SAMS news room

Two international marine science conferences will create a keynote talk with a difference by simultaneously involving speakers on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Environmental Interactions of Marine Renewables (EIMR2026) conference in Oban, Scotland and the Pan American Marine Energy Conference (PAMEC) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will create a hybrid online session involving two of their respective keynote speakers.

The decision to connect the conferences will increase the international exposure for marine renewables research in very different environments, said EIMR Conference organiser Dr Steven Benjamins of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), a partner of UHI.

“This is a rare opportunity to connect people across continents and conferences, sharing knowledge and expertise from very different environments,” said Dr Benjamins.

“I think that in terms of renewable energy development and research, there is a lot currently happening in Scotland, but we also want to learn and grow. By linking up with PAMEC, we can show the world what we are doing here and engage with experts and partners overseas.”

The EIMR2026 conference will take place at SAMS between 13^th and 17^th April and will bring together marine renewable energy experts and marine science researchers from across the globe to stimulate new and exciting discoveries.

The Rio de Janeiro link-up scheduled for the afternoon of the 15^th April. Dr Simon Waldman of Scotland’s Heriot Watt University will share the virtual stage with Dr Emiliano Gorr-Pozzi, a researcher at the Marine Offshore Renewable Energy (MOREnergy) Lab in Politecnico di Torino, Italy.

Dr Waldman will present a talk titled “Non-linear nasties: What might we need to worry about as offshore wind scales up?”, also on behalf of co-author and SAMS alumna Dr Karen Alexander (Heriot Watt University).

“As the deployment of offshore wind increases in scale, effects on the environment – both natural and human – will make themselves felt in ways that haven’t applied so far,” said Dr Waldman.

“It will be important for us to be able to predict these impacts in order to manage them. In the talk we’ll look at the scale of planned developments, cover what is already known about their likely effects, and suggest gaps that have yet to be explored.”

Meanwhile, in Brazil, Dr Gorr-Pozzi will share the time slot to deliver his talk on “Awakening the Giant: Why industrial muscle needs regulatory nones in Ibero-American offshore renewables".

The talk will focus on offshore renewable energies, energy policy, and multi-criteria decision-making in Ibero-America.

There is still time to register for EIMR2026 at Home - EIMR 2026.