The Hydrographic Society UK & Ireland is delighted to announce that Faye Chatzopoulou has been selected as a Runner-Up for the Alan Ingham Award, in recognition of her research and contribution to the field of hydrography.

Faye recently completed an MSc in Hydrography at the University of Plymouth, following a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology and Oceanography, for which she achieved a First Class mark for her dissertation. Originally from Greece and a keen sailor, the sea has played an important role throughout her life, inspiring her interest in the marine environment and leading her to pursue studies and research focused on exploring, mapping and navigating the ocean.

Her award-recognised paper, “Enhancing Arctic Hydrography: Integrating Community-Assisted and Scientist-Led Data for Improved Mapping in the Coppermine River, Nunavut, Arctic Canada,” explored the potential of combining community-collected hydrographic data with professional survey methods in remote and poorly surveyed Arctic environments.

The research was a self-directed project supported by the Université du Québec à Rimouski and the Canadian Hydrographic Service, which provided data and guidance. Faye’s work compared Inuit community-collected “HydroBall” single-beam data with data from a professional multibeam survey conducted near Kugluktuk, Nunavut.

The study assessed how effectively the community-collected data could reproduce the river’s main morphology and examined the influence of sound-speed assumptions on agreement between the two datasets. Its findings highlighted the potential value of community hydrography in supporting improved mapping in remote, dynamic and challenging Arctic environments.

Looking to the future, Faye hopes to combine her background in marine science with her expertise in hydrography to contribute to safer navigation and explore new approaches to ocean mapping through marine autonomy and emerging technologies.

The Society congratulates Faye on this well-deserved recognition and wishes her every success as she continues her career in hydrography.

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