2019 POGO-PML Shipboard Training Fellowship onboard ANDREX cruise

General Information

14 Feb 2019 to 10 Apr 2019

Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO) announces a special Fellowship for on-board training on an Antarctic Deep Water Rates of Export (ANDREX) Cruise in partnership with Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) in the UK. One berth has been reserved on the next ANDREX cruise (ANDREX II) for the selected candidate. The programme is designed to promote training and capacity building leading towards a global observation scheme for the oceans.

The ANDREX Programme

The ocean has absorbed a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 since the industrial revolution. The Southern Ocean is an area of deep water formation and thereby Carbon transport to the Ocean interior. The Antarctic Deep Water Rates of Export (ANDREX) cruise section (Figure 1) is part of the international effort to quantify this Carbon sink. The section encompasses the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) to the north and Weddell Sea to the south where deep water formation and Carbon sequestration take place. By quantifying the hydrography, age of water masses and their carbonate system we aim to quantify this transport under the UK Ocean Regulation of Climate by Heat and Carbon Sequestration and Transports (ORCHESTRA) programme (https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/orchestra/). The ANDREX section is a repeat-hydrographic section, previously occupied in 2009/10 and approximately under the WOCE S4A section in 1996 (https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/woce/). Such repeat observations allow us to constrain changes in anthropogenic Carbon and heat export over time.

The ANDREXII cruise will start and finish in the Falkland Islands and will take place on-board the RRS James Clark Ross (https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/rrs-james-clark-ross/) with a team of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOC). The POGO fellow will assist with carbonate chemistry (Dissolved Inorganic Carbon, pH, pCO2) and Oxygen sampling and measurements.

Documents available to download:

POGO-PML ANDREXII Fellowship Announcement 2019

POGO-PML ANDREXII Fellowship Poster

Priority areas

One fellowship is being offered, and the successful candidate will focus on the area of work specified below, in which he or she should have a particular scientific interest:

Lead PI: Dr. Vassilis Kitidis (vak@pml.ac.uk (link sends email))

Co-PI: Mr Ian Brown (iaian2@pml.ac.uk (link sends email))

Research area: Carbonate and Oxygen chemistry

This topic aligns with the research interests of the Principle Investigators from PML, who will be the supervisor(s) of the Fellow during the training period.

What is offered

The selected candidate will have the opportunity to visit Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) for one month prior to the start of the cruise to participate in cruise preparation and planning; and to go on the cruise (14th February to 10th April 2019) to help make biogeochemical observations (carbonate and oxygen chemistry).

Total period of Fellowship: 14th January to 10th April 2019. Candidates should be available to participate for the full period.

Application

Who can apply

This fellowship program is open to early career scientists, technicians, postgraduate students (PhD or MSc) and Post-doctoral Fellows involved in oceanographic work at centres in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

For a list of currently eligible countries, visit this page on the OECD website.

How to apply

The applicant needs to e-mail the PIs listed above with a short CV and a statement of interest outlining their current research and what they hope to gain from the training. This fellowship would suit a candidate with an environmental science or analytical interest/background. Based on the information submitted by the applicant, the PI will decide if their profile is suitable for the project, and if so will issue an acceptance letter.

Lead PI: Dr. Vassilis Kitidis (vak@pml.ac.uk (link sends email))

Co-PI: Mr Ian Brown (iaian2@pml.ac.uk (link sends email))

Important note: the prospective supervisor should be contacted as soon as possible, and no later than 10 October 2018, to allow sufficient time for the supervisor to consider the application before the submission deadline.

Only when the acceptance letter has been obtained from the prospective host supervisor can the application be submitted. Fellowship applicants should complete and submit the electronic application form (click on the APPLY HERE link at bottom of this section) together with a recommendation letter from the parent supervisor and a letter of acceptance from the prospective host supervisor. Additionally, the parent supervisor recommendation letter needs to be submitted as a hard copy.

Please note that the application form includes sections on the applicant's background and training requirements, capacity building intentions, a summary CV, and a fellowship proposal. In case of unstable internet connections, we recommend preparing this text in an offline document, then copy-pasting into the online form.

If short-listed, the candidate may be asked to undergo an informal telephone/video conferencing interview.

Applications and recommendation letters should be written in English and letters submitted/uploaded in pdf format. It is recommended that descriptive sections be limited to about 100 - 150 words. Please use font sizes of 10 pt or larger. Only applications that are complete in all respects will be considered for the Fellowship.

Mail signed original parent supervisor recommendation letter to:

POGO Secretariat

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Prospect Place, The Hoe

Plymouth

Devon PL1 3DH

United Kingdom

Deadline: The deadline for applications for the 2019 fellowship is 17 October 2018. All applicants will be informed of the decision within one month of the deadline.

Review process

Representatives from POGO and PML will review the applications. In their decision-making, the Selection Committee will consider the following points:

Quality of the application;
Curriculum of the applicant;
Evidence that the training will lead to capacity-building with potential lasting impact on regional observations.

Terms

The fellowship will provide the costs of a round-trip ticket between the home institute of the trainee and Plymouth; subsistence allowance for up to 1 month’s stay in the UK depending on the particulars of the proposed training (at a rate of 1035 EUR per month); the flight to and from the Falkland Islands; accommodation in UK; accommodation in the Falkland Islands; ship messing fee; seafaring medical and sea survival course.
The trainee’s institute will bear all expenses incurred by the fellow in his/her own nation (domestic travel, visa costs, personal insurance etc.), and the host institute (PML) will waive any bench fees that they may normally charge trainees.
POGO assumes no responsibility for compensation in the event of sickness, accident, death or disability of a Fellowship holder, nor does it arrange for insurance of a trainee or reimburse premiums paid therefore. It is the responsibility of the trainee to arrange travel insurance to cover the time taken to travel to the ship and for the subsequent return home, as well as to ensure suitable insurance cover is provided by the parent institute for the duration of the cruise.
The trainees are not considered agents or members of the staff of POGO, and shall not be entitled to any privileges, immunities, compensation or reimbursements, except as otherwise provided herein, nor are the trainees authorised to commit POGO to any expenditure or other obligation.
The trainee and the supervisors at the parent and host institutes are required to provide a short progress report at the end of the training period, to evaluate the success of the fellowship programme.