The Nippon Foundation of Japan has provided funding for GEBCO to train a new generation of scientists and hydrographers in ocean bathymetry. The 12-month course, leading to a Postgraduate Certificate in Ocean Bathymetry (PCOB), has been held at the University of New Hampshire, USA, since 2004.
Nippon Foundation/GEBCO Training Programme poster presentations at the 5th EIHC
The Fifth Extraordinary International Hydrographic Conference (EIHC) was held in Monaco from 6 to 10 October 2014. One focus for this meeting was the topical issue of capacity building.
In light of this, the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB) organised an exhibition on International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) capacity-building initiatives and invited alumni from the Nippon Foundation/GEBCO programme to attend. In addition, alumni of the IHO - Nippon Foundation CHART Project and a graduate of the Master of Science programme in hydrographic surveying at the University of Southern Mississippi, sponsored by the Republic of Korea, were also invited.
The Nippon Foundation/GEBCO Training Programme is a twelve-month course leading to a Postgraduate Certificate in Ocean Bathymetry (PCOB). It is held at the University of New Hampshire, USA and is helping to develop a new generation of seafloor mappers. The course is now in its 11th year. Funding for the programme is provided by the Nippon Foundation of Japan.
The PCOB alumni present at the conference were Eunice Tetteh (Year 9, from Ghana), Norhizam Hassan (Year 8, from Malaysia) and Rochelle Wigley (Year 4, from South Africa) with Kentaro Kaneda (Year 5) and Naoto Ujihara (Year 6) also present as official Japanese delegates.
The PCOB programme had four posters on display
- Alumni of the First Ten Years of Nippon Foundation/GEBCO Postgraduate Certificate in Ocean Bathymetry Training Program
(9 MB) - Nippon Foundation/GEBCO Postgraduate Certificate in Ocean Bathymetry (3.7 MB)
- Alumni perspectives - poster 1 (3.6 MB)
- Alumni perspectives - poster 2 (3.9 MB)
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco delivered the opening address of the EIHC and opened the Capacity Building Poster Exhibition. He also met the alumni of the different Nippon Foundation and IHO training programs as he walked through the exhibition.
Mr. Mitsuyuki Unno, Executive Director of the Nippon Foundation, and Mr. Koji Sekimizu, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, both delivered keynote addresses as part of the opening ceremony for the conference. Mr Unno met some of the alumni and this provided an excellent opportunity for the students to let him know about the impact that the training programme had had on them and their home organisations.
The conference was attended by over 250 delegates from IHO Member States, observers from intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations and almost 120 representatives from industry. This allowed the alumni to tell a wide audience about the Nippon Foundation/GEBCO PCOB training programme.
In addition, meeting up at the conference highlighted the value of networking between the Nippon Foundation/GEBCO alumni, as it is these networks that will be one of the lasting legacies of the training programme.