A huge thank-you to everyone who participated in the 2019 OFI Researchers' Workshop in St. John's this past week!
Close to 150 OFI researchers, students, and staff gathered together in Newfoundland for three days of presentations, discussions, and awesome show-and-tells. It was fantastic to see OFI's broad network of people from Dalhousie University, Memorial University, and the University of Prince Edward Island all working and learning in one place.
Some highlights from the week:
- Updates on OFI's Large Research Modules, who shared some awesome research outcomes achieved to date as well as next steps
- Presentations from a number of OFI Seed Fund researchers, who demonstrated the high commercialization potential of their unique research projects
- An introduction to some of OFI's Canada Research Chairs, including their research topics and project plans
- Multiple poster and networking sessions, during which people from across all OFI projects connected with each other to identify new opportunities
- A discussion on the future of OFI, including the things OFI researchers would like to see in the next few years and beyond!
Also, congratulations to our Student Poster Competition winner and runners up! Our winner was Leigh Howarth for his project on Monitoring effluents with seaweed "bioindicators". Our runners up were:
- Julek Chawarski - Environmental DNA reveals rich mesoepelagic biodiversity of the Labrador Sea
- Mab Speelman - Towards a circular economy: remediating a food-grade waste and enhancing production of the green alga Tetraselmis suecica
- Krysta Sutton - Telling Coastal Stories: Using Narrative to Frame How We Communicate Coastal Adaptation
- Jessica Bennett - UV/TiO2 Photoelectrocatalysis for the Degradation of Aqueous 17ß≤-estradiol and its Metabolites in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems
- Ronan Lordan - Assessment of polar lipid extracts from farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) for the development of cardioprotective nutraceuticals
Finally, a HUGE shoutout to Khrista Jeffrey and Julie Rideout and their teams for all their hard work in putting together such a successful conference!
We hope to see you all in Halifax next year for our Ocean Frontier 2020 - Vision For The Future Conference (November 17-20, 2020).
