IOCCG news bulletins include items of interest from the IOCCG, its sponsoring agencies, and the broader ocean colour community. Please let us know if there are any other items of interest you would like to see included in the next IOCCG news bulletin by contacting Raisha Lovindeer (raisha@ioccg.org).
News from IOCCG
IOCS-2025 Schedule-at-Glance now available, Register by 10 November
The IOCS-2025 Meeting is one month away! which will be held at the Darmstadtium Science & Congress Centre, Darmstadt, Germany from 1-4 December 2025, hosted by EUMETSAT and ESA with support from the European Commission. The IOCS-2025 Schedule-at-a-Glance is now available on the meeting website, along with details of keynote speakers, and the Book of Poster Abstracts.
Final registration for the meeting closes on 10 November 2025 (extended from 5 November).
Several training courses and associated meetings are planned in conjunction with IOCS-2025, including a full afternoon of sessions open to all attendees on Thursday 4 December in Darmstadtium, and training on Friday 5 December at EUMETSAT Headquarters.
See the logistics page for information on accommodation and travel to the venue.
IOCCG Platt Scholarship Highlight – Applications for 2026 close November 12
A reminder that applications for the 2026 IOCCG Platt Scholarship closes on 12 November 2025. Applicants are required to identify a host prior to their application. Potential hosts are also encouraged to share this opportunity with eligible scholars: citizens of one of these eligible countries who are residing in their home country at the time of application. Alumni of the IOCCG Summer Lecture Series from these nations are also eligible to apply. Check the scholarship page for details and apply by the deadline.
The 2024 IOCCG Platt Scholar Hellen Kizenga was able to complete her exchange at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in September, after some processing delays with her travel. She will be presenting her scholarship-related work at the IOCS-2025 Meeting in Darmstadt, Germany this December. Read the full report of her experience, and see a highlight below:
This fellowship has been one of the most valuable training experiences of my career. It offered a unique opportunity to work with Dr. Devred and his team at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), where I gained advanced skills in ocean colour remote sensing and other oceanographic methods. As an oceanographer from a developing region, I was deeply inspired by the infrastructure, professionalism, and research culture at BIO. Learning directly from such dedicated scientists was a rare and transformative experience. Opportunities like this are vital for early-career researchers from developing regions to strengthen their capacity and contribute meaningfully to coastal and ocean research. I am sincerely grateful to IOCCG for this fellowship and for their continued commitment to supporting and empowering early- career ocean scientists worldwide.
Image caption: From left to right: Stella Seifried, Hellen Kizenga, and Mandy Newhook conducting weekly fieldwork in the Bedford Basin, where the team deployed a CTD, zooplankton nets, and Niskin bottles to collect physical and biological oceanographic samples. Image provided by Hellen Kizenga.
IOCCG Training & Capacity Development Survey open until 15 November
We want to hear from you! IOCCG is seeking input to evaluate the effectiveness and highlight gaps in our past and current training and capacity-development initiatives. Please take and share our short, anonymous survey.
The results will be reported, in aggregate, and discussed at the IOCCG Town Hall on Capacity Building after the close of the IOCS-2025 Meeting in Darmstadt, Germany, on 4 December at 2pm, as well as made available on the IOCCG website.
The survey is open to everyone with an interest in ocean colour data, regardless of current involvement with IOCCG, or of having received or administered training with us in the past. Feel free to share the link with others: ioccg.org/capacity-building-survey.
TAKE THE SURVEY by 15 November 2025
2026 IOCCG Summer Lecture Series: Venice, Italy, 5 – 19 July
The IOCCG is pleased to announce that Drs. M. Laura Zoffoli and Vittorio Brando (Institute of Marine Sciences, ISMAR, Italian National Council of Research, CNR) are the new joint-coordinators of the advanced IOCCG Summer Lecture Series (SLS). The 7th edition of the SLS is scheduled for 5 – 19 July 2026 and will be hosted by CNR-ISMAR and the Venice International University (VIU) in Venice, Italy, held at the VIU campus on the island of San Servolo in the Venetian lagoon. Applications for the 2026 SLS will open in January. See the Summer Lecture Series webpage for details.
News from ESA
Registration is open for the 2nd Ocean Carbon From Space Workshop
The online component of the second Ocean Carbon From Space Workshop is scheduled for 24 – 26 November 2025. Registration for this component opened on 1 November 2026.
The main objective of the workshop is to bring together the scientific community to address key gaps, challenges, and opportunities in ocean carbon research. The workshop will support progress towards an integrated approach for characterising the ocean carbon cycle using field and satellite observations as well as ecosystem models and will look towards advancing our understanding of its variability across space and time.
In-person sessions will be held in conjunction with the International Ocean Colour Science (IOCS) Meeting, in Darmstadt, Germany, with ocean carbon sessions on 2 – 3 December. The registration deadline for the IOCS Meeting has been extended to 10 November.
Deadline to Apply for ESA Living Planet Fellowship extended to 14 November!
ESA invites young researchers in ESA Member States to submit scientific proposals to the Living Planet Fellowship Call 2025. The LPF aims at supporting the new generation of scientists in ESA Member States to undertake cutting-edge research in Earth Observation and Earth System and Climate Science that may maximise the scientific impact of ESA missions and European EO capacity and respond to the main challenges of the new ESA Earth Observation Science Strategy: Earth Science in Action for Tomorrow’s World.
Read more and learn how to apply. The deadline to submit a proposal is 14 November 2025.
News from EUMETSAT
Save the Date: 9th Sentinel-3 Validation Team meeting, 30 March – 1 April, 2026
The 9th Sentinel-3 Validation Team (S3VT) meeting will be hosted by ESA, co-chaired with EUMETSAT, and will take place from 30 March to 1 April 2026 at ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. Please save these dates in your calendars.
The team looks forward to continuing their stimulating discussions on the scientific validation and potential improvements of the operational products from the Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B constellation, and to preparing for the future Cal/Val activities of the newest family member, Sentinel-3C. Further details on logistics, registration, programme and abstract submission will be announced
News from NASA
PACE data continues to be available
During the current U.S. government shutdown, the mission operations team from PACE is available to address any flight issues or concerns. Data collection from OCI, SPEXone, and HARP2 continue and remain available via NASA’s EarthData Search. Users should, however, anticipate increased risk for data outages and delays due to reduced on-site support for the science data systems. New and refined science data product implementation and distribution will resume when the U.S. government reopens.
PACE’s three virtual events scheduled for October are postponed if they intersect with the shutdown, as was the Early Adopter Hackday that was planned for October 2. New dates will be announced when the U.S. government reopens.
Mission related details can be found on the PACE and OB.DAAC web sites, and questions can continue to be posed on the NASA EarthData Forum.
News from SCOR
2026 SCOR Visiting Scholar Applications open until 15 December
The SCOR Visiting Scholar program enlists the services of ocean scientists, from both developed countries and developing countries, to teach short courses and to provide more extended on-site education and mentorship at developing country institutions. This program is open to any scientists with time available for teaching and mentoring in a developing country for ideally two weeks or more.
The 2026 round of applications is now open, and will close on 15 December 2025. See the SCOR website for more information about the call and the application process.
Other Events and Training
Check for upcoming workshops, conferences, and training events on the IOCCG website: https://ioccg.org/what-we-do/training-and-education/
Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026, 22-27 February, Glasgow, Scotland
Registration for the 2026 Ocean Science Meeting, scheduled for 22-27 February 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland is open. Several ocean-colour and ocean optics sessions are being planned for the meeting. View all sessions here.
The deadline for early bird registration is 14 January 2026.
COSPAR 2026 Call for Abstracts: 1 – 9 August 2026 in Florence, Italy
The 46th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and Associated Events (COSPAR 2026) will be held on 1 – 9 August 2026 in Florence, Italy, hosted by Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF). The meeting covers fields of the COSPAR Scientific Commissions (SC), Panels, and Task Groups, including SC A: The Earth’s Surface, Meteorology and Climate, and SC F: Life Sciences as Related to Space, Panel on Capacity Building (PCB), Panel on Establishing a Constellation of Small Satellites (PCSS), and Panel on Early Careers and International Space Societies (PECISS), among others.
The call for abstracts will open on 8 November with a deadline for abstract submission of 13 February 2026. Visit the COSPAR website at cospar-assembly.org/assembly to view the scientific program. Selected papers from the COSPAR 2026 will be published in Advances in Space Research and Life Sciences in Space Research, fully refereed journals with no deadlines, open to all submissions in relevant fields.
For more information, contact the COSPAR Secretariat at cospar@cosparhq.cnes.fr.
Opportunities
Check for new research and employment opportunities on the IOCCG website: https://ioccg.org/resources/employment-opportunities/.
Research & Employment
Some deadlines may have passed, but some are open until filled.
Added since the last bulletin:
- Postdoctoral Position in Remote Sensing, Kiel University, Kiel, GermanyAssociate Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, NY, USA
- Postdoctoral Scholar in Marine Ecology, UC Berkeley, USA
- Postdoctoral Position in Aquatic Remote Sensing, Stockholm University, Sweden
- Postdoc in Lidar Applications to Ocean Colour, LOG, Wimereux, France
If you would like to include a position on this page, please contact Raisha Lovindeer.
The sixth International Ocean Colour Science (IOCS) meeting will take place in Darmstadt, Germany from 1 – 4 December 2025, hosted by EUMETSAT and ESA with support from other agencies.