ARCTOS network

Margaux Noyon recently defended her PhD thesis with the title: Nutrition and lipid dynamic of the hyperiid Themisto libellula. Importance in terms of adaptive strategy. Here she describes her experience of being an ARCTOS PhD student.

I just defended my PhD which was about nutrition and lipid dynamic of an arctic pelagic amphipod, Themisto libellula, and their importance in term of adaptations. 

I was registered in France, at the University of Pierre et Marie Curie and worked in the laboratory of Oceanography in Villefranche sur mer (LOV). During my PhD, I took part to two different projects: MariClim (Marine Ecosystem consequences of climate induced changes in water masses off West-Spitsbergen, NP, Tromsø) and Praceal (Planktonic predators: role and adaptive strategy in the control of Arctic ecosystems, importance of lipid metabolism, IPEV and LOV). Hence I had the chance to do my field work in Ny-Ålesund where I spend 5 months in a row and to participate in several cruises.

As my supervisors in France already collaborated with the Norwegian Polar Institute, I heard rapidly about the ARCTOS network and then became an affiliated student.

My first experience with the ARCTOS network was a workshop I followed in Lofoten in the first month of my PhD. Hence I met quiet a lot of students and senior researchers and felt rapidly immerse in this network.

ARCTOS allowed me to participate in workshops, conferences and courses at UNIS. Although I did not take part in the meetings organised in Tromsø because I was either in France or in Svalbard, ARCTOS was a really good opportunity for me to meet a lot of young and senior researchers who worked in the Arctic. Thus I was able to benefit rewarding scientific discussions which would not have been possible in my lab in France. ARCTOS was in a way my link with the “Arctic community” as I was far away. It was a really positive experience that I recommend to other new PhD student.

I would like to greatly thank all the members of ARCTOS for their conviviality and to welcome me in this network.

Margaux Noyon