In the Juan Perelló auditorium of the Faculty of Chemical Sciences, the community of researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, professionals and technicians of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO) met on June 27 and 28 at its traditional Annual Meeting, the last one that portrays the milestones of the 10-year period as an ANID center.

It all began with the greeting of the director of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography, Dr. Osvaldo Ulloa, to continue with the presentation of the 2023 synthesis of achievements of IMO Theme 1 “A Variable and Changing Ocean”, which seeks to answer, among other questions, how Key functional groups of plankton can adapt to chemical changes in the oceans and the impact on biogeochemical cycles. This presentation was given by Dr. Cristian Vargas, followed by Dr. Peter von Dassow (IMO/PUC), both principal researchers of the institute.

Then the 2023 milestones of IMO Theme 2 “Deep Ocean” were presented, which investigates the community structures and biogeochemical characteristics of the deep and ultra-deep waters of the Eastern South Pacific. These results were presented by Drs. Rubén Escribano and Osvaldo Ulloa.

The morning session continued with the presentation of progress of the IDOOS Project, by Dr. Oscar Pizarro; and the presentation of the Oceanographic Instrumentation Center (CIO).

The achievements in the area of ​​education were also presented and followed by the presentation of new young researchers and postdoctoral researchers.

“The Millennium Institute of Oceanography is made up of researchers, students and professionals from different institutions in the country and, therefore, throughout the year we do not have the opportunity to be all together and review everything that the different groups of researchers have done. Therefore, it is really important to get together once a year, and this has been done regularly every year to collectively share the achievements, but also to think about what is to come. This is a special event now, considering that the original IMO project ends in the coming months. Therefore, it is our last possibility to review the achievements, but also to have a view and project ourselves into the future,” said the director of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography, Dr. Osvaldo Ulloa.

On the second day of the IMO 2024 Annual Meeting, the outreaching team presented its main milestones for the year 2023 and the projections of extension and communications work for the current year.

Likewise, the results obtained by the associate researchers were presented and a workshop was held to propose a potential renewal of IMO.

An aspect highlighted by the IMO Director is the work carried out by young researchers and researchers in training. “Undoubtedly, we have been incorporating mainly young people. If one looks at the researchers, except in the last year when we incorporated two new researchers, but who already came from IMO, what is seen most in these annual meetings is a significant increase in students and graduates and also postdoctoral students, which I believe It is precisely a bet that we made to prepare the next generations that are going to replace us. This is already being seen, for example, in the results. Many of the results that are being presented today are outcomes from research led by young researchers, including postdocs, young researchers or graduate students. They are the ones who today are contributing to the science that IMO is doing in a significant manner”.

Thanks to this IMO 2024 Annual Meeting, the institute community shared its achievements and milestones achieved in the last year, but in parallel, the application for a new institute project is being prepared that will allow for continuity in oceanographic exploration in the next decade. . “As IMO we are going to apply for a new call that is coming from the ANID, for the new centers, but also at the University of Concepción there is a commitment from the institution to continue supporting oceanographic research and, in our case, mainly focused on the open and deep ocean,” said Prof. Osvaldo Ulloa.