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Week 5: Cruise Preparation

Week 5 class plan on cruise preparation

Published onMar 19, 2024
Week 5: Cruise Preparation
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26 March 2024

Overview

Being a chief/lead scientist is a big responsibility, but it is made easier by planning ahead and breaking up tasks and deadlines into smaller and more manageable goals. In this lesson, we discuss and work on activities that should help you to think through the steps needed to prepare for an expedition as the lead scientist, divide responsibilities among the research team, and get cruise participants to think ahead about how they can get ready for a successful and enjoyable experience at sea. We will also review maritime jurisdictions to understand roles and responsibilities within the different areas, as well as discuss the process by which scientists obtain authorization to conduct work in other countries’ waters. Also provided are example documents you can use as templates and guides.

Goals

  • Understand how to assess and prioritize the science needs of the expedition team, to communicate these needs with vessel operators

  • Understand what a Shiptime/Marine Equipment Request form might look like

  • Understand what to consider when working in various ports re: permitting & logistics

  • Understand what types of content are helpful to have in a Cruise Prospectus

  • Understand that a primary role of the Lead Scientist is to set the expectations, preparedness, safety, civility and respect

Pre-Class Activities

  • Complete the COBRA Fellows Mid-Class Check-in form

  • Watch this video (20 min) about how to plan an extreme overland adventure expedition. While it is not about the deep sea, it covers similar planning themes, and will hopefully help you think outside the box and frame your mental approach to the task of planning a deep-sea expedition. 

  • Register for an account with the Marine Facilities Planning online platform: https://mfp.us/framework/account/application

    • If your institution is not part of UNOLS, you might be asked to justify why you should get a sign in. Tell them that you are a participant in the COBRA Deep-sea Expedition Leadership Master Class put on by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

    • Try planning around with the Research Planner Scheduler to set up an imaginary cruise track (see video below)

  • Watch this video on how to use the MFP online tool for cruise planning

    • Note: the video should start at 15:00 minutes in, when the presenter talks about the Scheduler in the Research Planner module of MFP. Feel free to back up to get background on MFP, if you want. This part is about 6 minutes.

    • At 22:00 minutes, the presentation switches to how to submit a new shiptime & marine equipment request form. This part is 15 minutes long.

  • Watch this video from a prior Master Class about how to initiate permitting request for Marine Scientific Research in another country, from the US State Department (slides here)

Class Plan

  • 14:00 (35 min): Roles of Chief Scientist, Expedition Planning, Beth Orcutt

  • 14:35 (20 min): Q&A about the Marine Facilities Portal and State Department Permit requests, Beth Orcutt

  • 14:55 (5 min): Break

  • 15:00 (50 min): Pre-expedition Preparation, Beth Orcutt

  • 15:50 (10 min): Wrap up and Prep for Next Class, Randi Rotjan

Additional Resources

Class Slides

Post-Class Dream Cruise Project Development

See the Dream Cruise Project Overview Template for additional context.

  • Flesh out a second objective from your dream project proposal idea

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