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AQUA-TNET NEWSLETTEROctober 2011
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Need for university training to address “workplace” and “life” skills
Generic skills are increasingly important to ensure employability. The objective of WP4 was to identify the generic skills necessary for a successful career in aquaculture, fisheries and aquatic resource management. In order to achieve this a survey was carried out to gather the views of stakeholders (industry, universities, research institutes) on gaps in generic skills training and best practices in delivering generic skills. Following this a survey was carried out with key people in order to prioritise the gaps in generic skills training.
The survey identified 16 skills gaps; these fall mostly into three categories: “practical/management skills”, “communication skills”, and “career and life skills”, with all groups interviewed identifying some of these skills as missing. In relation to the “efficiency” of different teaching methods it was noted that there is a tendency to better appreciate traditional teaching practices (over innovative ones); PhD students valued self-learning more highly than undergraduates and MSc students.
The main conclusion from the findings of WP4 is that there is the need for university training to address “workplace” and “life” skills, not just the more traditional and science-oriented generic skills sets. There is also the need to overcome the resistance to innovation and do a better job of “selling” the benefits of innovative teaching methods.
The survey identified 16 skills gaps; these fall mostly into three categories: “practical/management skills”, “communication skills”, and “career and life skills”, with all groups interviewed identifying some of these skills as missing. In relation to the “efficiency” of different teaching methods it was noted that there is a tendency to better appreciate traditional teaching practices (over innovative ones); PhD students valued self-learning more highly than undergraduates and MSc students.
The main conclusion from the findings of WP4 is that there is the need for university training to address “workplace” and “life” skills, not just the more traditional and science-oriented generic skills sets. There is also the need to overcome the resistance to innovation and do a better job of “selling” the benefits of innovative teaching methods.
For a start, it was completely hands-on. We had to arrive all tooled up, having followed the precise instructions we were given in advance (yes, it was a very well-organised workshop which is perhaps one of the reasons it was enjoyable!). The organisers assumed (correctly) that the participants really wanted to learn how to use some of the available software and new technologies. One major problem had been that we/they hadn't previously been able to devote a WHOLE DAY to the steep learning curve that is needed. So the session leaders were very patient and helpful, and allowed us plenty of time to make mistakes, and ask questions, and try again (and again) until we got the hang of things.
The upshot was that I and many others came away with a very positive perception of a new area of technology, with a new skill (or at least with the capacity to learn a new skill). We had not been made to feel inadequate or stupid as so often happens when we come face to face with a new piece of technology. Perhaps I only speak for myself here. But I am very grateful to the organisers, John Bostock, Mike Moulton, Bernd Ueberschaer and Clive Dove of Innovamar.
The outcomes are also encouraging. I learned how to create a podcast and since then there has been no stopping me. I attended the 2nd Marine Biodiversity Conference in Aberdeen in late September, and did four separate interviews with the 4 HCMR scientists who gave presentation there. They are now online, and if you are interested, you can hear the podcasts on the HCMR Marbigen website http://www.marbigen.org/content/interviews-imbg-scientists
I also did an interview with Goncalo Santos, the 2009 winner of the Lindsay Laird award which Alistair Lane of the EAS was kind enough to put on the EAS website. The page has had over 300 accesses to date. You too can access it at http://www.easonline.org/home/197
You can blame the organisers of this excellent workshop for my rather unbridled enthusiasm. Not bad on a Friday afternoon when there isnʼt much good cheer about!
Margaret Eleftheriou
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Researchers and industry come together for generic skills training
With a focus on generic skills for aquaculture researchers the Vocational Aqualabs project has been running over the past two years and is now nearing its end. The consortium held its final partner meeting on the 23rd October 2011 in Bodrum, Turkey where partners discussed their experiences of the courses piloted to-date. The courses include Entrepreneurship, Project Management, Research Funding Procurement, Networking – key for a successful career, Experimental Design, Data and Statistical Management and Scientific Writing.After the partner meeting, on the 24th October, AquaTT ran the Networking – key for a successful career and the Research Funding Procurement courses to over 30 participants. From identifying their personal networking type to refining their elevator pitch participants were provided with a fun interactive session during the morning and in the afternoon AquaTT presented valuable tips and know-how on how to obtain EU funding. The following day Ankara University and University of Stirling presented the Project Management course which delved into important issues including building a project team, time management, quality management and developing a risk management plan to name but a few. The courses received very positive feedback from students, researchers and industry alike.
The Entrepreneurship course has been running over several weeks and closed with a final presentation at AE2011 from European teams participating in an Aquaculture Talent Hatchery challenge (read the full article below).
The interest and feedback obtained from stakeholders and participants from the needs analysis phase to the piloting phase has validated that generic skills training is invaluable not only for researchers but for the sector as a whole. For more information on the project read the factsheet (PDF - English) or (PDF - Turkish) or visit the website at www.aqualabs.eu.
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Winning Entrepreneurs of Aquaculture Talent Hatchery (ATH) Challenge
Four teams of potential entrepreneurs, made up of aquaculture students and early stage researchers have been competing over the past number of weeks in an Aquaculture Talent Hatchery (ATH) challenge under the Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Mentorship programme. The programme is one of seven courses funded under the Vocational Aqualabs project coordinated by Ankara University, Turkey.The competition came to a head at the Aquaculture Europe conference (AE 2011) in Rhodes, Greece where the four teams showcased their business plans in a final presentation to a panel of ATH mentors and industry representatives during the fish farmer’s day.
Congratulations to the winning team from the UK who were presented with an award during the President’s reception by Bjørn Myrseth of Morpol and Serra Paixao from AQUAMAKS: Elena Piana, Stefano Carboni and Mayra Grano-Maldonado for their winning business plan for “the commercialisation of ShellPlant®: a closed system for bivalve farming”.
Well done to all of the students for their hard work and dedication; from Ireland: Maria O’Mahoney, Sarah O’Sullivan and James Dooley for their
business plan on cutting edge lobster cultivation technology “Lobster Alive”, from Spain: Claudio Fuentes Grünewald, Javier López Luna and Olga Mª Felip Arias for their business plan on sustainable production of marine microalgae oil to replace fish oil in fish feed production “Microoilfeed” and from Greece: Antonios Chalaris, Elena Kaimakoudi and Amalia Mitsoura for their business plan on Omega 3 rich oil (85%) for human consumption based on the utilisation of aquaculture and fisheries by-products “MedMarPlus”.The ATH trainers John Bostock, Panos Christofilogiannis and Clive Dove and the participating students would like to take this opportunity to thank the ATH mentors for their support; Mr. Gustavo Larrazábal A. (Grupo Tinamenor - Spain), Prof. Patrick Smith (Tethys Aquaculture Ltd - UK), Mr. John Stefanis (Selonda Group - Greece) and Dr. Gerry Mouzakitis (Gourmet Marine Ltd - Ireland) and all those involved in the training; Gavin Burnell (UCC - Ireland), Jerónimo Chirivella (Innovamar - Spain) and the competition judges: Bjørn Myrseth, Morpol Board Member (2011 FEAP EXCELLENCE AWARD RECIPIENT); Savvas Agrotis, Sargo Aquaculture Ltd. Founder & Owner; Levent Kayi, SKRETTING Turkey General Manager.
For more information on the Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Mentorship programme visit http://www.aquaculturetalent.com/ and the Vocational Aqualabs project http://www.aqualabs.eu/.
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FORCE kick-off meeting, 23-25 November 2011, Alexandria, Egypt
FORCE (Fishing and aquaculture-Oriented Research Capacity in Egypt) is an EU funded seventh framework programme (FP7) project. FORCE is designed to enhance the capacity of the Egyptian National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, NIOF, to carry out research activities aimed at supporting the implementation of sound and science-based policies for the sustainable development of fishing and aquaculture in Egypt, as well as in the whole Mediterranean North African region.
The overall scientific objectives of FORCE are to identify potential for more efficient cooperation between EU research institutions and NIOF, focusing on fishing and aquaculture as means of development of Science and Technology and increasing sustainable yields; to support NIOF in developing a "tool-box" for environmental impact assessment of aquaculture activities; to disseminate the best practices and to raise awareness among scientists, fishery inspectors and policy makers. The project will run for 30 months. The project will kick-off with a meeting to be held in Alexandria, Egypt 23-25 November 2011.
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Free course: “Marine Operations for Marine Energy Projects”, 25 November 2011, Orkney, Scotland
A free course on “Marine Operations for Marine Energy Projects” will be held on the 25th November 2011 at Orkney College Maritime Studies Building, Stromness, Orkney, Scotland. Topics to be covered during this course are: Introduction to Marine Operations, Typical Marine Conditions, Vessels, Equipment and Personnel, Method Planning, Permitting and Marine Accidents / Health and Safety. Participation is free and registrations will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis as places are limited. Please register by emailing Fiona MacIsaac at fiona.macisaac@aquatera.co.uk. Download the flyer here (PDF). We would be very grateful if you could also bring this announcement to the attention of your colleagues who may also be interested in attending.This course is part of a series of new face-2-face courses being developed by the Aqua-RET consortium. For more information on the Aqua-RET 2 project visit www.aquaret.com.
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HEALTHY FUTURES 2nd partner meeting a success
The FP7 HEALTHY FUTURES project which launched in January of this year held its 2nd partner meeting in Kampala, Uganda, 10-11 October 2011. The consortium, consisting of 8 African based and 7 
European based partners spent two days in Kampala discussing the progress of the work carried out in the first year to date, and the activities to be carried out in year 2.The project aims to construct a disease risk mapping system for three water-related, high-impact vector-borne diseases (malaria, Rift Valley fever and schistosomiasis) in Africa, taking into account environmental/climatic trends and changes in socio-economic conditions to predict future risk.
Members of the consortium spent the day after the meeting visiting study sites for schistosomiasis to gain an oversight of the ecology, population characteristics and socio-economic environment, and a feel for the challenges health workers in the region face. The proposed study sites lie along shores the of Lake Albert in the western arm of the East African Rift Valley where Uganda borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo and are in the districts of Buliisa and Hoima.
For more information on the project please visit the project website www.healthyfutures.eu or contact David Taylor (Coordinator) taylord@tcd.ie or Paul Lowen paul@aquatt.ie
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AquaTT active at AE2011, 18-21 October 2011, Rhodos, Greece
AquaTT had an eventful time during the Aquaculture Europe 2011 event in Rhodos last month (18-21 October 2011). AquaTT presented its many projects and services, all related to the European marine sector.Educational projects include Aqua-tnet – the biggest educational network in its field in Europe, Aqua-RET 2 – dealing with vocational training in marine renewable energy technologies, INTRANEMMA - an innovation transfer network for Mediterranean Mariculture and Vocational Aqualabs – which held presentations from young entrepreneurs from the UK, Greece, Spain and Ireland who were competing under the Aquaculture Talent Hatchery (ATH) challenge and Mentorship programme for which the winning team (UK) was awarded during the Presidents Reception.
Ongoing EC FP7 research projects that AquaTT is involved in include 4 projects presented during the EU forum: AQUAEXCEL, COEXIST, AquaInnova and AQUAMED. Other projects represented were MarineTT – European Marine Research Knowledge Transfer and Uptake of Results, Marine Genomics for Users (MG4U), ARRAINA, SOCIOEC, MYFISH, SEA4SOCIETY and FORCE. AquaTT are also involved in Seafare under the Atlantic Area Programme.
One of the highlights during the event was the Lindsay Laird Award presentation, which is awarded for the most innovative poster (in English) submitted by a student concerning research in any one of the following areas: Environmental impact in aquaculture, New species, Hatcheries/early life history, Stock production, Fish diseases, New technologies, or Genetics/genomics. This year was the 10th anniversary of Lindsay Laird’s death, giving us an opportunity to remind ourselves of this remarkable woman, who moved easily between the rival spheres of teaching, research and industry, excelling in all three. This year’s winner is Carolina de Haro, from the University of Almeria, Spain, with a study which opened a new window in aquaculture feeding alternatives to fish meal.
AquaTT is a Knowledge Management Partner for the Marine Sector in Europe, which aims to help science to make a difference. AquaTT’s core experience is dissemination, knowledge transfer, stakeholder engagement, education & training and project management. AquaTT works alongside Europe’s top researchers to help tackle major societal challenges by ensuring the new knowledge generated from EU research is effectively transferred resulting in uptake and measurable impact.
Visitors to the AquaTT stand were treated to freebies such as the new COEXIST highlighter, the AquaTT notepad and the MarineTT and AquaTT adhesive screen cleaners. If you are interested in receiving these innovative gifts, please contact marieke@aquatt.ie.
For more information on AquaTT please visit our website www.aquatt.ie
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Opportunity: Call extension for LarvaNet STSM!
The COST network "LarvaNet" is pleased to announce the extension of the 6th call for STSM applications. LarvaNet encourage all potential applicants to consider the objectives of LarvaNet and to apply according to the STSM Guidelines (further details: www.larvanet.org/STSM.php) or contact the LarvaNet STSM-Chair B. Ueberschaer (bueberschaer@ifmgeomar.de). Missions which are approved for funding in this call have to be accomplished within the period from the 1st to the 31st of December 2011. View the flyer (PDF) here.BACK to top
ASEM Aquaculture Health Newsletter - September edition
The September edition of the ASEM Aquaculture Health Newsletter has now been published at http://www.fishfuture.co.uk/Newsletter03/Newsletter03.html. This edition features news from the recent European Association of Fish Pathologists meeting and details of collaboration between Nofima and the Central Institutes of Brackishwater and Freshwater Aquaculture in India on genetic sequencing of rohu carp and tiger shrimp for disease research.BACK to top
Extension for Abstract Submission of Australasian Aquaculture 2012
The Program Committee of Australasian Aquaculture 2012 has extended the Call for Papers deadline until 30 November 2011. Please submit your abstract online at https://www.was.org/AA12/Abstracts/Default.aspx For assistance, please contact sarah-jane.day@aquaculture.org.au For further information on Australasian Aquaculture 2012 visit www.aquaculture.org.auBACK to top
Lindsay Laird Innovation in Aquaculture Award 2011
In the ten years since the death of Lindsay Laird, four students have won this prestigious award for the best student poster in innovation in 
aquaculture.In order to encourage student participation in the award, AQUATT has always set wide-ranging eligible research areas. This policy has proved more and more effective as student entries have steadily increased in both quantity and quality, resulting in a record 95 student submissions at the 2011 EAS Conference in Rhodes, where the award event took place.
This year’s award (laptop worth 500 euros together with a variety of books donated by both Springer and Wiley) was won by Carolina de Haro, from the University of Almeria, Spain, with a study which opened a new window in aquaculture feeding alternatives to fish meal. (You should read her winning abstract to discover exactly what this novel additive consists of!). Title of the winning poster: "NUTRITIVE ADAPTATION IN NILE TILAPIA (OREOCHROMIS NILOTICUS) TO TENEBRIO MOLLITOR MEAL AS PROTEIN SOURCE DIET: EFFECT IN FISH GROWTH AND PERFORMANCE". Download the poster from http://www.aquatt.ie/index.php/250/lindsay-laird-2011-innovation-in-aquaculture-award/
There is another aspect to this award. The four Lindsay Laird award winners, who carried out their studies in Germany, Holland, Portugal and Spain, demonstrate in a very positive way, the potential and the strengths of the European higher education reforms.
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Citizens Quizzed on Climate Change in the Seas and Ocean – who do they trust and what do they know?
This report provides a brief overview of the opinions expressed by 10,000 European citizens on marine climate change risks and impacts through a polling exercise commissioned by CLAMER. View the report at http://www.clamer.eu/images/stories/deliverables/deliverable%202%202%20%20polling%20report%20%20-%20final%20v3.pdfBACK to top
| 4. AQUA-TNET Calendar |
Please check the Aqua-tnet calendar for a complete overview of upcoming events, conferences and workshops
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BibMail is a biweekly updated overview of the content tables of the major aquaculture-relevant scientific journals.
To go to the BibMail archive on the Aqua-tnet site please CLICK HERE
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Information of Interest is a biweekly updated overview of interesting publications, reports, and manuals relating to aquaculture in a broad sense, with links to the respective files or information points.
To go to the Information of Interest website link on the Aqua-tnet site please CLICK HERE
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AquaTT's Training News is a free monthly electronic newsletter. With the latest news from the European education 
community, opportunities for collaboration, announcements and a student corner, Training News is an important dissemination channel for education and training opportunities for the aquaculture and fisheries sectors.
CLICK HERE for the latest AquaTT Training News and Announcements (October 2011)
Please email news@aquatt.ie to submit your news which will reach almost 6,000 international subscribers interested in aquaculture and related sectors of education.
PiscesTT Jobs is a free online recruitment service used by over 300 companies globally. The innovative system, updated daily, lists jobs, PhD vacancies and student placements in Aquaculture, Fisheries and Marine Science worldwide. This service facilitates human resource development in the industry.
At the moment 2 interesting jobs/study opportunities. If you are interested in viewing or posting a job vacancy please go to http://www.piscesttjobs.com/ or contact aquatt@aquatt.ie Subscribe at http://www.piscesttjobs.com/feeds/ for live RSS updates of new job postings.
About AQUA-TNET
This update is published by the Aqua-tnet Secretariat. Please forward this mail to any colleagues that may be interested. For further information e-mail aquatnet@aquatt.ie All old Aqua-tnet Newsletters and other Aqua-tnet information is archived on the Aqua-tnet website ().
Aqua-tnet welcomes any feedback regarding content, presentation and user-friendliness of the newsletter. If you would like to post a notice, news item or event details on the next issue of the Aqua-tnet Newsletter or on the Aqua-tnet website, please send details to Marieke Reuver at marieke@aquatt.ie or aquatnet@aquatt.ie.
DISCLAIMER: AQUA-TNET provides this newsletter as a free service to its partners. Most of the information is provided by AQUA-TNET. Where it is not, the source of the news is provided in the text of the news brief or else AQUA-TNET attributes the news to the coordinating body as the "Data Source Provider". In no way does this newsletter intend to wrongly or inappropriately claim projects, news, etc. as its own nor is it responsible for incorrect information provided from other sources. The AQUA-TNET Newsletter is a dissemination tool and forum for both AQUA-TNET and its partners.