2 comments

1. 

   Sarah

   2nd November 2012 at 11:17 am

   Hello Vanessa

   Thanks for your comment. It’s a great ship isn’t it! We’re excited about it too 🙂

   When Investigator is finished and delivered, it will become the new Marine National Facility (MNF) research vessel, which is available for use by all Australian scientists. Each year the MNF call for applications for sea time, which occurs two years ahead of time, to allow for applications to be assessed and ship schedules to be developed. The science proposed for the ship needs to be of a high standard and in Australia’s national interest. The Steering Committee that’s in charge of the MNF chooses the best science projects for that year and the projects are internationally peer reviewed. So it’s a really competitive process to get sea time. The application process can be found on the MNF website here: http://www.marine.csiro.au/nationalfacility/application/index.htm

   Once the major voyages are allocated, the MNF makes another call for applications to fill any unused berths on research voyages, and for transit voyages between these major voyages, with early career researchers and students. So if a student comes up with a really great science project, it just might get sea time. We’ve had PhD students who have developed into voyage, leading Chief Scientists, so it really is possible.

   Now if you’re not a scientist, and you don’t see that as your career path into the future, then you might need to come onboard for a free public tour. We are looking at the possibility of having free public tours of Investigator in the coming years, when the ship is in ports around Australia. We’ll advertise these widely when the time comes.

   We’d love to see you onboard!

   Sarah
2. 

   Vanessa Hill

   2nd November 2012 at 9:54 am

   Okay, I love this ship. How can I hitch a ride when it’s all finished?