I stood on the train, clinging to a pole and trying to remain upright. I had a total of 55 kg of luggage, more than half of which was hanging off my back. I apologised to the other passengers as I made my way to the doors, before tumbling out onto the street. Large cities are not within my comfort zone.

I had just learnt my first lesson as a diver travelling in cities. Just because public transport is cheaper, doesn’t always mean it’s the more sensible option.

The most recent leg of my scholarship journey had me out of the water for a while as I explored a different side of the marine science and diving industry.

I reluctantly left the Faroe Islands after an amazing few weeks learning about seaweed farming and headed to Oslo, the capital of Norway, for a very exciting conference.

The Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) was founded by Daniela Fernandez with a purpose to bring together entrepreneurs, scientists and business people who are all working toward the same goal; a sustainable future ocean.

The SOA runs two main projects. Their accelerator program provides guidance, grants and mentorship to start-ups working in the sustainable ocean space. In conjunction, their Youth Leadership Program brings together young people from all over the globe for a conference and workshop on sustainable ocean leadership.

I was fortunate enough to be included in the 2019 cohort of young ocean leaders for the 2019 SOA Youth Leadership Summit, held in Oslo, Norway.

The summit was packed with exciting talks, workshops, and activities that provided the opportunity to network and meet other young ocean leaders who all share similar goals.

Highlights included an address by former USA secretary of state, John Kerry. We were also treated to talks by Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister of Norway, Keith Krach, Under-secretary for economic growth, energy and environment from the US department of state, Debbie Remengesau, First Lady of the Republic of Palau and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.

This amazing program of speakers was partnered with a workshop on business idea development and pitching ideas, which moved at a lightning pace.

I was partnered with four other young leaders to brainstorm business ideas to create a more sustainable fishery. Over two days, we developed business ideas, designed prototypes and finally pitched our final idea to a panel of 5 judges and a room of over 100 people.

Our final idea centred around utilising DNA barcoding technology to improve traceability in fishery supply chains.

This process was unlike anything I had ever done before, and I learnt so much! I come from a science background, so to be given the opportunity to see how the business side of things work was incredibly informative.

One of the reasons I enjoyed the SOA youth leadership summit so much was because it brought together lessons’ I had learnt from my experiences in Europe so far. We can achieve so much more for the marine environment if science and business are willing to work together to create a more sustainable economy. I had seen this concept in action working with a scientific diving business in Scotland, with a progressive underwater farming experiment in Italy and with an innovative seaweed farm in the Faroe Islands, but this summit showed me the power of what a group of dedicated, innovative individuals can do.

This summit gave me hope for the future. I realised that perhaps solutions for the future do not involve reinventing the wheel, but changing how we operate.

From Oslo, I made my way across to Orlando, Florida, for an entirely different kind of education; DEMA.

DEMA (The Diving Equipment and Marketing Association) is the world’s largest dive show. It brings together equipment developers, training agencies, travel providers and many other diving businesses for a week of networking, business to business sales and socialising. I was able to catch up with sponsors and hosts, as well as meet a number of people I previously knew only from email.

For my first two days in Florida, I was invited to sit in on a sustainable shark and ray diving workshop, run by Ian Campbell from Project Aware. The workshop aimed to develop ideas for the redevelopment of the Project Aware Shark Diver Speciality as well as the Sustainable Shark Diving Website.

It was fascinating to be in the room with so many important people in shark conservation and ecotourism, whilst they brainstormed and debated issues related to sharks and rays. It was a great insight into the great work of Project Aware.

DEMA was also a great opportunity for a mid-year meeting of the Our World Underwater Scholarship Society. I was happy to see so many friendly faces I first met at the scholarships annual event in New York, and be reunited with my scholarship sisters, Kim and Neha. We were able to trade stories about life on the road and chat about things that only another scholar would understand.

Whilst in Orlando, Kim, Neha and I presented our mid-year video about our year so far to a room full of hosts and friends. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the year so far, and what is yet to come.

DEMA was a week of no sleep and busy schedules. I left tired, but grateful for the experience and being able to catch up with friends.

I write this blog on the plane travelling from Sydney to Perth, Western Australia. In the last 24 hours, I have travelled more than 18,000 km, from Florida in the USA. This scholarship is proving to be an absolute whirlwind of overnight flights and jetlag, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks to Rolex and the OWUSS for making this possible. I learnt so much already and can’t wait to jump head-first into the second half of the year. I would also like to give a special shout out to TUSA and Waterproof, who have supported the Australasian scholar for over 13 years! Additional thanks to Reef Photo and Video, Nauticam, Light and Motion, Paralenz and Mako Eyewear for supporting me on this incredible journey.