Our initial blog post “Student perspectives on their first scientific conference: Oceania Chondrichthyan Society, Geelong VIC 2024” prompted the continuation of this series. In this instalment, we learn from Drs. Ana Barbosa Martins and Andrew Chin, a research fellow and the director of the Fish and Fisheries lab, respectively, to understand how their experiences at conferences compare with those of students.
Dr. Ana Barbosa Martins
ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Ana, a research fellow at the Fish and Fisheries Lab. I have more than a decade of experience in marine ecology and fisheries, with focus in areas of spatial and trophic ecology, human dimensions of fisheries resources, and conservation of sharks and rays. Here in the lab, I lead the scientific and quality review hub for the PADI Global Shark and Ray Census, as well as provide support and guidance to all students in their research projects.
CONFERENCE ATTENDED
I attended the 7th International Marine Conservation Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2024. I often prefer to attend smaller meeting, with focus on sharks and rays, fish or spatial ecology. However, I was really excited to attend this particular conference to expand my knowledge on the newest conservation strategies for marine animals.
There, I presented two talks: one for introducing the PADI Global Shark and Ray Census and inviting the community to collaborate with us, and another for sharing the preliminary results of the project I worked during my postdoc at Dalhousie University, the Global Shark Meat Project.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHT
The best part of the meeting was the diversity of talks I was able to attend. A lot of really nice work is being done across the globe in the conservation field, and we often do not hear about it because we are laser focused on one or two study groups and locations. I was delighted to hear about almost real time management strategies for mammals in Canada, various long term landings monitoring programs across the coast of Africa, among many many other cool research topics, approaches, and techniques.
MAIN CHALLENGE OF CONFERENCE
As a person with a short concentration spam, I truly struggle with the long days of attending talks and socialising. This conference was particularly challenging to me due to its various parallel sessions, which required good planning and fitness to quickly find out what session to go next and run up and down stairs to the next room.
ADVICE FOR STUDENTS
My main advice is simple, just be kind to others. Even though conferences no longer make me nervous at this stage in life, I am still very conscious of the environment being intimidating for some. Disagreement of ideas are a key aspect of science but treating others with respect during discussions and acknowledging the effort that people, especially students, put into their presentations and posters are more important to me than proving a point or dwelling on mistakes that might have been made. People will surely remember if you were nice and kind at formal and informal interactions and these could surely lead to fruitful collaborations or network connections in the future.
Dr. Andrew Chin
ABOUT ME
Hi everyone, I’m Andrew, the Director of the Fish and Fisheries Lab here at James Cook University. I’ve been working with marine parks, fishers, fisheries, and sharks and rays for about 25 years now, starting out in the tourism industry on the Great Barrier Reef, working in an aquarium, then working in the research and monitoring group at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Now as a Lab Director, I’m responsible for identifying what research needs to be done to progress our mission; overseeing these projects; securing the people and resources we need; developing and empowering our team; and connecting our people with the stakeholders and collaborators that help us achieve our career and personal goals. Our headline projects include being the scientific and quality review hub for the PADI Global Shark and Ray census; developing research projects and capacity in Asia; bycatch reduction; emerging conservation issues such as the fish maw trade; and our role in animal telemetry projects and in documenting the shark and ray meat trade.
As Lab Director, my role is to guide, develop, and apply our research capacity. Unfortunately, this means that I’m much more likely to be in meeting rooms than on the water or in a fish market, and because my focus is strategy and leadership, I rarely do my own independent research projects now. This also means that the talks I present at conferences focus on wider, strategic issues and research needs; or present a synthesis of a body of work that includes numerous projects that when put together create a picture about what is happening regarding a specific research or conservation area. This is what I presented at this conference.
CONFERENCE ATTENDED
I attended the European Elasmobranch Association conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, in October 2024. To be honest, Europe is a long way from Australia and the Philippines, and normally I would not have attended. However, I also needed to attend a meeting of the Save Our Seas Foundation Scientific Advisory Board, which was organised to coincide with the conference, so it was a great opportunity to attend my first EEA meeting.
Most EEA conference delegates probably have little direct experience with shark and ray research and conservation in Asia so I gave a talk synthesising the current conservation status and issues facing sharks and rays in our region, and to address some of the misconceptions that still persist about shark and ray conservation in Asia. Most importantly, it was an opportunity to profile the excellent work that is being done, and the talk involved many authors who contributed slides and material so I could represent the work being done in our region.
CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHT
The best part of this meeting was how welcoming and casual it was. In many ways it reminded me of an Oceania Chondrichthyan Society (OCS) conference: there was only one main session (no running between breakout rooms), and many people knew each other; it was a very casual and welcoming event. Furthermore, because I was essentially exploring a new environment, I got to learn a lot about what’s happening with shark and ray research in Europe. I remember reading posters about potential effects of offshore wind farms and energy projects on shark and ray movements, and posters on the biology and ecology of species I was unfamiliar with. I read a poster on deep sea skates that has led to a new collaboration with researchers I’d otherwise have never met. I also saw some really interesting talks on angel sharks and many ray species that we don’t have in our region, so it was really great to learn something new and to enjoy hearing about amazing species and cool new science.
I also really enjoyed being the relatively ‘unknown’ delegate at this meeting. While I knew several people there and it was great to catch up with old friends, for the most part I managed to ‘fly under the radar’. Our lab and the work we do is very far away from Europe, so I wasn’t part of the normal conference community. This meant that I had more time to listen, learn, observe, and reflect than I normally do at a conference, and more time to catch up with colleagues and old friends I hadn’t seen in years. I know this sounds horrible but sometimes at conferences, it can be exhausting for established researchers to have a long line of people who want to have meetings, students who want career advice or help with their projects, or are seeking PhD and project opportunities etc. I felt very little of this sort of pressure at this meeting which meant that I just got to enjoy the science with a schedule free of the demands and requests of other people and honestly, this was a really nice change.
Lastly, I love travelling, and Greece is a really interesting destination. The food is wonderful, and as someone who is interested in history, there were amazing museums and pieces of history around every corner. Getting to walk past Roman ruins every morning on the way to the conference venue was a highlight.
MAIN CHALLENGE OF CONFERENCE
Time management, energy management, everything to do with time. My schedule is hectic and once again, despite my best intentions, I was writing my talk in the airport and on the plane on the way to Europe. Then during the conference, I was coping with jet-lag and I was fatigued, so staying focused, trying to get to sleep at night, and being alert and engaged the next morning was a real challenge.
I still get a little nervous giving talks, especially when you’re talking to a group of people who don’t know you so you are being judged 100% on your talk. Furthermore, because I was representing our region and the work of a lot of people, I wanted to give a high quality, informative, and memorable talk. I wanted to have clear, important key messages that stuck with the audience. Trying to do that when you’ve written the talk on the plane, you’re tired and jet lagged, and you haven’t been able to practice the talk as much as you’d like, raises the anxiety level a little.
Lastly, demands on time again. I missed 30-40% of the talks and sessions because I was in meetings. This meant missing some talks I’d liked to have seen, and also more energy expenditure.
ADVICE FOR STUDENTS
There is a lot of good advice our there with tips and strategies for having a ‘successful’ scientific conference. For example, this article from Oxford contains many good tips, that are probably pretty widespread https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/first-academic-conference. My personal tips are:
Have a clear objective for the conference. Why are you attending and what does ‘success’ look like for you? Make sure you know that and keep that objective in mind throughout the event.
Have your elevator pitch ready – this is really important and there are lots of tips on how to do this.
Do not try to attend every talk. Most of the talks will probably be published anyway so the knowledge will be available to you later. What won’t be available is the people at the conference. Go to conferences to connect with people. The people you meet could be your next boss, collaborator, supervisor, student, or a new, trustworthy comrade in arms to help you navigate the challenging profession of science. Socialising can be dauting, especially if you want to talk with a tired, busy established researcher that everyone else also wants to meet with (see above). However, we are also here to meet emerging scientists. Here are some good tips on how to socialise at a conference: https://clioandthecontemporary.com/2022/03/28/tips-for-attending-an-academic-conference-alone/
Be genuine, be yourself. Do not try to put on a performance to convince people that you are somebody you are not, or have knowledge and experience you don’t have. If you’re nervous, say so – we all remember our first conferences and we’re all human. If someone judges you for being nervous, well, you probably wouldn’t want to work with that person anyway.
Bearing in mind the tip above – yes - be yourself, but be the best professional version of yourself. First impressions matter. I still recall an honours student who gave a talk in flip flops, board shorts, and a tattered surf t-shirt. I cannot remember his talk. I do remember thinking thate it looked like he didn’t really care about the talk he was giving, or about the conference we were in, or about representing his work, lab, or his university. I remember thinking that if I was a manager or stakeholder, I wouldn’t take him seriously. I remember thinking that he’d have to work harder than the other students in his session to convince me to take him on.
Lastly, stay balanced. Get good sleep, monitor and manage your energy, sleep, make time to process and reflect on new information and interactions, hydrate. Look after the human you.
That’s just a few tips, there are many many others. The F&F Lab Students have provided excellent advice from their experiences at the recent OCS meeting in Geelong. Ana Martins has given some really meaningful advice that applies to everyone. Be kind. Science does not have to be driven by ego and cut-throat competition. Yes, have boundaries, but be kind. Whatever advice you decide to take onboard, the most important thing is to actually get to a conference. They’re an essential part of our profession, and like with anything, practice makes it easier. One day it will probably be you writing your talk on the plane and presenting it the next day after only four hours of jet-lagged sleep.
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