Last month I had the privilege of flying to Dublin to attend this year’s “Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life” conference, also known as Aquatic Noise 2016. Not only was I able to present the first two chapters of my PhD thesis, but I was able to contribute to the conference itself as part of the Media Committee.
Members of CMST attending the Aquatic Noise 2016 Conference in Dublin
Over 300 people from 23 countries attended the week-long conference, including representatives from universities, government research institutions, fisheries, and industry groups. Talks were given regarding a variety of acoustic topics, including descriptions of noise sources, sound propagation analyses, and the responses of numerous animal species. Conference attendees also included ten members of my lab, the Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST). It was great to head overseas as a team, presenting our research to an international audience!
My talk was part of the student speed sessions – five minutes to describe our research and findings, followed by an evening poster session where we had the chance to answer questions, engage in discussions, and network. I feel the talk went well, despite my nerves. I’m much more used to interactive presentations involving members of the public than presenting to seasoned professional scientists. But even without any audience participation, dramatic displays or unexpected explosions, I think I did alright! You can view my poster by clicking here: Marley AN2016 Poster.
Being on the Media Committee meant I was part of a team responsible for promoting the conference, particularly our public evening. This was attended by over 70 members of the public, who had an evening of lectures and short videos (more about this in my next post!). I was also involved in live-tweeting the conference. This was a way of extending the conference reach to the masses, scientists or otherwise, by posting summaries of each talk on Twitter under the conference hashtag. I’ve now summarised each day of talks as a separate story using a combination of Tweets from myself and other conference attendees, which are available for anyone to read using the links below:
https://storify.com/sarahmarley86/aquatic-noise-2016-day-1
https://storify.com/sarahmarley86/an2016-effects-of-noise-on-behaviour-and-physiolog
https://storify.com/sarahmarley86/aquatic-noise-2016-day-3
Dr Sarah Marley 