Being a Woman in Marine Research

Poster Special Exhibition

Launching tomorrow, the special exhibition offers fascinating insights into the work and determination of female scientists. Its theme, “Breaking the Surface,” can be freely translated as: not remaining at the surface but diving into the unknown depths of the oceans—both literally and figuratively. The spotlight is on eleven contemporary German researchers.

Internationally active photographer Marzena Skubatz gives each woman’s portrait a distinctive character through her close-up visual style.

In cooperation with the University of Hamburg and the Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung (DAM), the exhibition presents these women as central figures in science.

With her exemplary career, Corinna Schrum is a perfect fit for such an exhibition. She, too, had to assert herself at a time when many male colleagues still looked down on women in marine science. For a long time, the outstanding achievements of renowned female scientists remained largely hidden from view.

Great Challenges, strong Presence

Corinna Schrum is proud to be one of the faces of the special exhibition.
Photo: Marzena Skubatz

“Sometimes I had to fight, especially because I strongly believed that being a mother and having a career should be possible together,” says Schrum. This belief was long questioned—older male colleagues openly rejected it and made it clear that mothers, in particular, had no place in marine research.

Nevertheless, Corinna Schrum pursued her path. After earning her diploma in oceanography in 1990 (topic: Modeling Baroclinic Instabilities at Mesoscale Fronts), she completed her doctoral dissertation four years later (topic: Numerical Modeling of Thermodynamic Processes in the German Bight), both at the University of Hamburg. Alongside her passion for modeling, Schrum has always placed great importance on interdisciplinary collaboration. She led the development of several model databases and related tools that have become widely used in the broader scientific community, for example, through a working group of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the coastDat model database, or for the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS).

For Corinna Schrum, one thing is obvious: “Women belong in science—just as much as men. That applies to marine research just as it does to any other field. I am proud to be one of the faces of this exhibition.”