You, Me & HIFMB - Stories of Science and the Sea – Details, episodes & analysis

In the new year, Kim Peters surprises podcast host Jan and turns the tables on him. She Interviews him on: what got him to HIFMB, a quick look into Jan's work on marine biodiversity at the science-policy interface, the wonderful people he got to learn from and work with, and even the Olympics 2028!! 

Happy 2024 everyone, enjoy!

Kristin (or Tine) Tietje has not only got a super Northern-German sounding name but also recently got a full-time position as the science coordinator of the Marine Governance Group here at HIFMB. She talks about the long winding road that she took to get here and tells us what it means to coordinate science and, more importantly, scientists - which is why she enjoys her job so much. 

In this Episode, postdoc Andrea Franke showcases her latest paper from People and Nature on real-world labs. She also shares with us how she expanded her research from specialised experimental work on herring larvae to transdisciplinary work on the UN Ocean Decade. A great example on how to build interdisciplinary recognition!

Lucie Kuczynski is a community ecologist working on global change and what it implies for biodiversity. One of her recent studies shows why the biodiversity crisis is too nuanced to be tackled in the same way as global warming. She also enlightens us why French wine is the best, why La Rochelle is the best city and why Academia is not the only career path for Academics. A lot of wisdom in this episode – don’t miss it!

Today, it’s all about science communication! And for the first time, we have two guests: Gema Martínez Méndez, marine scientist, and Rebecca Borges, marine ecologist. Both are involved in a sci-comm project called “Once upon a time… a scientific fairy tale” where scientific studies are communicated via the use of fairy tales. Definitely give this one a listen!

Read the scientific fairytales here: www.marum.de/en/Discover/Once-upon-a-time.html

Intro and outro supported by the wonderful voice of Dr. Kimberley Peters and sound effects from quicksounds.com and pixabay.com.

Lukas Meysick is a postdoc for seafloor ecology of the Wadden Sea. He also works on a recent project partnering with stakeholders from Tanzania and South Africa looking at how seagrass can assist in clearing polluted water. We further talk about his scientific career – in his PhD, seagrass also took centre stage. Enjoy this seagrass-themed episode with Lukas!

In this episode, Soli Levi tells us about a very new and unexplored study field: emotions in marine governance. Soli is developing a theoretical framework to bring emotion into management decisions and talks about her plan with case studies in Ireland. We also talk about Soli’s multifaceted past as a turtle conservationist and working with NGOs in Greece, remote work as a business development coordinator and so much more.

Solomon Sebuliba considers himself a conservation biologist turned political ecologist who, in his PhD at HIFMB, looks at biodiversity as a concept. Specifically, he considers the inherent power that terms like “biodiversity” or “biological diversity” have. Through this, he came up with his own concept, the “Bio Ocean”. We also talk about Solomon’s deep and varied CV, working on the ICUN Red List, moving with his family from Uganda to Germany and much more. A must-listen!

Master’s student and our very own podcast editor Nina Tombers chats about her experience of the Master’s career stage. We chat about her Thesis work on population genetics at the Centre for Marine Tropical Ecology (ZMT) in Bremen and her student assistant job here at HIFMB. She gives us a look into the behind the scenes of podcasting, Switzerland, tropical population genetics, her training to become a nature guide in South Africa and how she plans the future.

In this Episode, Sharlene Fechter talks about being a Master’s student at HIFMB. She covers her thesis work on stakeholders of the Weddel Sea in Antarctica and how she built a diverse skillset to jumpstart an interdisciplinary career in science. We also talk about how becoming a young mother early in her career motivated her even further and how she is currently searching for a PhD-position in Australia.