Nikki, Sally, and Jan had a blast at the SAEF conference in Adelaide. Held at the National Library, it was the first time that many of the participants in SAEF had the opportunity to meet one another!

The ‘Connect’ dream team – from L to R, Sally, Jan, Nikki, and Nerida Wilson.

Biggest congratulations to Sally Lau, who together with Rachael Lappan, was the inaugural recipient of the SAEF biddable Research funding. Aimed at ECRs, it’s an initiative designed to support innovative, high-risk science. Go Sally!

Jan was delighted to meet Alun Thomas, Mawson’s grandson, who gave an inspiring speech about his Grandad. Alun now volunteers at the South Australian Museum where he works on accessioning his grandad’s valuable collections.

Nikki, Sally, Nerida, and Jan sampled Antarctic marine invertebrates at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). We collected tissue samples to investigate evolutionary processes in the Southern Ocean, and also prepared the samples to be accessioned at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).

At the Australian Antarctic Division. Sunny, but nippy for Townsvillians!

Check out those invertebrates! (and our PPE).

Big thanks for all your work helping us accession these valuable samples Kirrily Moore at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).

Big thanks to Glenn Johnstone, Jonny Stark and Kirrily Moore for all their help!

In her capacity as Editor-in-Chief of Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, Jan was invited by Ocean Sciences at Springer to write a blog for World Oceans Day, Monday 8 June. In the piece, Jan outlines that World Oceans Day is a moment to celebrate, and reflect upon, the critical role oceans play in our lives. She also argues that International collaboration and evidence-based policy are critical for our future oceans.

Jan and Phoebe visited Southern Ocean Mariculture (SOM) in Port Fairy, Victoria at the start of July to collect samples for Phoebe’s honours project. Phoebes project, supported by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Australian Abalone Growers Association, seeks to test established methods of early prediction of genetic merit in abalone broodstock. It was freezing in Port Fairy in comparison to sunny Townsville, but great to see the abalone growth and the impressive technology and set up at SOM! Thanks for hosting us!

Jan gave a plenary lecture at the 8th International Barcode of Life Conference in Trondheim, Norway on June 19. Jan spoke about “Dating the West Antarctic ice sheet collapse using molecular sequence data.” The conference was great – loads of metabarcoding presentations including monitoring freshwater and marine environments and also using barcoding to ascertain the ingredients in foods. Great to catch up with old friends and make new ones and see a little bit of beautiful Norway!

Last week Sally and Jan, together with Nerida Wilson from Western Australian Museum, visited our collaborators Prof Tim Naish and A/Prof Nick Golledge at the Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand to discuss about how the past Antarctic Ice Sheet configurations influenced population genetics in the Southern Ocean. We aim to combine genetics and glaciology to reconstruct the past collapses of West Antarctic Ice sheet. Watch this space!

During our trip to New Zealand we also took the opportunity to visit the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Wellington to sample benthic critters for our Southern Ocean genetics projects. With a wealth of Antarctic biodiversity preserved, this collection is like a treasure box to us! Thank you Sadie Smith for hosting us!  

Well done to PhD student Sally Lau who won an Antarctic Science International Bursary!

The bursary will help Sally to extend her PhD work on understanding how seascape dynamics structures octopus genetic variation in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean.