For teachers

In its 2007 report on 'Investigating the Oceans', the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee noted that 'marine science has clear attractions to young people and could be drawn into many topics to increase interest in science, such as biodiversity in the deep ocean', and suggested that 'a focus on extreme environments (space and oceans) would entice young people into science'.

We agree wholeheartedly, and here is our pick of educational links about undersea volcanoes and deep-sea life:

Explore the Deep Sea - Volcanoes and Vents

Explore the Deep Sea - Life in the Deep

(There are lots of webpages out there about deep-sea vents, but unfortunately many are riddled with factual errors. However, those Venture Deep Ocean pages are excellent; they were created by the Education and Outreach team of Ridge 2000, the US national programme of scientific research at mid-ocean ridges.)


Ask the team

We welcome any questions from school students about exploring the deep ocean, the science that we're doing, the undersea vehicles and technology that we use, how to become a scientist or engineer, or what it's like to live and work on a research ship.

Please use the form below to send your question to our team. The form will ask you how old you are, the name of your school, and which country you are from, so that we can see how many schools are following our expeditions, and where they are around the world.

*** As we're not at sea at the moment, please include an email address to which we can reply. ***

Alternatively, if you use Twitter, you can ask us a question directly - please see the Media pages for Twitter accounts of our team members.



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Join us!

As we are not at sea at the moment, unfortunately we can't offer a video link from the ship. But we can still offer a live Skype link from our lab ashore to school classes, to show some of the specimens of new species of deep-sea creatures that we are analysing, talk about the work that we are doing, and what it's like to be a marine scientist. Students can also read about our work at sea via these webpages, see video highlights on our YouTube channel, and find out more about deep-sea vents in our free eBooks.

If you are a teacher and would like to arrange one of these sessions for a class, please contact us using the "Ask a question" box above. We typically need notice of a couple of weeks to schedule a session, but can usually arrange one to fit your timetable (at least in the UK time zone!). All you need at your end is a computer that runs a Skype account.

There are a couple of reports on our live links to school classes available here and here.

Alternatively, if you are in the southern UK within reasonable distance of Southampton, we can visit your school to talk to students, at no cost.


Get involved!

If you are in the southern UK and would like some hands-on experience of marine science, why not try a Discover Oceanography trip? The University of Southampton offers school groups the opportunity for half-day field trips aboard its research vessel Callista. We can't take you to deep-sea vents, but the trips aboard Callista give a real taste of science at sea. You can usually also have a talk from one of our expedition team members afterwards, and meet some of the new species that we have found at deep-sea vents.

Cayman Trough

Join our expedition to the world's deepest and strangest undersea vents in the Cayman Trough.
What did we investigate?

SW Indian Ridge

Follow the story of our expedition to the first deep-sea vents found in the Southwest Indian Ocean.
What did we find?

Expedition archive

Find out about our previous expeditions exploring deep-sea vents from Antarctica to the Tropics.
Where have we been?