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Meet Sophie

A profile picture of woman outdoors smiling at the camera.

Sophie is one of two students who have been awarded the first Indigenous Time at Sea Scholarship. Sophie is a proud Alyawarr woman with ties to the Northern Territory and Queensland.

My story is one of heat, dust and flies… oh so many flies! For the majority of my working career I have worked on country and lived throughout north-west Queensland, first a stationhand, then as a ranger. While working on country, I would see things in the natural world that would make me question why or how they worked. While many people taught me a lot about the land and how to read it, there were certain questions that they could not answer. In the end, I decided that the only way to answer my questions was to attend university, so that’s what I did. Since then I have managed to gain a better understanding of my questions and have even managed to answer a few.

While on my academic adventure, I started learning about the oceans and just how connected and dependent everything is on the world’s oceans. This fascinated me and when I heard of an opportunity to go on RV Investigator for 2 weeks, I couldn’t help but apply! While I don’t have much practical experience with anything much to do with the oceans, I am hoping that with this once in a lifetime opportunity, I can learn as much as I possibly can about the oceans and how they affect everyday life around us.

Then maybe I could share that knowledge with other curious souls one day.

Sophie's voyage

Sophie joined ITSS coordinator, Hannah McCleary, and fellow ITSS student, Tiahni Adamson, on the inaugural ITSS voyage on RV Investigator. The voyage departed Darwin on 23 December 2019 and spent 10 days studying ocean and atmosphere along the west coast of Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 2 January 2020.

Voyage page: IN2019_T03

The Indigenous Time at Sea Scholarship is supported by the Marine National Facility as part of the CSIRO Reconciliation Action Plan.

Meet Sophie

ITSS student Sophie Gilbey from Flinders University.

Sophie is one of two students who have been awarded the first Indigenous Time at Sea Scholarship. Sophie is a proud Alyawarr woman with ties to the Northern Territory and Queensland.

My story is one of heat, dust and flies… oh so many flies! For the majority of my working career I have worked on country and lived throughout north-west Queensland, first a stationhand, then as a ranger. While working on country, I would see things in the natural world that would make me question why or how they worked. While many people taught me a lot about the land and how to read it, there were certain questions that they could not answer. In the end, I decided that the only way to answer my questions was to attend university, so that’s what I did. Since then I have managed to gain a better understanding of my questions and have even managed to answer a few.

While on my academic adventure, I started learning about the oceans and just how connected and dependent everything is on the world’s oceans. This fascinated me and when I heard of an opportunity to go on RV Investigator for 2 weeks, I couldn’t help but apply! While I don’t have much practical experience with anything much to do with the oceans, I am hoping that with this once in a lifetime opportunity, I can learn as much as I possibly can about the oceans and how they affect everyday life around us.

Then maybe I could share that knowledge with other curious souls one day.

Sophie's voyage

Sophie joined ITSS coordinator, Hannah McCleary, and fellow ITSS student, Tiahni Adamson, on the inaugural ITSS voyage on RV Investigator. The voyage departed Darwin on 23 December 2019 and spent 10 days studying ocean and atmosphere along the west coast of Australia, arriving in Fremantle on 2 January 2020.

Voyage page: IN2019_T03

The Indigenous Time at Sea Scholarship is supported by the Marine National Facility as part of the CSIRO Reconciliation Action Plan.

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