6 April 2011 - Young marine science students to showcase their work

MEDIA ALERT

Communicating complex scientific research in only 12 minutes will be the challenge facing marine science students visiting the Australian Institute of Marine Science on Thursday, 7^th April.

The 2011 AIMS@JCU Student Seminar Day will see 13 young marine science students presenting their research to senior scientists from AIMS and James Cook University. They have just 12 minutes each to explain their work, and three minutes to answer questions.

Winners will receive funds allowing them to present their research work at an international conference of their choice.

The subject matter of the presentations will include corals, sponges, pearl oysters and coral reef fish.

One of the judges, Dr Lyndon Llewellyn, Research Manager at AIMS, said the seminar was an important event where marine science students could showcase their work.

"AIMS is Australia's tropical marine research agency, and JCU is one of the world's leading universities with a focus on the tropics. It is very inspiring and exciting for us to see the next generation of marine scientists and the calibre of work they are producing," he said.

"Effective communication of science is critical and winning entries will be based on both the quality of the research and how well it is presented," he said.

This is the fifth annual AIMS@JCU Student Seminar Day, and the first to be held on the AIMS site.

AIMS@JCU is a joint venture between the Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University dedicated to promoting postgraduate research in fields of common interest to both organisations.

The Seminar Day event will be held at the AIMS lecture theatre, beginning at 9am.

For further information contact:

Lyndon Llewellyn, AIMS Research Manager, (07) 4753 4449; 0408 441 125; l.llewellyn@aims.gov.au

Vanessa Adams, AIMS@JCU Administrative Officer, (07) 4781 4074; 0406 592 198; aims@jcu.edu.au

Wendy Ellery, AIMS Media Liaison, (07) 4753 4409; 0418 729 265; w.ellery@aims.gov.au