SeaWeek 2026 Webinar: Exploring how the ocean influences and connects life on Earth

When: Weds 4 March, 12-12.45pm AEDT

Where: Online via Zoom

Cost: Free.

This SeaWeek, we welcome students and teachers across Australian and New Zealand to join us for a special online webinar with marine scientists exploring how the ocean influences and connects life on Earth.

Hear about how the ocean makes life habitable and provides the nutrients, oxygen and environment for ecosystems and marine species to flourish. Learn about how humans are inextricably connected to the sea, and what we can all do to care for planet water.

This webinar is a collaboration between the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE), SeaWeek New Zealand, Sir Peter Blake Marine Education & Recreation Centre, and Western Australia's Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions' Marine Science Program and North West Shelf Flatback Turtle Conservation Program. The webinar is supported by Big Blue Ocean.

Speakers:

• Dr Osmar Luiz, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions WA
  Osmar is a Senior Research Scientist with over 20 years of experience researching marine life and their habitats. He will provide an overview of the diverse marine ecosystems across Australia and New Zealand and will explore how physical factors like temperature, currents and chemistry act as the invisible architects of the ocean, connecting life across vast distances.

• Dr Malindi Gammon, Cawthorn Institute, Nelson NZ
  Malindi is an Invasion Ecologist who has worked across a range of temperate and tropical ecosystems across Australia and New Zealand. She will explain how monitoring and modeling of environmental factors is applied to identify and manage threats to species, from marine turtles to invertebrates.

• Linda Faulkner (Ngāti Rangi, Whanganui), NZ National Commission for UNESCO, Earth Sciences NZ
  Linda is Natural Sciences Commissioner for the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, and Pou Whakarae Te Hiringa Taiao at Earth Sciences New Zealand. She is passionate about the interface between mātauranga Māori and science. She will share thoughts on her recent participation in the international conference on Ocean and Human Health, as well as reflect on indigenous conceptions of the human-nature relationship.