SCOR Capacity-Building Activities

SCOR has been involved in capacity building since its beginning, through activities related to the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE). A 1974 document by Olof Tandberg on Promotion of Marine Sciences in Developing Countries is another example.

SCOR promotes the enhancement of scientific capacity in developing countries and those with economies in transition by ensuring that every SCOR working group and other activity includes scientists from such countries. SCOR also administers a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to provide travel support to scientists from such countries to attend scientific meetings, participates with the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) in supporting a program of visiting fellowships for oceanographic observations, and supports a program of SCOR Visiting Scholars.  SCOR created a Committee on Capacity Building in 2007 to coordinate SCOR's activities in capacity building, develop new activities, and help develop funding for these activities.  The following are the major ongoing SCOR capacity-building activities:

• Travel Grants―SCOR continues to offer travel awards to ocean scientists from developing countries and those with economies in transition, as it has for the past 26 years. This program is supported through a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation and approximately 60 scientists are awarded full or partial travel grants each year to participate in major international ocean science meetings and short-term training programs.  Instructions for Travel Grants

• POGO-SCOR Visiting Fellowships for Oceanographic Observations―SCOR has committed funds for this fellowship program in cooperation with the Partnership for Observations of the Global Oceans (POGO). This program is designed to promote training and capacity building leading toward a global observation scheme for the ocean. The program is open to scientists, technicians, Ph.D.-level graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows from centers in developing countries involved in oceanographic work. It offers the opportunity for such individuals to visit other oceanographic centers for a short period (1-3 months) for training on any aspect of oceanographic observations, analyses, and interpretation. The first set of awards were made in 2001, and awards have been made annually since then.

• Regional Graduate Education Networks for Ocean Sciences―SCOR is also developing an activity that will promote regional networks for ocean science graduate education, which will foster the establishment of regional centers of excellence in Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, and South Asia. These networks would bring together students from a region with faculty from the region and from developed countries for specialized short-term courses and would fund students through scholarships.  Draft design principles for regional networks have been developed.

  • Bellagio Report (1998)

  • Report on Regional Graduate Network for Southern Africa (2013)

• SCOR maintains a Web portal of the capacity-building activities of many different international organizations that are relevant to capacity building for ocean science and observations. See Catalog of international activities related to marine sciences.

• SCOR Visiting Scholars--The first SCOR Visiting Scholar was approved in 2009 and additional calls will be made annually, as funding allows.

• Ocean Summer Schools Portal

• Report from a Conference on Developing a Global Strategy for Capacity Building in the Ocean Sciences

• Urban, E.R. Jr., and R. Boscolo. 2013. Using scientific meetings to enhance the development of early career scientists. Oceanography, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.16.

   

   

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