The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), a unit of Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and School of Ocean Futures at Arizona State University, has announced funding support for deep-sea research and education training for Bermudians. The funding is led by a charitable grant from the Global Atlantic Re foundation, which is sponsored by Global Atlantic Financial Group (Global Atlantic), a leading insurance company meeting the retirement and life insurance needs of individuals and institutions.

On October 24 and 25, BIOS introduced 42 primary and middle school teachers to a suite of education opportunities being offered through the Institute’s Mid-Atlantic Robotics IN Education (MARINE) program. The MARINE program workshops were coordinated through the annual Bermuda Union of Teachers conference, which includes professional development opportunities for teachers in the Bermuda Public School system during the fall half-term break.

While some students begin high school with solid career goals in mind, others are trying to identify their interests and align them with potential academic majors or occupations. The BIOS Ocean Science Camp (OSC) was created in 2018 to help engage and support this latter group of students. OSC is a snorkel-based summer camp geared toward students between the ages of 12 and 15 who are interested in the ocean, but may not have had previous opportunities to study marine science.

Hamilton, Bermuda, August 25, 2022 – “I am excited to advance the Blue Prosperity Plan,” said the Deputy Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, the Hon. Walter Roban, JP, MP, following today’s announcement in Cabinet. “It outlines the first steps for Bermuda to become a global leader and a hub for investment in sustainable industries.”

A recent publication in the scientific journal Frontiers highlights some of the biggest challenges confronting modern deep-sea exploration, namely that technologies are expensive to develop, purchase, and deploy. This, in turn, leads to an imbalance in who can access, utilize, and benefit from these tools, creating longer-term inequities among early career engineers, practitioners, and scientists who might benefit from technical training opportunities.

The Bermuda Program, part of BIOS’s Ocean Academy suite of local education programs, has been providing internship opportunities to Bermudian students, aged 18 and older, since 1976. In that time, more than 250 summer internship placements have been provided to young Bermudians. The program pairs students with BIOS faculty and scientific staff, who serve as mentors for participants while they conduct research projects in the fields of marine and atmospheric science.

When foam cups are lowered in a mesh bag deep into the ocean, will they dissolve? Just get wet? Or maybe a shark will eat them? These were the initial predictions made by 7- and 8-year-old students at St. George’s Preparatory school this month as they completed a new, two-part lesson offered by the BIOS Curriculum Enrichment Program on “Force: The Science of Ocean Pressure.”

Bermuda has a rich heritage of deep-sea research, dating back nearly a century to the man who pioneered underwater exploration: Charles William Beebe. In the 1930s, Beebe and his colleague, Otis Barton, designed and launched a spherical submersible, called the Bathysphere, which they used to descend to a depth of 3,028 feet (920 meters)—far beyond the previous record of 525 feet (160 meters). Their deep-sea expeditions, which continued over three consecutive summers, resulted in some of the earliest records of fishes living hundreds of feet below the surface.

Several dozen of Bermuda’s upper elementary and middle school teachers participated in a professional development workshop over the recent half-term break, which ran from February 14 to 18 for the island’s public schools. The workshops aimed to provide educators with tangible examples of how biodiversity data collected by BIOS from the deep sea in and around Bermuda are being used to support the development of marine protected areas (MPAs) around the island as part of the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme (BOPP). As BIOS is one of the three partnering organizations in BOPP, along with the Waitt Institute and the Government of Bermuda, the collaboration was a natural fit and an opportunity for BIOS to share how the work of its scientists is being leveraged in broader decision-making efforts.

Students from many disciplines can hone career skills, broaden perspective, and find inspiration at BIOS