CSIRO Science Ship Takes Students on Tasmanian Circumnavigation

Thirty university students and trainers from across Australia will get to circumnavigate Tasmania aboard CSIRO research vessel Investigator.

The 10-day voyage is part of a tertiary sea training program called CAPSTAN, the Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea-Training Alliance Network, which is being delivered in partnership with CSIRO (Australia's national science agency), marine science industries, universities and government.

The program offers a national approach to applied teaching and learning in marine science and wider science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

CAPSTAN Director, Dr Pier van der Merwe from the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), said the sea-going experience was invaluable for developing Australia's next generation of marine experts.

"Nothing compares with hands-on learning. For future marine scientists, this is where the action happens – where theory is put into practice and where concepts sink in because students can observe the ecosystem with their own eyes," Dr van der Merwe said.

"They can feel cold wind on their face and relate that to sea surface temperature data streaming into the ship, or experience the sun rise over the horizon and watch photosynthetically active radiation sensors detect that.

"Being at sea is where it all makes sense for marine science students."

The voyage will immerse students in the full suite of marine science operations, from atmospheric and oceanographic studies to surveys of deep-sea ecosystems and marine life.

Students will be involved in seafloor mapping and sediment sampling, and will also participate in the search for a historic shipwreck off the northwest coast of Tasmania.

CAPSTAN students' background studies range from biological and chemical oceanography to geoscience and engineering. Women make up two thirds of students on the voyage.

The voyage is the first in the CAPSTAN program following the completion of a pilot program during 2017 to 2020.

Two more CAPSTAN training voyages are planned in the upcoming voyage schedules of RV Investigator.