Capacity building efforts on
marine sciences in Turkey and
their linkage to European
initiatives
Temel Oguz
Institute of Marine Sciences,
Middle East Technical University, Erdemli, Turkey
oguz@ims.metu.edu.tr
Shanghai, 31 July – 4 August, 2012
Following up the General Framework of CB/CD provided by Drs.
Bernard Avril, Laura David and Samina Kidwai,
I will focus on our current experience how to improve human
capacity building in Marine Sciences in Turkey at national and
international levels. These are the tools we are currently using.
• Capacity Building (CB) demands long-term concurrent efforts
performed both at national and international levels.
• CB demands from individuals/institutions a motivation to
build capacity..
• A clear cut identification of its objectives and targets specific
for a country is needed. All countries (having different levels of
economical/social development) need CB. But it will be at
different levels and with different objectives. For example, It
may span from basic levels in developing countries to complex
interdisciplinary issues (e.g. climate change impacts on future
ecosystems, integrated ecosystem management).
• The presence of a certain level of infrastructure in the
country; e.g. Lab facilities, research vessels, technitians, and
scientists) may facilitate better CB efforts. In the absence of
such a background, it may be a big challenge.
• Success on the CB is also closely related with wheater the
research on marine sciences is recognised among strategic
priorities by goverments (e.g. Long-term commitments for
funding, positions, etc).
• Because of the current understanding of marine sciences,
CB efforts need to be based on highly interdisciplinary
approaches. But, it is becoming a more challenging issue as
the gap in marine science research between developed and
developing countries widens more and more.
Efforts on the National Level
IMS-METU serves for a Center of Excelency for providing
training for other less developed institutions in the country
through
• Summer practices for undergraduate students,
• Technical training on lab facilities, measurement
methodologies,
• M.Sc and P.hD education
• Organizing conferences on the country level,
• Helping them writing scientific papers at international level,
providing informal mentoring
• Promote joint projects with other institutions funded by
Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council
(TUBITAK).
Efforts on the International Level
Organizing summer schools (as a part of large
international programmes) in the form of high-level
teaching activities (e.g. theoretical courses and practical
workshops)
•
• Supporting students and early carries scientists to
participate international conferences,
• Participating international projects (mostly EU
Framework projects),
• Sending students abroad for P.hD,
• Developing collaborations with well-known institutions in
USA and Europe on specific problems and projects.
• Interactions
among INOC member institutions (not
functioning well !)
A NATO Advanced Study Institute
A
NAT
O Adva A NATO Advanced Snstitutetudy Institute
The Ocean Carbon Cycle and Climate
5-16 August 2002, Ankara, Turkey
Hosted by Middle East Technical University, Institute for Marine Sciences
This intensive summer school aims to introduce participants to recent developments in
understanding of the ocean carbon cycle and its connections to climate change.
The lectures covered the following themes:
 Observations of the current biogeochemical state of global oceans,
 Ocean ecosystems; their characterization, biogeochemical role, and
quantification,
 Interactions between the carbon reservoirs of the oceans, atmosphere and
terrestrial biosphere,
 Global ocean circulation and its implications for biogeochemical cycles,
 Carbon cycle and climate feedbacks,
 Modeling the global carbon cycle.
CLIMATE CHANGES IMPACT ON MARINE
ECOSYSTEMS
14-26 August 2006
Hosted by Middle East Technical University, Institute for Marine Sciences
This intensive summer school aims to introduce participants recent
developments in understanding of the climate change phenomenon, and
its impacts on marine ecosystems.
Analysis of End-to-End Food
Webs and Biogeochemical Cycles
11-16 August 2008, Ankara, Turkey
Hosted by Middle East Technical University,
Institute for Marine Sciences
The summer school was designed to provide participants on biogeochemical cycles
and end-to-end food webs. The lectures covered
• Fundamentals of food web structure and functioning and biogeochemical cycles:
processes and parameterisations
• Trophic cascades: depletion of top predator fishes (top-down), change in small
pelagic stocks (wasp-waist), enrichment of the system (bottom-up)
• Climate-induced controls through temperature, stratification, habitat modification,
etc.
• Advances in end-to-end food web modelling and coupled physical-biogeochemical
models (including optics) ;e.g.
Plankton functional type models: ecology vs biogeochemisty, aggregation
IBMs and their coupling with lower trophic level models
Summer School on Operational Oceanography
22-26 March 2010, Istanbul, Turkey
Hosted by Middle East Technical University, Institute for Marine Sciences
The Summer School will be devoted to mainly lectures and tutorials on
theoretical issues and fundamentals of operational oceanography, covering
circulation and ecosystem dynamics and forecasting techniques.
Marine Ecosystem Evolution in a Changing
Environment
7-14 September 2011, Ankara, Turkey
Hosted by Middle East Technical University, Institute for Marine Sciences
THEMES 1 & 2 of IMBER
• Understand the mechanisms, functioning and evolution of marine
ecosystems by taking into account multiple environmental drivers and
pressures from natural and anthropogenic sources.
• Learn how to devise and apply new model parameterisations.
• Learn innovative ways to couple models of different trophic levels.
• Address non linear combinations of driver impacts in a dynamic
environment by using numerical simulation models which include dynamic
feedbacks.
• Understand the ecosystem-based approach to management and the
application of management strategy evaluation tools.
A View Towards Integrated Earth System Models
Human-nature Interactions in the Marine World
23-28 July 2012, Ankara, Turkey
Hosted by Middle East Technical University, Institute for Marine Sciences
THEMES 3 & 4 of IMBER
Lecture series on
• Overview of Earth System and socio-economic models
• Modelling low trophic level processes and human interactions
• Modelling high trophic level processes and human interactions
• Putting people into Earth System models
• Modelling approaches for marine populations and social networks
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION