c\cite{Beck_2021,Claudet_2020,Cunsolo_2018,Franke_2020,process,Jung_2022,Kemmis_2014} In 2021, and again in 2022, our globally scattered group of artists and scientists followed the Exquisite Corpse process for co-creating multiple threaded series of artworks inspired by extreme ocean events. In 2023 some members of our two groups convened a series of collaborative synchronous sessions to create a shared understanding of the paths we took to join this creative community and engage in this open ArtScience collaboration.Prompted by a sense of curiosity, a shared passion for the ocean and the will to collaborate, artists and scientists came together (virtually) to forge relationships around the shared intent to deepen our understanding of transdisciplinary ArtScience and how it can contribute to ocean knowledge. Discovering common ground (and creating a grounded commons) and mutual interests, we set forth on a path of curiosity into a formal Exquisite Corpse cycle. We created an array of art projects drawn from a semi-ambiguous “seed” within a semi-safe, not-always-comfortable space for experimentation and creation. Through cyclical introspection, enactment, opening, giving, and receiving, we developed our artwork series and relationships among our group. Finally, in the sharing of these series, we experienced new insights about our individual and collective perceptions of extreme ocean events, while simultaneously further deepening our relationships and appreciation for the potency of ArtScience collaborations.This poster was presented at the AGU23 Meeting in San Francisco, CA, on 13 December 2023. Conference abstract URL: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm23/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1266010

Ocean governance is characterised by social-ecological complexity and divergence in stakeholder values and perspectives. Meeting the challenges set out in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will require transdisciplinary approaches that can embrace multiple ways of knowing to develop shared understandings within interdependent communities of practice and ensure they can be applied in interventions that are adaptive, proactive, socially just, critically reflexive and fit to meet the Decade’s challenges. We present the outcomes of an innovative participatory art process, the Exquisite Corpse Project, with the aim of highlighting multiple perspectives, and developing empathy between participants. We will engage a selected group of researchers from the emerging ‘Ocean Art-Ocean Science’ community to explore the topic of marine heatwaves and their impacts based on data collected in the Northeast Pacific by Ocean Networks Canada and other sources. Through a facilitated process, participants will create three pieces of art that will build on each other and will be exchanged between participants. At the end, all created artworks will be reviewed by the full group to explore emerging insights on marine heatwaves and to surface participants’ underlying values and emotions, which is rarely done in scientific circles where the main mode of discourse employs rational dispassionate exchange. By creating a fun, emotionally-engaging process, we aim to show how the Exquisite Corpse project can strengthen interpersonal bonds, build social cohesion, create opportunities to surface people’s values and perspectives, and develop new transdisciplinary insights in a non-confrontational way. This study is part of an ongoing process exploring transdisciplinary approaches for multidirectional art-science collaborations and developing new research methods for including artistic insight and expression within the scientific discovery process. Instead of the conventional ‘outward looking’ strategy of many art-science projects translating scientific outputs to new formats, our approach is primarily ‘inward looking’. We aim to provide an opportunity for scientists to create art, thus allowing them to explore their own emotions, values and experiences through different ways of knowing.

Virtual networking opportunities are becoming increasingly important as alternatives or add-ons to offline conferences to lower the academic carbon footprint and make academia more inclusive. Virtual conferences improve access to networking opportunities and knowledge exchange for researchers, e.g., from the Global South or those with disabilities or caregiving obligations. Virtual conferences may be especially important for early-career researchers (ECRs), who are more often excluded from the expensive participation in offline conferences and associated networking opportunities. Our study presents the outcomes from the 2020 online edition of ICYMARE (International Conference for Young Marine Researchers, www.icymare.com), which will use an innovative approach for online networking. ICYMARE is an ideal case for this study as it is organized by and for ECRs. With around 350 participants during the on-site meeting, ICYMARE has great potential to conduct a comprehensive survey on its online alternative and its focus on marine sciences is of high relevance. Following the 2020 online edition and the outcomes of this study, the approach of this conference series may be widened to a mixed conference approach where online participation is fostered in a live conference event (e.g., through live streams, video on demand, TED talk formats). Currently, most online substitute conferences are held in various online seminar formats that focus on sharing information from keynote speakers. ICYMARE will be using a different approach, focused on networking and creating personal connections. There will be online sessions in virtual meeting rooms of around 10 participants, which include scientific presentations and moderated discussions. Additionally, an open space for general networking and free exchange is provided. As this is an innovative format, no research has been done to determine the networking potential and success of such an alternative online format and we aim to address this gap. We will use a mixed-method approach using qualitative and quantitative methods, covering aspects about the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges of online conferences for ECRs. Our presentation will provide an overview of the preliminary outcomes from this study as well as the lessons learned during this first online edition.