Ocean Voices Fellows, Kalene Eck and Maila Guilhon, attended Ocean Science Meeting in April 2024. Both attendees participated in events, sharing insights and perspectives on a range of topics, including the fostering of partnerships in the Ocean Decade and increasing collaboration in ocean science research. The Nippon Foundation-University of Edinburgh Ocean Voices Fellows, Ms Kalene Eck and Dr Maila Guilhon recently attended the Ocean Science Meeting 2024 (OSM) in New Orleans. OSM has left with many participants with new knowledge, ideas to develop research, and a renewed sense of motivation for exploring solutions for common issues faced by our oceans. Halls teamed with young bright university students, professors, and ocean science professionals ready to present their work and engage in dialogue to further advance knowledge. Ms Kalene Eck and Dr Maila Guilhon at the the Ocean Science Meeting 2024. Topics ranged from deep-sea research, technological innovation, coastal processes, marine resource use, and equity and diversity in ocean science. While core sciences and technical talks remained as its central talks, sessions have expanded to include social interests, arts, and policy. A particular hot-button topic during OSM was mCDR (Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal) which garnered a mix of interest and debate. The first data from Ocean Voices Fellow, Maila Guilhon, and her Fellowship research on gender and Early Career Ocean Professionals in Brazil was presented as a poster during the conference. Ocean Voices Fellows also took part in two events. First, the Town Hall “Fostering Partnerships by Building on the Framework of the Ocean Decade” organised by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where Ocean Voices shared insights and perspectives on how to strengthen partnerships from the perspective of local communities all the way up to international scale. Secondly, Ocean Voices Fellows were invited to participate in the workshop “Advancing Achievements Through Increasing Collaboration in Ocean Sciences Research: Fostering Multi-Sectoral Actions” on how to foster the generation of solutions through research opportunities, innovations, methodologies, lessons learned, best practices and inter-agency initiatives. The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hosted the workshop. Dr Maila Guilhon's poster at the the Ocean Science Meeting 2024. Delegates for the United Nations Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development were present and hosted sessions on coastal resilience and the development of Vision 2030. Calls for collaboration with OceanObs’19 may present the link between science to policy and a missing key in working towards achieving Vision 2030. Many science-policy sessions garnered the interest of young scientists. Sessions were packed with people eager to learn how to navigate the policy environment and become more engaged. Going forward, there would be value in building out these policy engagement sessions to include in-depth science-policy issues regarding ocean management, outside of US-based context, that also touches on real-world issues. The active contribution to the events by Kalene and Maila offered valuable insights and perspectives on fostering partnerships in the Ocean Decade and enhancing collaboration in ocean science research. Stay tuned by following Ocean Voices on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Join the conversation. This article was published on 2024-05-20
