mars-header-with-logob

NEWSLETTER

April 2017

Dear colleague,
The 2017 MARS Directors Meeting has been held at Santander, Spain last January. The discussions during and after the meeting have been lively and fruitfull. Most certainly the perfect local organisation of the event has contributed to the success of the meeting. The meeting has resulted in recommendations for the scoping, strengthening of the group ethos, and the agenda of activities of our network, as you may read in this newsletter.

With kind regards, Herman Hummel, President of MARS

In this issue:

- MARS and WAMS
- MARS Directors Meeting 2017
- Executive Board: new members and news
- MARS Travel Awards
- New MARS President
- MARS Poster Awards EMBS51
- Other news


MARS and WAMS

After the directors meeting, contacts have been re-established with some of the former member networks of the WAMS initiative. It is still timely and opportune to link Marine Stations at a global scale.
The Executive Board will develop an action plan for this.

MARS Directors meeting, 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017

The possibilities for marine biodiversity research with H2020 are still limited.
The science-policy landscape for marine research networks has become crowded and competition is fierce.
Despite this, or maybe because of this, the assembly of the MARS Directors Meeting 2017 decided to keep MARS as an independent forum to promote the identity and relevance of Marine Stations and coastal marine biodiversity research.
Have a look at the executive summary or the minutes of the meeting.

Prof-A.-Eleftheriou_2
Emeritus prof. dr. Anastasios Eleftheriou was awarded the MARS Medal of Honor during the conference dinner.

New members of the Executive Board

The term of several members of the Executive Board has ended. Ferdinando Boero (Full Member), Mike Thorndyke (past President), Pierre Lasserre (co-opted for UNESCO), Ricardo Santos (co-opted for Deep Sea affairs and EU) will have to leave the board. We are very grateful for their investment in, and coordination of, MARS.
We welcome Alexander Tzetlin (MSU, Moscow, Russia) and Iwona Pawliczka (Hel - IO UG, Hel-Gdynia, Poland) as new board members (Full Member).

News from the Executive Board

The new Executive Board has met for the first time to take up (a.o.) the actions of the President Meeting. Minutes of the Executive Board meetings are available on request for MARS Members.
- MARS will change its scope and go back to its roots as a forum for Directors of Marine Stations.
- A position paper will be published to present the 'new' aims of the network.
- An overarching programme and Action Plan will be composed to demonstrate the capabilities of marine stations.
- The website World Atlas of Marine Stations will be further developed as a demonstrator of the facilities that marine stations can offer at a global scale.
- The four years term of Herman Hummel as President of MARS has ended. The statutes do not allow another extension of the term. The Executive Board has elected Matt Frost as the new President. He will take over the duties by the first of May. The members of the Executive Board thank Herman for his invaluable contributions and chairmanship.

MARS Travel Awards 2017

In 2017 the Mars Travel Awards will be awarded to:
1. Angela Bartolo of the UA-Oceanlab (Aberdeen, UK) to elucidate Malta’s seaweed biodiversity using the Germling Emergence Method and DNA Barcoding at CNRS-UPMC SB Roscoff (Roscoff, France).
Mrs Bartolo will go to Roscioff to get training in the Germling Emergence Technique, a powerful approach to reveal the cryptic macroalgal diversity in marine bioregions around the globe.
2. Andrey Lavrov MSU (Moscow, Russia) for the comparative investigation of regeneration in sponges (Porifera) at Station Marine d’Endoume (Marseille, France).
During his stay dr. Lavrov will conduct ultrastructural studies (TEM) and investigate cell proliferation during regeneration in two sponge species.

New MARS President: Dr. Matt Frost, MBA (UK)

The four years term of Herman Hummel as President of MARS has ended. The statutes do not allow another extension of the term. During the last meeting of the Executive Board, Matt Frost has been elected as the new MARS President. Matt Frost is MBA Deputy Director for policy and knowledge exchange, with particular responsibility for the Association as a membership organisation.
mattfrost
Dr. Matt Frost, MBA (UK)

Some words of the Past-President, Prof. Herman Hummel

Herman-Hummel-225x225dpi
Prof. dr. Herman Hummel, NIOZ (NL)
"It was an honour and pleasure to have presided the MARS community for the last 4 years. In these years we have seen drastic changes in the landscape of marine stations. ...........I wish the whole MARS community a new period of prosperity, with ample funding possibilities to carry out marine science." more

Best regards, Herman Hummel (Past-President)

MARS - MBA Poster Awards EMBS51 Rhodes, Greece

During the 51st EMBS Rhodes (Greece) 25-30 September 2016, the MARS and MBA contests for the best posters have been combined. In total 6 prizes have been awarded.

Other news

- DOVE Marine Laboratory offers travel grants for MARS members
- EMBS 52, save the date: the next EMBS will be organised by NIB at Piran, Slovenia from 25 - 29 September. Registration and call for abstracts are still open.