AQUA-TNET NEWSLETTER

February 2013

1. Aqua-tnet News

• Anthony Camilleri Keynote Speaker for Aqua-tnet 2013 Annual Meeting
• Aqua-tnet3 Progress Report

3. Research & Education

4. Other

7. AquaTT Training News and Announcements

8. PiscesTT Jobs

1. Aqua-tnet News

Anthony Camilleri Keynote Speaker for Aqua-tnet 2013 Annual Meeting

The keynote speaker for the Aqua-tnet 2013 Annual Meeting will be Anthony Camilleri, who is Quality Certification Manager and Policy Advisor at the European Foundation for Quality in eLearning.

 

Anthony holds qualifications in law from the University of Malta and works on topics related to quality assurance of higher and vocational education, social dimensions of education and innovation in education. He is responsible for the EFQUEL certification schemes UNIQUe and ECBCheck, and for various projects related to open education resources and practices, quality in technical and vocational training.

 

The 2013 Annual Meeting will take place at Istanbul University in Istanbul, Turkey, on 13-14 March. The activities and results of the 2nd year of the current phase (2011-2014) will be discussed along with hot topics in education and training.

 

For more information about this meeting click here. All Aqua-tnet members and stakeholders are also invited to join in discussions on the Aqua-tnet facebook page.

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Aqua-tnet3 Progress Report

The interim report is now being prepared for Aqua-tnet3. The report is due for submission in April and must contain details of all activities of partners related to Aqua-tnet3.

 

Institutions which have not already done so are requested to submit their timesheets for the first 18 month period (October 2011-March 2013) to John Bostock at j.c.bostock@stir.ac.uk by the end of March.

 

Timesheet templates and guidelines for submission are available here. Further questions should be addressed to John Bostock at j.c.bostock@stir.ac.uk .

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2. Programmes, Courses & People

To search for PhD, MSc and mobility opportunities and courses and to access information on your colleagues in Aqua-tnet3, please visit the Aqua-tnet3 interactive web portal available at http://aquatnet.djangofoo.com/. If you have any further additions or would like to make changes to your institution's information please contact Marieke Reuver at marieke@aquatt.ie

 

If you are a graduate and would like to post your request for an internship, or your company is seeking interns, please visit http://www.aquatnet.com/index.php/167/internships/.

 

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3. Research & Education

HEALTHY FUTURES – Researchers Collaborate to Explore Links Between Environmental Change and Vector-Borne Diseases in Eastern Africa

The HEALTHY FUTURES project will jointly host a symposium on links between climate and vector-borne diseases (VBDs) at the upcoming 4th East African Community Health and Scientific Conference scheduled for 27–29 March 2013 in Kigali, Rwanda. The Quantifying Weather and Climate Impacts on Health in Developing Countries (QWeCI) project is the symposium's other joint host.

The symposium will bring together researchers working towards a better understanding of the relationships between health and environment, particularly links between climate and VBDs in Africa.

A provisional programme of speakers for the symposium is included in Issue no 3 of the HEALTHY FUTURES project newsletter, which is available to download from the project website www.healthyfutures.eu or by clicking here.

HEALTHY FUTURES will be holding its 4th partners meeting at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy on 29–30 April 2013.

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Knowledge Transfer in Focus at MG4U Partner Meeting

The FP7 project Marine Genomics 4 Users (MG4U) held its fifth partner meeting in Paris on 15 February 2013. The consortium, consisting of seven partners from six countries, spent a full day discussing the progress of the work carried out to date as well as future plans.

Knowledge Transfer activities to date were given a particular focus as the facilitation of knowledge transfer, technology transfer, and technology translation between high-throughput marine genomics, industry and society is an important aspect of MG4U.

For more information, please visit the project website at www.mg4u.eu or contact Damien Guiffant, MG4U Project Manager at damien.guiffant@sb-roscoff.fr or Cliona Ní Cheallachain, the AquaTT lead in MG4U at cliona@aquatt.ie.

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Final AQUAMED Partner Meeting

AQUAMED project partners met in Larnaca, Cyprus on 21-22 February 2013.

“This is the last working meeting where the partnership will be able to discuss and decide the next steps for organising the launch of the AQUAMED Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSHP),” said Jean-Paul Blancheton, coordinator of the AQUAMED Project.

AQUAMED (The Future of Research on Aquaculture in the Mediterranean Region) is an EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) project which aims to develop a cross-functional strategy for aquaculture research in the Mediterranean region.

A multi-stakeholder platform (MSHP) will be set up to orchestrate research activities in order to promote the sustainable development of aquaculture. Its aim is to rationalise research programming in order to avoid duplication and fragmentation of research efforts, and to stimulate long-term cooperation and coordination across policy makers, the aquaculture industry and RTD performers in the Mediterranean region. It will be launched at an event to be held in Istanbul, Turkey in May 2013.

The first AQUAMED Open Multi-Stakeholder Meeting took place in Rome on the 20-21 November 2012. The aim of the meeting was to identify the research priorities in the Mediterranean aquaculture sector and to explore the potential benefits of setting up the AQUAMED MSHP. This was the first step towards a common sharing of goals to facilitate the successful and sustainable development of the aquaculture sector in the Mediterranean.

The AQUAMED factsheet is available to download here. For more information on the AQUAMED project please contact Emma Bello Gomez, Scientific Project Officer, emma@aquatt.ie.

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STAGES Website Goes Live: Connecting Science to Policy for Healthy Seas

The STAGES project website, www.stagesproject.eu, was launched on 4 February and provides detailed information on the objectives of the project, its methodologies and expected results. It will also be a source of project news and progress updates.

STAGES (Science and Technology Advancing Governance on Good Environmental Status) is an EC FP7-funded project that is directly responding to a request from DG Environment to put a support action in place to facilitate the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Under the MSFD, EU Member States are expected to assess the overall status of their respective marine environments and to put in place the necessary measures to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) by 2020, using the ecosystem approach.

The STAGES project will develop an inventory of relevant EU and national research projects and results relating to the MSFD, and make this information widely accessible to policy-makers and MSFD stakeholders through the Marine Knowledge Gate, a dynamic, searchable online portal. The STAGES consortium are in the process of surveying researchers of EU and national projects with relevance to MSFD for any new knowledge that can support the achievement of the GES. Areas with a need for further research will be identified in consultation with stakeholders. STAGES will also put forward a proposal for the establishment of a European science-policy platform to bridge the MSFD science-policy gap.

For further information about STAGES, please contact Marisa Fernández Cañamero, STAGES Coordinator (mfernandez@cetmar.org) or Raquel Diez Arenas (rdiez@cetmar.org), Centro Tecnológico del Mar - Fundación (CETMAR) www.cetmar.org.

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Summer Course on Marine Ecological & Environmental Genomics: 3-14 June 2013, Station Biologique de Roscoff, France

The ninth summer course on Marine Ecological & Environmental Genomics will be held at the Station Biologique de Roscoff, France on 3-14 June 2013.

The course, which will consist of lectures, tutorials and computer based exercises, will cover aspects of marine phylogenetics, and population genetics as well as comparative, environmental and functional genomics. The use and potential of marine genomics in industry (blue biotech), research and development will be highlighted throughout the lectures.

The deadline for applications is 28 March 2013. Advanced PhD students and junior post-docs are encouraged to apply. The course is co-organised by MG4U and Euromarine. More information and an application form are available at http://meeg2013.sciencesconf.org.

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COEXIST Reaches Final Phase of Development

The COEXIST project is now in its final phase of development, and its partners will meet in Rome, Italy, on 13-14 March 2013 to discuss its results.

The goal of the COEXIST project is to provide a roadmap to improve integration, sustainability and cooperation across the diverse activities now taking place in the European coastal zone.

Geographically diverse case studies, representing the various conditions and combinations of activities in European coastal areas, have been analysed, and the main conflicts and synergies between the activities carried out in these areas have been identified. This partner meeting will establish how these results will be incorporated in guidelines for best practice in spatial planning to integrate fisheries, aquaculture and further demands in the coastal zone.

For further information on the COEXIST project visit www.coexistproject.eu, or contact Emma Bello Gomez, Project Officer, emma@aquatt.ie.

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Call for Abstracts: 13th Symposium on Aquatic Microbial Ecology (SAME), 8-13 September 2013, Stresa, Italy

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Call for Abstracts Extended: 48th Annual European Marine Biology Symposium, 19-23 August 2013, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

The deadline for the submission of abstracts for the 48th European Marine Biology Symposium (EMBS) has been extended until 25 March 2013. The event will be hosted in the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUIG), from 19-23 August 2013. The theme of EMBS 2013 is Biodiversity in a Changing Ocean. Further information can be found at www.conference.ie or on the EMBS 2013 facebook page.

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Call for Abstracts: ICES Annual Science Conference, 23-27 September 2013, Reykjavik, Iceland

Contributions for paper (oral) and poster presentations are now being accepted for the ICES Annual Science Conference (ASC) to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland from 23-27 September 2013.The closing date for submissions is 19 April. This call is also open to students and post-doctorates who wish to apply to give presentations. Abstracts may be submitted here. For more information about the ICES ASC 2013, visit the ICES website.

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Data Collection on the Atlantic Transits of the RV Celtic Explorer, 15 April-29 May 2013

Postgraduate students are invited to apply to participate in data collection on the Atlantic transits of the RV Celtic Explorer to and from St. John’s, Newfoundland for the annual acoustic fisheries survey of the Centre for Fisheries and Ecosystem research of the Marine Institute of Memorial University, Newfoundland. The survey will focus on cod and capelin research using acoustic sampling techniques. The survey will run between 15 April and 29 May 2013. Applicants must have valid ENG 11 medical certification, STCW 95 Personal Survival Techniques (PST) certification and a valid passport. Successful applicants are expected to arrange and fund their own travel and accommodation. For more information, or to apply, email smart@gmit.ie. Applications must include a letter outlining interest, potential research activities and sea going experience and a CV. The closing date for applications is 20 March at 17:00. 

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Cedefop Newsletter no 28 - January/February 2013

"Education and Vocational Training Specialists Can Now Apply for the Next Round of Study Visits", read this and other stories in Cedefop's latest newsletter.

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InfoNet Restarts and Releases First Newsletter

InfoNet Adult Education, an agency providing information about current developments in adult education from European countries and at EU level, resumed activity in late 2012 following a one year break. InfoNet released the first issue of its newsletter, containing articles about trends in adult education in Europe, in February. For more information about InfoNet and to subscribe to this newsletter, visit http://www.infonet-ae.eu/.

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VET-Alert January and February Issues

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4. Other

AppliFish: Marine Knowledge at Your Fingertips

A new mobile app called AppliFish has been launched by iMarine. AppliFish makes marine knowledge available to anyone with a mobile device anytime, anywhere. It has complete fact sheets of over 550 marine species and can be used as a pocket-sized tool which will tell you what fish you are eating and whether it comes from a sustainable source or protected area. iMarine is an open and collaborative initiative that aims to establish a data infrastructure to support the Ecosystem Approach to fisheries management and conservation of marine living resources. To learn more about AppliFish and iMarine visit the iMarine website, www.i-marine.eu.

Awareness Raising for Adult Learning and Education Project Launched

A new project called Awareness Raising for Adult Learning and Education (ARALE), which aims to collect best practices of awareness raising and advocacy campaigns directed at the general public and policy-makers for adult education in Europe, was launched at meeting held on 4 February 2013 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The project is coordinated by The European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) with the support of two partners, the Danish Adult Education Association (DAEA) and the Estonian Non-formal Adult Education Association (ENAEA). It is funded by the European Commission´s Grundtvig programme and will run for one year. For more information about the ARALE project visit the EAEA or DAEA websites.

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Open Education Week, 11-15 March 2013

Open Education Week is taking place from 11-15 March 2013 online and in locally hosted events around the world. The purpose of Open Education Week is to raise awareness of the open education movement and opportunities it creates in teaching and learning worldwide. Participation in all events and use of all resources are free an open to everyone.

For more information visit www.openeducationweek.org.

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Please check the Aqua-tnet calendar for a live update of upcoming events, courses and workshops

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AquaTT's Training News is a free monthly e-newsletter featuring the latest announcements, news, and opportunities for collaboration from the European education community. The e-newsletter also has a section dedicated to young scientists. Training News is an important dissemination channel for education and training opportunities for aquaculture and related sectors. CLICK HERE for the latest edition.

Please email news@aquatt.ie to submit your news which will reach over 6,000 international subscribers.

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PiscesTT Jobs is a free online recruitment service used by over 300 companies globally in Aquaculture, Fisheries and Marine Science. If you are interested in viewing or posting a vacancy please go to http://www.piscesttjobs.com/ or contact aquatt@aquatt.ie Subscribe at http://www.piscesttjobs.com/feeds/ for live RSS updates.

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About Aqua-tnet

This update is published by the Aqua-tnet Secretariat. For further information e-mail aquatnet@aquatt.ie. Previous editions are archived on the Aqua-tnet website.

DISCLAIMER: AQUA-TNET provides this nesletter 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.