For the past week we’ve been on the Gold Coast at the annual Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference.

The Director of the Marine National Facility, Ron Plaschke, provided an update to this part of Australia’s marine science community, on the construction and commissioning of RV Investigator.

At last year’s conference, we were excited to show the time lapse from the Keel Laying Ceremony, when the first two blocks were brought together, and this year we showed the delegates the amazing, complete time lapse.

A lot has happened in a year!

Keel laying 159RV Investigator

We also manned a booth at the conference, to talk to scientists, masters and PhD students, about how they can apply to use RV Investigator, and the capabilities of the ship.

The MNF at the AMSA Conference The MNF at the AMSA ConferenceWe ran a LEGO ® Investigator competition and Dr Scarla Weeks, from the University of Queensland, drew the lucky winner, Zhi Huang, from Geoscience Australia.

Dr Scarla Weeks from the University of Queensland drawing the winner with Ben Rae from the FRV Project The lucky winner, Zhi Huang, from Geoscience Australia