The 12th UNESCO/IOC-ODC Training Course Opened in Qingdao


Date: 2023-07-10 10:22 Author: admin Clicks:

On 10 July 2023, the 12th UNESCO/IOC Regional Training and Research Center on Ocean Dynamics and Climate (hereinafter referred to as “ODC Center”) Training Course, themed on Ocean Model and Data Assimilation, successfully convened in Qingdao.
This training was hosted by First Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources (hereinafter referred to as “FIO”), organized by ODC Center and will last 2 weeks. Mr. Antao Wang, Deputy Director of International Cooperation Division, Ministry of Natural Resources, Prof. Fangli Qiao, Deputy Director General of FIO, Foreign Member of the Academia Europaea, Prof. Qiang Wang, Senior Scientist from Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Germany, as well as Dr. Xunqiang Yin, deputy director of ODC Center, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. The opening ceremony was moderated by Dr. Li Li, the director of International Cooperation Department of FIO.
12th ODC Training Course
Mr. Antao Wang extended his warm welcome and good wishes to all the experts and trainees. He emphasized the role of the ocean in climate change and said that the Ministry of Natural Resources had been strongly supporting, encouraging, and promoting international cooperation in the field of ocean and climate change. He highly praised the contribution that ODC center has made to the capacity building in the field of ocean and climate change and the network of international cooperation developed through the training courses in the past 11 years.
Mr. Antao Wang
On behalf of FIO, Prof. Fangli Qiao introduced the background of ODC center and warmly welcomed all the experts and trainees. He pointed out in the past 11 years, ODC center has greatly enhanced the ocean and climate capacity building in the world, especially in the WESTPAC region of IOC; some of the trainees has been playing the leading role in the ocean and climate research and in the international cooperation. He suggested the trainees making full use of the training course, and actively participating in the discussion. In the end, he wished all the trainees would have a fruitful time in Qingdao.

Prof. Fangli Qiao
As the lecturer representative, Prof. Qiang Wang shared his experience of attending several times of the ODC training courses. He said series of the ODC training courses played an important role on improving the ability of young scientists to explore the ocean and climate. He hoped trainees would learn the knowledge useful for their future research from this training.
Prof. Qiang Wang
On behalf of UNESCO/IOC-ODC center, Dr. Xunqiang Yin introduced the logistic arrangements and showed the brief history of the center. Until now, ODC center has conducted 11 international training courses, received more than 1300 applications from 66 countries, and finally trained 670 participants from 54 countries. The training courses have promoted the capacity building of member states in the WESTPAC region of IOC in the field of ocean dynamics, air-sea interactions, climate change and numerical modelling, and have received high respect from the trainees and highly evaluated by the lecturers.

Dr. Xunqaing Yin
The 12th UNESCO/IOC-ODC training course will focus on Ocean Model and Data Assimilation, which covers the wave-tide-circulation coupling, global ocean models, basic theory of data assimilation and its applications, regional ocean model and forecast system, development of wave model and wave data assimilation. As with the previous ODC training courses, this year’s course will still proceed in various styles, including expert lectures, hands-on exercises, Q&A and discussion, group discussions as well as proposal discussions. Seven world-famous experts and 6 teaching assistants from China, Germany, Australia and Malaysia were invited to give lectures and hands-on practice guidance in the following two weeks. About 36 trainees from 12 countries will attend the training course.
UNESCO/IOC-ODC center aims to promote the international cooperation and enhance the research capacity in the WESTPAC region on ocean dynamics, air-sea interactions, climate change and numerical modelling through the provision of international annual training courses and workshops to junior scientists and doctoral/master students mainly from the member states of IOC in the Western Pacific. Since its establishment, ODC Center has carried out and coordinated series training courses, activities, workshops and international research programmes, which are featured with both foundational and high-level courses/lectures, enough hands-on exercises, comfortable group discussions, and intensive interactions among trainees and experts.