Post #424725

2026-02-26 21:10 UTC

Once again putting it out into the world that someday I would desperately like to work on a research vessel at sea. I'll take holiday time and do it as volunteer hours if a short-term opportunity presents itself. I can write excellent code in Python without an internet connectionI can do basic electronics and solderingI have college-level chem and biochem and PhD-level structural biologymany years ago I was on a sailing team, so I can tie knots and hike and stuff if relevantalso fine with manual labor and repetitive tasks. I just want to be on the water. If there's a longer-term thing worth pursuing that I'd need specific qualifications for, I'd be interested to know about it so I can slowly accumulate said qualifications. (I'm not leaving my job-job in the next three or four years, but eventually I will be looking for a career-shaped thing again once this ends.)

Replies (8)

@brianvastag@mas.to 2026-02-26 22:36

@iris@neuromatch.social I posted these jobs for the upcoming E/V Nautilus field season a few weeks ago. Looks like they're still open. https://nautiluslive.org/about/employment

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@djl@mastodon.mit.edu 2026-02-27 00:58

@iris@neuromatch.social My brother in-law's younger sister volunteered to be support staff for (drum roll) an Antarctic research station. And got married at the south pole. Translation: GO FOR IT!

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@clolsonus@social.makerforums.info 2026-02-27 01:54

@iris@neuromatch.social I don't know if this is useful advice, but try getting involved with NOAA out of Honolulu or maybe East Coast somewhere? A bunch of years ago I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go on a 16 day cruise out of Hawaii on NOAA ship 1000nm north up into the great pacific garbage patch to test drone survey techniques for hunting ocean debris. It was hard, trying to work on a rolling ship is difficult and I was at best 60% capacity the whole trip, trying not to puke, but it was an adventure and I learned a lot ... and gained a huge respect for the sea. So try to get on a funded research project that gets ship time ... ???? (me back before red caps meant something else .....)

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@steveroyle@biologists.social 2026-02-27 08:11

@iris@neuromatch.social there have been some expeditions looking for archaea on the seabed. I was following this Schmidt Institute one on YouTube a few months ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmEh_qag5E

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@NotADropbear@aus.social 2026-02-27 13:00

@iris@neuromatch.social Possibly adjacent to your interests: type subsea inspection into your search engine of choice. It's commercial, not scientific, but maybe you'd like it. Jobs for inspectors, people who operate and repair the ROV, people who run specialised instruments like a cathodic protection measurement probe, etc. Very international.

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@steelswords@fosstodon.org 2026-02-28 04:27

@iris@neuromatch.social That is such a cool goal!

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@aaron@social.caskey-demaret.se 2026-03-16 08:00

@iris@neuromatch.social NIWA in New Zealand has (well at least had, it's been a while) a research vessel they use for meteorological stuff, and I have previously seen IT jobs there that involved being on the ship at least some of the time.

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@DavidBridger@writing.exchange 2026-04-23 03:22

@iris@neuromatch.social Looking back on my long life, 20 years of it at sea, if I had my time over this is what I'd want to do. I hope you find your dream.

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