Add your voice to this international, ocean observing discussion!
The OOIFB is pleased to announce its Town Hall event at the February 2026 Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) in Glasgow, Scotland:
What Questions Can We Answer Through Cross-Networking? An Ocean Observatories Initiative Facility Board (OOIFB) Town Hall to Strengthen Connections and Foster Innovation Across the Observing Community
When: Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 12:45-1:45pm GMT
Where: Scottish Event Campus (SEC), Room Carron
Light refreshments will be available for Town Hall attendees
Please RSVP for this Town Hall. This also offers an opportunity to ask your questions in advance of the event.
The OOIFB hopes this Town Hall will serve as a catalyst to build connections within the observing community, communicate successes, and discuss ways to address the common challenges that different groups may be facing. Through a panel-facilitated discussion, innovative approaches already emerging across observatory systems will be highlighted and panelists will be invited to share examples from their own domains: Where have collaborative solutions improved usability, efficiency, and scientific impact? What cross-network efforts, whether in data interoperability, coordinated field work, and/or shared technological strategies, could meaningfully benefit the broader community?
The discussion will be moderated by Dax Soule (Queens College, OOIFB Chair), and will include the following panelists:
- Jim Edson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)
- Meghan Paulson, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC)
- Lucie Cocqempot, French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER)
- Sebastiaan Swart, University of Gothenburg
- Yavor Kostov, British Antarctic Survey
We invite Town Hall participants to surface actionable ideas, celebrate successful models, and strengthen the connections needed to accelerate progress across global observing networks. This OOIFB Town Hall is aimed at researchers who are using or are considering using observatory data, scientists interested in adding instrumentation to observatory infrastructure, and educators at all levels interested in ocean observatories.
A Town Hall agenda outline can be found here.
