Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) is recognized for deep-sea research and extensive data production, yet it also serves as a talent incubator, preparing co-op students and early career professionals for careers across multiple sectors.
This network of alumni extends ONC’s impact within Canada and around the world in fields ranging from earthquake detection and data analysis, to scientific discovery and national defence.
On-the-job training with co-ops
Since 2011, more than 250 co-op students have completed 350+ work terms at ONC. Half have been engineering students—mechanical, software and electrical—helping to support the design and operation of ONC’s network of subsea, mobile, and coastal observatory networks. A quarter are in computer science, which isn’t surprising given ONC’s focus on data gathering, analysis and dissemination.
Collaboration through research
In addition, there are the large number of highly qualified professionals (HQPs) who have worked for or collaborated with ONC, using the enormous trove of data gathered by ONC infrastructure on the three coasts of Canada and the Southern Ocean. These collaborations span broader disciplines including ocean science, education, and outreach, as well as Indigenous community partnerships, such as the Youth Science Ambassador program.
In this video, hear the stories of ONC alumni, sharing how their experience opened doors, creating impacts beyond the deep, blue sea.
From national defence to earthquake warnings
Dugald Thomson, an air liaison officer with Atlantic Research Centre, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), was pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Victoria (UVic) in 2010 when he began working with ONC data, later landing a job doing acoustic data analysis and security.
“They're a world leader in instrumenting the world's oceans, and this is a really important aspect of our collective defence and the joint capability development that we all participate in together,” Thomson says.
Zoe Krauss made use of data from ONC’s Neptune observatory while a PhD candidate in oceanography and marine seismology at the University of Washington, and says it helped her build an earthquake catalogue. Now a postdoctoral scientist at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network in Washington State, she works on improving earthquake early warning systems on both sides of the border using offshore seafloor infrastructure, including ONC’s sensor network.
Far away, in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut—500 km north of the Arctic Circle—Mia Beattie employs her experience a decade ago as an ONC youth science ambassador to work both as an Ikaarvik youth mentor and as an environmental impact assessment officer with the Nunavut Impact Review Board.
“I went down [to Victoria], I got trained and I came back to my town and my community, and taught my community, too. I taught the youth,” she says. “It made me realize that I have a voice and that my voice matters in the scientific world, and so then it empowered me to help other Indigenous and Inuit youth show them that their voice matters.”
Mia Beattie, ONC's first Youth Science Ambassador, trains students how to conduct snow measurements in 2017.
Hands-on experience and learning are key
Recent co-op students feel similarly empowered by their experiences.
The deep ocean is a notoriously hostile environment to work in due to a combination of challenges including extreme pressure, darkness, cold and corrosion. Malsha Amarasinghe is a fourth-year UVic mechanical engineering student whose co-op term at ONC in fall 2025 included designing and prototyping a seawater power electrode that could last 20 years, a project that will be continued by another co-op student. She says, “Most co-ops, you don't get as much hands-on experience” and believes that experience will aid in her chosen career path, designing biomedical devices.
A global environmental systems student who is working on a certificate in geographic information systems, Estelle Honeywell created maps and tracked ONC’s vast deployment of monitoring equipment across the ocean during her eight-month Simon Fraser University co-op term, which started in September 2025. Similarly, Grace Bertozzi put her computer science education to use, developing data tools and leading workshops for other students during her UVic co-op starting in May 2025.
All three laud ONC’s approach to co-ops, which gives them jobs to do within parameters, with the understanding that the mistakes students make, and the guidance they receive from ONC staff, are integral parts of their education.
As well, they say the work boosted their self-confidence, with Bertozzi noting, “It definitely has helped me build a sense of self-efficacy. When you're in charge of real-world things that have real, tangible results… it's super valuable.”
Bertozzi also values a “welcoming” workplace culture and seeing women in leadership roles at ONC, especially coming from a field that is often male-dominated.
Co-op students, collaborators learn about complex systems
“If you can provide a new opportunity for the co-op students, it changes their world,” says Kate Moran, Ocean Networks Canada’s president and CEO.
And no matter where co-ops, former staff and collaborators find themselves in their careers, Moran says, the ONC experience is valid and vital.
“It provides them with an opportunity to learn about the wide range of activities that you have to conduct in order to do complex systems in the ocean,” she explains. “And so, then, that provides people who are trained to be really skilled at working in complex systems.”
Nicolai Bailly, ONC’s observatory principal engineer, can attest to that. He did two UVic co-ops with ONC, spending eight months supporting the design and patent process on a hydrophone calibration system. He went on to another related job in Atlantic Canada but that initial ONC project reignited his interest in engineering, which had waned during the latter part of his schooling.
“I find that a lot of the times you're not even sure what kind of engineer you want to be until you've tried something,” he says. “[The ONC co-op] was just really eye-opening for me. And that's why it led me back here much later in my career—but it did lead me back.”
Nicolai Bailly, ONC’s observatory principal engineer, completed two ONC co-op terms (from 2011) while an engineering student.
Students interested in applying for an ONC co-op position can contact the co-op program at their own college or university for more information. UVic students can apply to co-op positions here.
Find out more information about these other ONC collaborative programs:
Banner image: Brendan Smith, a recipient of the ONC Roy Hyndman Ocean Observing Award and current Dalhousie University PhD student, used NEPTUNE observatory long-term passive acoustic data in addition to short-term deployments of the Barclay Noise Lab’s Deep Acoustic Lander hydrophone array (DAL, instrument in photo) conducted by ONC at the Main Endeavour hydrothermal vent field. Smith also deployed the DAL at vent sites near the Galapagos, aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s ship Falkor (too), shown in the photo. He now also works at ONC as a passive acoustics and AI specialist in the Data Analytics and Quality team. Image by Monika Naranjo courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute.
