Education & Policy Sessions List

Participants may submit an abstract to one of these sessions in addition to one abstract submitted to either a scientific or contributed session. (Two abstracts total).

EP001 Face to Face With Diversity and Inclusion Experiences in Aquatic Sciences

Elizabeth Leon-Palmero, University of Southern Denmark & Princeton University (ell@sdu.dk)
Núria Catalán, USGS/LSCE-CNRS (ncatalangarcia@gmail.com)
Anna Lupon, Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes(CEAB-CSIC) (alupon@ceab.csic.es)
Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma, Spain (pablo.rodriguez@uib.es)

Diversity in science refers to cultivating talent and promoting the full inclusion of excellence across the social spectrum. This social spectrum has many dimensions that include, but are not limited to: gender, age, race, ethnicity, disability status, nationality, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background. Still, the scientific community lacks social diversity, especially regarding the participation of women, people with disabilities, racial minorities, and other underrepresented groups. The underrepresentation of these groups leads to social inequity and to a great loss of talent. In this regard, many initiatives are trying to increase the visibility of underrepresented groups in science, raise awareness of inequities, and develop new strategies to promote their inclusion. In this session, we aim to raise awareness on the importance of diversity and inclusion in Aquatic Sciences. We welcome contributions aiming at: 1) promoting the visibility of underrepresented groups, 2) identifying the challenges faced by these groups, or 3) sharing experiences that improve their inclusion in scientific environments. This Special Session will be organized by the Diversity and Inclusion Commission of SIBECOL and the Gender and Science Group of AIL (Iberian Association of Limnology). These commissions aim to act as an observatory of diversity within their societies, foster the visibility of those groups that have been historically excluded from the scientific community, and propose recommendations for improving equality in academia.

EP004 Exploring the Emotional Connection Between Society and the Ocean

Luisa Galgani, GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany) and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute of Florida Atlantic University (USA) (lgalgani@geomar.de)
Chiara Certomà, Department ESOMAS, University of Turin (Italy) (chiara.certoma@unito.it)
Ngozi Oguguah, Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research Lagos (Nigeria) (ngozimoguguah@yahoo.com)
Ana Fernandez Carrera, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemuende (Germany) (ana.carrera@io-warnemuende.de)
Allison Fong, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar und-Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven (Germany) (allison.8.fong@gmail.com)

Various types of marine pollution are amongst the most relevant problems that we are facing today, whose irreversible consequences are already affecting global ecosystems’ balance and services. Ongoing initiatives advanced by both public and private institutions, as well as environmental NGOs, mainly consist of monitoring and awareness-raising campaigns and citizens' science processes to prevent or reduce littering and polluting activities, or -more limitedly- end-of-pipe waste collection infrastructures (e.g. the Blue Growth initiative of the European Commission). This special session welcomes cross-cutting thematic studies, case studies and fertile ideas for potential actions across the natural and the social disciplines, featuring engagement, education and social innovation examples that address the ocean as the core of all human health and thriving. We also welcome proposals of new tools and processes to promote a new narrative of emotional connection and literacy to face the pressing challenges for the resiliency of the ocean and all life that depends upon it. Most of the related research frames within a utilitarian conception of the economic importance of seas and oceans, including resource extraction for food or energy), logistic or leisure activities, and contemporary geopolitics and marine bordering. This managerial approach often characterises sea governance research and social-technical innovation against marine pollution, whose function is mainly interpreted as devoted to efficient planning and management. This is quite at odds with the evidence that the blueprint for future environmental governance requires a more inclusive and integrated way of thinking, drawing increasingly on not just economic values but also taking account of social and cultural values, whilst participatory modes of governance support effective management that are being increasingly adopted. Notably transformative and co-creative potential of the civic agency has been mobilised for both exploring and seeking potential solutions for tackling marine sustainability challenges. Nevertheless, the emotional, affective and care-based connection between society and the oceans has been scarcely investigated, despite the ocean’s role in sustaining life and cultural heritage lays at the core of the strategies and visions of the UN Decade for Ocean Sciences. The sea remains a largely unexplored space for turning knowledge into action via effective and wide social mobilisation. The ocean is the focus of this session: however, we encourage contributions related to freshwater environments of particular societal and economical relevance to explore potential ideas and share experiences (and challenges) in reconciling our society with the aquatic world.

Key words: ocean literacy, society&ocean, marine pollution, civic engagement, marine education

EP005 Adventures, Challenges, and Benefits of Conducting International Collaborative Research

Brittany Schieler, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (communications@aslo.org)
Adina Paytan, University of California Santa Cruz (apaytan@ucsc.edu)
Mike Pace, University of Virginia (pacem@virginia.edu)
Linda Duguay, University of Southern California (duguay@usc.edu)

Aquatic sciences are increasingly global in nature, transcending political boundaries and requiring collaboration with foreign scientists and working in other countries. Planning and executing collaborative research projects overseas, however, is not trivial. Challenges include communicating with scientists in a different country, obtaining funding for international work, overcoming technical obstacles such as shipping and permits, and navigating language and cultural barriers. The recent global pandemic has added a new layer of challenge to carrying out international research. We invite participants of all career stages to share their experiences from both productive and not so successful adventures in conducting international collaborative research.

We seek presentations on international collaboration related to funding, identifying collaborators, executing projects, overcoming obstacles, developing teams, leveraging mutual advantages and infrastructure, handling difficulties, and successful outcomes. The session will include submissions by students participating in ASLO’s NSF-funded program “Limnology and Oceanography Research Exchange (LOREX)” which aims to foster international research collaborations through professional development and a research exchange for graduate students. We hope this session will help others avoid pitfalls, take advantage of opportunities, and increase likelihood of effective and fun international collaborations in the aquatic sciences.

EP006 Author Spotlight: Recent High-Impact Articles From the ASLO Journals

Paul Kemp, ASLO (lomethods-editor@aslo.org)
David Hambright, University of Oklahoma (lo-editor@aslo.org)
James Cloern, USGS (loletters-eic@aslo.org)
Laura Falkenberg, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (lobulletin-editor@aslo.org)
Rita Franco-Santos, CSIRO (rita.franco-santos@outlook.com)

The ASLO journal editors convene this invitation-only special session to recognize authors that published highly cited or highly downloaded articles in 2020-2021 in the ASLO family of journals: Limnology and Oceanography , Limnology and Oceanography: Methods , Limnology and Oceanography: Letters , and Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin. The ASLO journals are a success because authors publish their finest work here. We greatly appreciate the contributions of these authors to our science and to the ASLO community. This session is an opportunity to celebrate the authors and showcase their work, highlighting some of the most influential work in recent years. We invited the lead author or any co-author to present updates to the selected article, describe their evolving research directions, or present a review of the state of the art in their field. Given the broad scope of our journals, these presentations represent the breadth of the aquatic sciences, and some of the most exciting work now underway. Although our selections are based on reader interest, we note that the authors of these articles are representative of ASLO’s broad geographic reach and include several early career researchers.

Key words: ASLO publications, top cited, top downloaded