Four Heriot-Watt researchers, members of a marine alliance to pool research talent ensuring that marine science in Scotland remains internationally competitive, took part in a British Council Early Career Researchers (ECR) Links workshop on Marine Science and Technology in Santa Marta, Colombia, last month.
The Newton Fund
In total 20 other researchers, some from six different UK institutions and a number of Colombian institutions, joined to work together to form partnerships for the future proposals under the Newton-Caldas £375m fund that promotes long term economic development and welfare of people in 15 partner countries and unlocks new opportunities for Higher Education institutes to engage and build partnerships.
Professor Hamish Mair, marine biologist and executive member of MASTS was the UK coordinator together with mentors Dr Joanne Porter (Heriot-Watt University) and Professor Richard Preziosi (University of Manchester). The other MASTS participants in the workshop were Drs Karen Diele of Edinburgh Napier University, Natalie Higgs, Kate Duncan and Diego de Villar of University of the Highlands and Islands, Sonia Rey of University of Stirling, Jose Farinas and Bob Beharie of Heriot-Watt University, and Fredryk Mandey of University of Aberdeen.
The Colombian coordinator and mentors of the Workshop came from Valle University in Cali and Antioquia University in Medellin.
Dr Joanne Porter and Professor Hamish Mair are leading another similar ECR workshop in Malaysia in March 2015 (call for applications coming soon).