International Seaweed Symposium
My name is Friederike Gronwald. I am a third-year PhD student in the Management Ecology of Marine Macrophytes Group (RU Experimental Ecology) at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research. My work focuses on the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic effects on the drifting behaviour of marine macrophytes with diverse morphologies in the Baltic Sea.
I had the opportunity to attend the 25th International Seaweed Symposium in Victoria, Canada, with the help of the FYORD travel grant. This conference focuses solely on seaweed research and its applications. It is organised every three years in a different country, with over 700 people from 43 countries participating this year.
As this was my first international conference, I was quite nervous at first, but I soon became more relaxed after talking to other people and meeting lots of interesting researchers. My goal for the conference was to meet new people for possible collaborations and knowledge transfer and I was definitely able to achieve that. I was fortunate to be able to present my research in a talk, which enabled me to get in touch with even more people.
Next to all the interesting sessions, the conference offered great workshops and tours. I was able to attend an intertidal tour, where experts from the University of Victoria explained many interesting facts about the marine macrophytes. It was fascinating to explore a new ecosystem based on various kelp species. Another highlight was the whale-watching tour, where we got to see humpback whales and spent the afternoon on the water.
Overall, it was a great experience to present my work and meet lots of new people. I would recommend the International Seaweed Symposium to anyone working with macroalgae.
Friederike
