisation of light-driven microalgae cell factories’, respectively. Well done everyone. Last but not least, Carissa Klein should also be congratulated on her excellent award – see below in the newsletter for details.

Of particular note in this newsletter is the deployment of the first large buoys in the Moreton Bay sensory buoy network. This project was initiated by Ron Johnstone (SEES) back before Covid and has been a long time in the realisation. Congratulations to Karen Cheney and the MBRS team for finally pulling this challenging project together and getting the first buoys deployed with help from Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC) and the Moreton Bay Marine Park rangers. This represents a great step-change in the way we can monitor and study Moreton Bay.

Just a brief update on the recruitment of a new Boating and Diving Manager. Despite the very tight funding environment, funding was secured for this very important position from the Faculties of Science and EAIT, and from UQ Skills. The position was advertised, and we’ve just finished interviewing a strong pool of applicants. We hope to make an appointment soon, and we will keep you updated as this progresses. Many thanks to Kelly Cosgrove and Ted Simmonds for their efforts in securing this role and leading the recruitment process.

Finally, I just want to wish everyone a happy Christmas and hope that you have a good, well-earned break to recharge the batteries. It’s been a long year but a productive one for CMS and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again in 2024. Many thanks to Sheridan, Chris and Karen for their hard work and support over the year, and to our various partners at HIRS, MBRS (especially Kevin and Stuart) and in the Faculty office (Ted, Kelly, Brenda, and Marlin). It’s good to be part of a great team.

Kind Regards,

Professor Michael Noad
Director - Centre for Marine Science