IMBeR Doctoral Forum at Future Oceans 3
Time: 2025.5.15
Location: Shanghai and online
The IMBeR Doctoral Forum, held as part of the IMBeR Future Oceans 3 (FO3) meeting, has successfully concluded. The forum provided a platform for recent and soon-to-be PhD graduates in marine sciences to present their research and engage with scientists, policymakers and peers. In line with FO3’s mission of reflecting on achievements, strengthening interdisciplinary partnerships, and advancing ocean sustainability, the forum supported global collaboration with particular attention to early-career researchers from low- to medium-income countries.
Participants shared their thesis work through oral presentations, speed talks and posters, and also served as session rapporteurs with guidance from senior researchers. SCOR Travel Support grants helped cover travel and registration costs for 6–8 eligible applicants, supporting broader participation. Drawing inspiration from initiatives such as DISCO, the forum contributed to capacity building, highlighted early-career perspectives, and encouraged diverse contributions to marine biosphere research and sustainability.
Convenor
Ning Zhao, East China Normal University
Email: nzhao(at)sklec.ecnu.edu.cn
Ning Zhao is a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University. He earned his PhD from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography and has been actively studying the evolution of the ocean system. His current research focuses on the Quaternary marine carbon cycle, paleoclimate and paleoecology reconstructions using continental margin sediments and biogenic reefs, and the geochemical impacts of ice sheet and sea level changes.
Kai Deng, Tongji University
Email: kaideng(at)tongji.edu.cn
Kai Deng is an Associate Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, located in Shanghai, China. As a marine geologist and geochemist, his primary research focuses on continental erosion and weathering, the oceanic cycling of trace metals, and the environmental factors that control these processes. His research employs a variety of geochemical methods, including the use of cosmogenic nuclides, isotope geochemistry, and numerical modeling. To date, he has authored more than twenty peer-reviewed publications. Currently, he serves as a co-opted member on the SCOR Executive Committee.
Speakers
Name: Sheng Zeng
Nationality: China
Affiliation: East China Normal University
Presentation: Tracing terrigenous material transport in the Yangtze River system: Insights from radionuclide dynamics
Name: Tingli Yan
Nationality: China
Affiliation: East China Normal University
Presentation: How much coral reef dissolution is caused by ocean acidification?
Name: Listing Yuan
Nationality: China
Affiliation: Xiamen University
Presentation: Is submarine groundwater discharge a major pathway of carbon and nutrients into the coastal ocean?
Name: Miaomiao Zhang
Nationality: China
Affiliation: Ocean University Of China
Presentation: Seasonal pattern of benthic foraminiferal phosphate storage in coastal tidal flat
Name: Gisèle Flodore Ghepdeu Youbouni
Nationality: Cameroon
Affiliation: Specialized Research Station for Marine Ecosystems of IRAD Cameroon
Name: Baker Matovu
Nationality: Ugandan
Affiliation: Future Earth Coasts Fellow/Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Name: Xueyang Chen
Nationality: China
Affiliation: East China Normal University
Presentation: Response of Oceanic Fronts to Regional Climate Variations in the Eastern China Seas
Posters
Name: Yang Hu
Nationality: China
Affiliation: East China Normal University
Presentation title: Saltmarsh plants respond to various hydrodynamic and sedimentary disturbances by modifying their morphological strategies in both aboveground and belowground parts
Name: Xintong Jiang
Nationality: China
Affiliation: East China Normal University
Presentation title: Seasonal and decadal variations in nutrients and dissolved organic carbon in the lower Huanghe River under drastically changing water-sediment regimes
Name: Yihui Chen
Nationality: China
Affiliation: Peking University
Presentation title: Accelerated Northward Shift of the North Pacific Transition Zone Chlorophyll Front under Greenhouse Warming