On 6 June 2026, the Blue Wave Doctoral Forum was held in Xiamen, China. As part of the World Oceans Day celebrations, the Forum brought together early-career researchers from international large-scale ocean research projects, global research networks, and universities. The Forum was organised as a dedicated of the Blue Wave Conference, co-hosted by IMBeR, which attracted more than 240 participants from 35 countries and regions. This year’s Forum focused on the theme “Land–Ocean–Climate Nexus for Coastal Ecosystems” and was jointly initiated by IMBeR, CLIVAR, SOLAS, IMECaN, Future Earth Coasts, and the journal Anthropocene Coasts.
A call for abstracts attracted a strong pool of submissions, from which oral presentations and lightning talks were selected for the in-person programme. Topics included zooplankton regulation of dissolved organic carbon cycling, carbon sequestration in mangrove ecosystems, and coastal ecosystem responses to climate change. Referees noted that selecting the finalists was “particularly challenging due to the overall high quality of presentations.” Following deliberation, NURUDDIN Muhammad Firman, our PhD student, received the Best Presentation Award. The research contributions reflected strong interdisciplinarity and innovative data integration approaches, and the growing need to further strengthen international scientific communication and abstract synthesis skills.
Congratulations to Firman on this outstanding achievement!
