Editor’s note: Each semester, students in the Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. program can apply for a Geospatial Analytics Travel Award that supports research travel or presentations at conferences. The following is a guest post by travel award winner Kelly van Woesik as part of the Student Travel series.

Gigantic silver ferns, massive pigeons, meter-plus long eels, bioluminescent glowworms, and endangered kiwi. These are some of the native flora and fauna I saw while in Aotearoa — New Zealand’s Māori name meaning “Land of the long white cloud.” This July, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in the 16^th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS). The ICRS is hosted every 4 years by the International Coral Reef Society and is the largest, most-renowned conference in the world for coral reef science, conservation, and management. The theme was “working together to ensure a future for coral reefs” and this grand challenge brought together 2,100+ attendees from 90+ countries.

At the ICRS, I presented a lightning talk to a full room entitled “Sea‘urchin’ for solutions across scales: carbonate production suppressed by sea-urchin bioerosion in Hawaiʻi”. I completed this study for my MS degree in Biology with Distinction at Arizona State University based on Hawaiʻi Island. It has since been published in the open-access journal, PLOS ONE (2025), with my current CGA affiliation, and had press coverage by NC State and CNN. In my talk, I discussed three main points. Firstly, about the cascading effect fishing pressure is having on sea-urchin densities in Hawaiʻi, where some of the highest densities of sea urchins in the world are eroding Hawaiian coral reefs. Secondly, about the scalability of measuring reef health with remote sensing, which has relevance to the functionality of coral reefs worldwide. Thirdly, about the importance of local management during a time of global change to help ensure a future for coral reefs that can keep pace with sea-level rise.

The ICRS was an exciting place to meet and network with coastal colleagues, old and new. The water pollution lunch and sessions were especially relevant to my PhD work. It was special that I got to attend a professional conference with my sister too, who’s doing her PhD in Australia. We were part of team “Rubble Sharks,” which won the reef-themed trivia event at the Australian Coral Reef Society ICRS Mixer! The ICRS organized a tour to Hobbiton, where the Lord of the Rings was filmed, and the lush countryside indeed has lots of sheep and cows. Beyond the conference, I also did some personal travel for a few days to explore the natural beauty of New Zealand, seeing its rugged coastline, beautiful black sand beaches, bubbling mud pits, and the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere. I was about 500-600 years too late to see the Hōkioi (giant eagle) and giant Moa bird, but got to see Kiwi birds and experience local Māori culture — which has many language similarities to Hawaiian, as the indigenous peoples are both Polynesian.

Overall, the ICRS was a great opportunity for connection and learning that was thought provoking, inspiring, and most of all, motivating. The conference highlighted that scientific, policy, and management actions must be taken at both local and global scales to improve the health of coastal ecosystems now and into the future. As Gandalf, the wizard in the Lord of the Rings, says “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” As scientists, we can bring evidence forward to help enact change, and the time to act is now.