Maria Island experience beckons for budding marine biologists

A group of 24 budding marine biologists from around Australia will spend this Easter school holiday on Tasmania's stunning Maria Island as part of a five day course designed to introduce college students considering their university options to life as a marine scientist.

The year 11 and 12 students were selected through a nationwide competition which attracted 233 applications, 80 per cent which came from mainland students.

Four Tasmanian and five mainland college students won scholarships from IMAS and the University of Tasmania that will cover their costs for travel and the course.

The nine scholarship winners are:

• Casey Moss, Eamon Barker and Joselyn Singh from New South Wales;
• Sophie Kalkowski-Pope from Queensland;
• Abaigh Gleeson from the Northern Territtory; and
• Emma Condie, Jaihya Buchanan, Mollie Emery and Ewan Barry from Tasmania.

All of the scholarship recipients scored full marks on the assessment criteria used to select the winners, with the remaining places on the course offered to those who narrowly missed out.

Watch highlights of a previous course in the video below.

The course 'XAS101 A Practical Introduction to Temperate Marine Biology' is part of the University of Tasmania University Connections Program which provides specialised courses for Year 11 and 12 students.

The course runs during the April school holidays from Wednesday 18 April until Monday 23 April, including five-days on Maria Island and one day in the classroom.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for students with an interest in science to experience life as a marine biologist for a whole week as they develop their skills of observation and explore the marine environments of spectacular Maria Island," Dr Ling said.

"The course is designed to inspire, challenge and engage potential university students."

"One of the great attractions of the course is the chance to get out of the classroom or laboratory and into the wild and ocean environments.

"The trip will allow students to apply marine biology theories, techniques and sampling methods during a practical field investigation of species diversity across a range of intertidal and sub-tidal habitats."

XAS101 is offered HECS-free and successful completion can be used to contribute one unit (12.5%) towards a  Marine Biology degree at the University of Tasmania.

You can follow the journey of these students on social media via the hashtags #xas101 and #doitforthedata.