20 April 2017- The IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) selected its five best young scientists on 20 April 2017 at the 10th International Scientific Conference, Qingdao, China. Among the winners there were three awards for the best oral presentations and two awards for the best posters.

After four days’ selection, Mr A’an Johan Wahyudi (Indonesia), Ms Lara Patricia Sotto (Philippines) and Ms Winnie Lik Sing Lau (Malaysia) won the Best Young Scientist Oral Presentation Award with their presentations, respectively on “The origin of the suspended particulate matter in the seagrass meadow, an evidence of the stable isotope signatures”, “A basin scale nutrient load model for Manila bay: identifying sources, load resection scenarios, and options”, and “Characterization of a new species of Chattonella that caused massive wild fish kill event at the northeast coast of Peninsular Malaysia”.

While Ms Guyu Peng (China) and Ms Guat Ru Liow (Malaysia) obtained the Best Young Scientist Poster Award with their posters on “Microplastics in sediments of the Changjiang Estuary, China” and “Monitoring of a paralytic shellfish toxic-producer Alexandrium”, respectively.

The IOC/WESTPAC Best Young Marine Scientist Award was first established in 2011 for the serial IOC/WESTPAC International Scientific Symposia in order to encourage young marine scientists to devote themselves to marine science, sustained observations and services underpinning the sustainability of ocean and coastal resources to benefit all.

With the financial support of the host country, almost 50 young scientists of no more than 35 years have been provided with partial and full travel support to facilitate their participation into the 10th WESTPAC International Scientific Conference, 17-20 April 2017, Qingdao, China.

Let’s congratulate these five young scientists on their outstanding performance!