And shoutout to our UKIRSC committee for organising this year’s conference #UKIRSC26 🙌 @beth-harvey.bsky.social @oshuwilson.bsky.social @miahurst.bsky.social @eva-mariab.bsky.social @isha-just-isha.bsky.social @rebeccahdudley.bsky.social @crday-reader.bsky.social @ellenlhayward.bsky.social

That’s a wrap for #UKIRSC26! Thank you to everyone who came to Plymouth for our 20th Annual UKIRSC Conference! It was a pleasure meeting everyone and hearing all of the amazing presentations! 🦭🐬🐋

Finally our winner for the Bernie McConnell Prize for Innovation was @ecostone1.bsky.social “An automated method to rapidly estimate pinniped body volume at scale for population monitoring” 🏆🦭

Our winner for best poster at #UKIRSC26 was our very own @miahurst.bsky.social “An automated method for polynya detection using a geomorphon algorithm” 🏆🧊 Thank you to Seiche and Whales et al. ART for sponsoring this prize!

Our winner for best long talk at #UKIRSC26 was our very own @oshuwilson.bsky.social “Projected shifts in Southern Ocean humpback whale distribution under a changing climate” 🏆🐋 Thank you to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT) and Whales et al. ART for sponsoring this prize!

Our winner for best short talk at #UKIRSC26 was Josh Symes “Risso’s dolphins of the South-West” 🏆🐬 Thank you to @prstats.bsky.social and Whales et al. ART for sponsoring this prize!

Our runner up for best poster at #UKIRSC26 was Ethan Wrigglesworth “The impact of endocrine disrupting chemicals on the male reproductive physiology of the harbour porpoise” Thank you to British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) for sponsoring this prize!

Our runner up for best long talk at #UKIRSC26 was Emily Martens-Oberwelland “Royal Fish, Sea Monsters, and the great Leviathan: Whales in Seventeenth Century England” 🐳 Thank you to ReWild swimwear and @thembauk.bsky.social for sponsoring this prize!

Our #UKIRSC26 Conference prize winners have been announced! First up, we’ve got the runner up for best short talk: @dasweeney.bsky.social “Using mark-recapture models to understand goose-beaked whale residency in Southern California” 🌊 Thank you to @infohackit.bsky.social for sponsoring this prize!

Stine Omdahl Petersen (@stine.op.bsky.social) compares how climate change is causing diverging distribution responses for minke whales and white-beaked dolphins in the North Sea. 🌊🐬 #UKIRSC26

‘Humpback to the future’! @oshuwilson.bsky.social projects how Southern Ocean humpback whale distributions might shift southward by the end of the century.🐋 #UKIRSC26

Patrick Kagerer shares a study on harbour seal haul-out behaviour in the Wadden Sea to help improve the accuracy of population size estimates. 🦭📈 #UKIRSC26

Charli Grimes discusses the social ontogeny of resident killer whales, exploring how lifelong social bonds form and change from early life through maturity. 🐋🤝 #UKIRSC26

Inspiring keynote from Dr Clare Embling on her career journey so far 🐬🐳 From porpoises to sperm whales, PhD & postdoc tips, insights into predator–prey interactions and impacts of noise. A brilliant, honest look at building a career in marine mammal science. #UKIRSC26 @plymbiomarsci.bsky.social

Our second workshop is off with a bang! We are going to learn about communicating our science to a wider audience. 📝 #UKIRSC26

Amy-Jo Randalls (@pintofangrybees.bsky.social) uses photo ID and citizen science to investigate common dolphin site fidelity and whether Loch Broom serves as a vital nursery area. 🐬🍼 #UKIRSC26

Claire Stainfield shows us how "Rootpainter," an open-access AI tool, can automate drone image processing to monitor grey seal populations without disturbance. 🚁🦭 #UKIRSC26

Ag Czernecka evaluates the recovery of the Baltic grey seal, assessing its ecological functionality and the potential impact of seal-fishery interactions. 🦭🐟 #UKIRSC26

Josh Symes at @exetermarine.bsky.social is tracking Risso's dolphins in the UK's south-west, using photo ID to reveal site fidelity and core social alliances within this sub-population. 🐬📸 #UKIRSC26

Presenting on biodiversity, David Sweeney (@dasweeney.bsky.social) kicks off our Population session by using Bayesian mark-recapture models to better understand the residency patterns and population dynamics of goose-beaked whales in Southern California. 🐋📉 #UKIRSC26

Closing our first session, Grace F. Bradley (gracebradley99.bsky.social) explores how interannual climate variability influences the abundance and distribution of baleen whales in the Mid North Atlantic 🐳☀️ #UKIRSC2026

Gemma A. S. Bekki is looking at how multiple gliders with hydrophone arrays can be used to detect and localise sperm whales in the Mediterranean 🐳📣 #UKIRSC2026

Evie White is sharing new insights into the spinner dolphins of Peros Banhos, using whistle characterization to understand this remote and unique population. 🐬 #UKIRSC2026

Nikolina Sokcic is diving into the acoustic cues that drive humpback whales to interact with herring fishing vessels in Norway. Are they eavesdropping for a free lunch? 🐋🐟#UKIRSC2026

Presenting from afar is Udayanga Sampath @udayanga-sampath.bsky.social ! He’s talking about using passive acoustic monitoring to detect and classify dolphin whistles in the remote Chagos Archipelago 🐬🏝️ #UKIRSC2026

Kicking off our Acoustics session is Rosie (Christina) Day-Reader! She’s exploring how to descibe the whistle repertoire of Scottish west coast common dolphins 🐬🔉 #UKIRSC2026

Delighted Luis Huckstadt from @exetermarine.bsky.social was able to make it for his fascinating plenary talk on lessons learned in his career (including the struggles of academia) and Antarctic seals 🦭 and collaborative science 🧪 #UKIRSC26 #marinemammals

Getting lots of amazing advice from this year’s career panel! We are very grateful to Dan Jarvis (BDMLR), Nicola Harris (Seiche), Dr Simon Ingram @plymuni.bsky.social, Dr Clare Embling @plymuni.bsky.social , and Emily Cunningham (WWF) for their open and honest discussions 🐬🐋🦭

Our first workshop is in full swing with Chelonia Ltd introducing the fundamentals of acoustics and providing hands-on experience using FPODs and FPOD software 🐬

Eva-Maria S. Bønnelycke @eva-mariab.bsky.social explores how CO2 accumulation limits energy gain in freely diving grey seals, impacting their foraging efficiency. 🦭💨 #UKIRSC2026

Emily Martens-Oberwelland takes us back to 17th-century England to explore the complex historical relationship between humans and whales. 🐋📜 #UKIRSC2026

Isha @isha-just-isha.bsky.social presents the first species distribution maps for the Chagos archipelago, using an integrated modelling approach with opportunistic and survey data. 🗺️🐬 #UKIRSC2026

Kicking off part 2 of our general and physiology session, Ellen L. Hayward dives into the cooperative "tail-slap" feeding dynamics and role specialization of herring-eating killer whales in Icelandic waters. 🐋🐟 #UKIRSC2026 @ellenlhayward.bsky.social

Shreya Vinodh examines how the vertical distribution of copepods affects foraging for North Atlantic right whales. 🐋🦐 #UKIRSC2026

Katerina Schiffnederova (@katerinaschiff.bsky.social) investigates PCB concentration patterns in harbour porpoises, highlighting the persistence of these toxic chemicals in UK waters. 🐬🧪 #UKIRSC2026

Thomas Stone (@ecostone1.bsky.social) introduces an automated method using 3D photogrammetry to rapidly estimate pinniped body volume from drone imagery at scale. 🦭📏 #UKIRSC2026

To kick things off we have plenary speaker Nicola Quick from the University of Plymouth giving a talk on her career and fascinating beaked whale research! @plymbiomarsci.bsky.social #ukirsc26 #marinemammals

A gorgeous morning to kick off #UKIRSC26 and what a view from the Plymouth University Marine Station! 🐬

Wishing you a whaley great New Year! 🐳

More than 20 years ago, budding scientist @ashadevos.bsky.social discovered the uniqueness of Sri Lanka’s blue whales after seeing one of them poop. She went on to become the first Sri Lankan to earn a PhD in marine mammal research. 🐋

New PhD studentship opportunity in my lab & with collaborators from the Pinniped Genomes Consortium. Come help us unravel the genomics of seal physiological super powers! Closing date 7th January 2026 🧪🦭🧬🌍🦑🐳 #marine #mammals #consgen #popgen #phylo #molevol #evolution yes-dtn.ac.uk/research/the...

We are hiring: #PhD fellow in Ecosystem-based management and marine connectivity🐋🧪🛰️ Want to work with tracking data from migratory species to identify ecological corridors and help inform biodiversity conservation priorities? Apply by Dec 7th! @bioprotectproject.bsky.social tinyurl.com/ytfmfhfc

Bird Flu Ravaged the World’s Largest Elephant Seal Population, Study Finds www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/s...

We've had a late surge of registrations and we're now nearing our room capacity! Only 10 spaces left so make sure to sign up quickly if you want to come. We'll be closing registration early if we reach our limit. Great problem to have!

3 year postdoc funded by @ukri.org NERC on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins is now live - please share widely 🙏 www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

🐋 Registration Deadline Extended 🦭 We've extended the deadline for registration until the 21st November, so there's still time to sign up if you thought you'd missed it! Head to our website or scan the QR code in the poster to get to the form. Hope to see you all in January!

Travel grants are also available to help keep conference costs down!

Reminder that registration closes this week! Follow the link in the thread to sign up 🧵

Interesting article with some good tips on how to get a marine mammal (or general dream) PhD 👇 Anyone have tips of their own? whalescientists.com/phd-on-whales/ #phdsky #academicsky

Our top 3 good news hot takes on the 2025 #vaquita porpoise survey 🐬🔥🎉 1) Fabulous drone footage, especially Sept 23 of mother Frida (tied for record size at 1.5 meters, & possibly pregnant) swimming with her estimated year old calf. Evidence of population reproduction ♀️♂️!