Stanley Gray Lecture: digital premiere to feature
‘Oceans of Opportunity: A Change of Tide’ will be shown at IMarEST’s annual prestigious event, with Jo Ruxton MBE hosting.
As COP29 continues, which opened in Azerbaijan on November 11, there are increasingly urgent warnings that, without drastic change, our world could be on track for catastrophic warming.
The UN Emissions Gap report, published in late October, said current policies could see the planet warm by up to 3.1C, bringing “debilitating impacts to people, planet and economies”.
Our ocean is also steadily heating, with the UN’s The State of the Ocean Report 2024 indicating that the ocean is now warming at twice the rate it was twenty years ago.
As well as being devastating for marine ecology, these higher temperatures are proving to be a major contributor to rising sea levels because, quite simply, warm waters expand. According to the UN scientists, warming ocean temperatures now account for 40 percent of the global rise in sea levels, and the rate of rising has doubled over the past 30 years, totalling nine cm over that period.
Yet the ocean isn’t just an environmental resource; it is also a source of food and work on which billions of lives and livelihoods depend, particularly in some of the poorest communities in the world. Balancing ocean health with the needs of a growing population is one of the biggest challenges facing our world, and it is fitting, therefore, that it should be a theme of this year’s Stanley Gray Lecture.
Stanley Gray was the Chief Mechanical Engineer at the Port Directorate of Basra during the 1950s and 60s. When he died in 1973, he left half his estate in trust to the Institute to create the Stanley Gray Fund, which awards a scholarship or prize to support outstanding research in marine engineering, science or technology. The Stanley Gray Series of prestige lectures, launched in 2002, is held to mark his generosity.
A digital transformation
This year, IMarEST are doing something a little bit different, with the lecture being accompanied by the premiere of ‘Oceans of Opportunity: A Change of Tide’, an immersive digital series that explores the pivotal contributions of engineers, scientists, and technologists in advancing a sustainable, resilient blue economy.
A collaboration between IMarEST and Content With Purpose (CWP), the digital series will include a special keynote speech that will explore how global experts are leveraging innovation, research, and technology to drive a responsible maritime sector that benefits both people and the planet.
Hosted by Jo Ruxton MBE, former Blue Planet producer and founder of the charity Ocean Generation, the accompanying panel discussion will include IMarEST’s Jennifer Gómez Molina, Stephen Hall and Dr Philomène Verlaan along with Del Redvers, Sustainability Director at BMT.
“Our community of engineers, scientists, and technologists are at the heart of solutions to some of the biggest challenges we have ever faced, and their critical role in shaping a brighter future cannot be understated,” said Chris Goldsworthy, Chief Executive of IMarEST.
Max Smith, Managing Director of CWP, said it had been an “incredible journey” to collaborate with IMarEST to spotlight “the unsung heroes of the marine world”.
“We hope this series inspires action and brings about impactful change to secure a sustainable future for our oceans,” he added.
As COP29 opens against a backdrop of global heat and extreme weather events, it’s a hope carried by us all.
Book your tickets for this exciting annual event now.
Image: Jo Ruxton to help deliver Stanley Gray Lecture in November; credit: Shutterstock.
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