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Friends and colleagues of the late Prof Graham Shimmield travelled from across the UK to celebrate the life and career of the Scottish Association for Marine Science’s (��ҹѰ��) pioneering former director.

Leading marine scientists from around the UK attended the event held last Friday at ��ҹѰ��, on what would have been Prof Shimmield’s 59^th birthday.

Prof Shimmield, who died on Christmas Eve last year, was at the helm of ��ҹѰ�� between 1996 and 2008 and transformed the institute: doubling the number of staff; developing the BSc and PhD programmes; building a new main laboratory; developing a business incubator for marine biotechnology companies; broadening ��ҹѰ�� research to include Arctic science, biotechnology and social science; and setting up its first commercial subsidiary.

Speakers at the event highlighted Prof Shimmield’s legacy as a scientist, a leader, and an innovator.

Prof Nicholas Owens, the current ��ҹѰ�� Director, explained how Prof Shimmield’s presence was still felt at ��ҹѰ�� and that it was a ‘huge challenge’ to follow in his footsteps.

��ҹѰ�� President Prof Geoffrey Boulton added: “��ҹѰ�� has lived on a heritage that Graham built and we need to continue that heritage. It seems like Graham is now throwing down a challenge to us to ask what we’re going to do next.”

Prof Shimmield left ��ҹѰ�� for the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, in Maine, USA, and was the driving force behind a new $33m laboratory.

Prof Willie Wilson, now director at the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in Plymouth, worked with Prof Shimmield at Bigelow. He said: “I have been a director and worked in various places and I often ask myself, “What would Graham do?”. I think that is testament to his leadership.”