SOLSTICE Launches Free Online Course

September, 2020

 

A new free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) starts this October: Ocean Science in Action: Addressing Marine Ecosystems and Food Security in the Western Indian Ocean will introduce learners to innovative marine technologies and their applications used to tackle the challenges of the sustainable management of marine ecosystems.

The course has been developed by the National Oceanography Centre (UK) in partnership with Western Indian Ocean institutions as an output from the SOLSTICE-WIO project. It has been designed to be accessible to anyone with an interest in ocean management and conservation, the technology used to study the ocean, and the impact of climate change on the marine environment.

It would particularly appeal to people working within marine-related industries, such as fisheries, in the Western Indian Ocean, and those who study this ocean region.

In this four-week course, featuring over 30 video lectures including footage of fieldwork, numerical ocean model animations and visualisations of the Remote Sensing data, learners will explore how new technologies can form the basis for environmental research and monitoring programs to deliver decision support for marine policy development and resource management. Using case studies based in the Western Indian Ocean, learners will see how marine science could be applied to the sustainable management of local marine ecosystems, and how this may contribute to global efforts to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The course is available via Future Learn and starts on the 5th October 2020. Registration is now open!

Although the course is free to all participants, a paid upgrade is offered by the platform to receive unlimited access to the course materials and a certificate of completion upon successful completion of the test at the end of the course.

A limited number of free upgrades are available to learners from WIO-based universities and organisations involved in conservation and management of marine resources. The first 200 learners to sign up via https://www.solstice-wio.org/outputs/solstice-mooc/upgrade will receive a free course upgrade. WIO universities or large organisations who wish to promote this course to their students or members of staff can apply for a promotional material pack (brochures) and the full course content on memory sticks by emailing: solsticeMOOC@noc.ac.uk