Call for Applications: SWIMM Graduate Student Workshop in Mexico (fully-funded)

[Besonen, Mark]

The 9th Student Workshop on International Coastal and Marine Management in the Gulf of Mexico ("SWIMM 2025-2026") will work towards developing a shared, trinational agenda for coastal conservation and restoration, grounded in science and policy. The program will focus on living shorelines and scientific diplomacy as a trinational strategy for resilience, emphasizing five key ecosystems—mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, oyster reefs, and coastal dunes. The workshop will take place in a mixed, virtual and in-person format in Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 with a fully-funded, approximately seven day, in-person workshop in Mérida, Mexico in February 2026 to draft workshop deliverables. The in-person event will also include field excursions and cultural activities to strengthen the understanding of local coastal socio-ecosystems and foster the development of trinational relationships.

We invite applications from doctorate and masters level graduate students who are either: 1. Enrolled in graduate programs in Mexico, Cuba, or the United States, or 2. Who are citizens of any of these three countries, but enrolled elsewhere. We seek candidates from a wide variety of disciplines with at least some connection to the program theme via their course of studies or graduate research work. The connection may be via management, law and policy, ecology, coastal/marine sciences, economy, public health, political/social sciences with a focus on socio-environmental issues, anthropology, community planning, risk management, engineering, and any related disciplines.

The program will cover roundtrip air or bus transport for participants to Mérida from their airport or bus station of origin. The program will also cover transport, food, and lodging expenses related to the workshop while in Mexico. Participants will be responsible for expenses in their own home country before and after the workshop (like meals and getting to/from the airport) and for personal items such as toiletries or souvenirs while in Mexico.

Please consult the full Call for Applications for further details about the program and information about how to apply.  The Call for Applications can be found at https://www.harteresearch.org/swimm.

The deadline for applications for SWIMM 2025-2026 is 5:00 pm Central Time on October 29, 2025.

SWIMM workshops are organized by the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (HRI), the UMDI-Sisal, Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas de la Universidad de La Habana (CIM-UH), and are supported by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the HRI Furgason Fellowships.

For more information, please write sw...@tamucc.edu.

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Mark R. Besonen, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist & HRI Director of International Programs
Harte Research Institute
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5869
Corpus Christi, TX  78412

office:  HRI 310
tel:  +1.361.825.2043 (office)
e-mail:  mark.b...@tamucc.edu
www:  https://www.harteresearch.org/