Xingyu Li, an international Master’s degree student supervised by the Head of the Department Prof. Revital Bookman, and Dr. Yael Segal from Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute, participated in the 2023 Israeli Association for Aquatic Sciences Annual Meeting that took place on 11 February 2024 in Tel Aviv. Xingyu presented there his poster titled “Can the deep-sea settled plastic litter be resuspended? The investigation of the seafloor plastic bags from the Southeastern Mediterranean Sea.” He says he was excited to present his study at the large-scale conference attended by more than 300 scientists.

“Our research is part of the Israeli national monitoring program, in which the cruise took place offshore Israel to collect the bottom litter from the seafloor of the Levantine Basin. In our study, we aim to understand the transport trajectory of plastic wastes in the Southeastern Mediterranean Sea”, the student says. “I am working on publishing the paper now. So far we have found that the deep Levant Basin is a sink for plastic waste, especially for plastic bags, the ratio of which among bottom litter is higher than that in any other seafloor of the Mediterranean Sea”.

Xingyu admits that studying at the Marine Geosciences Department inspires him in his research, especially its outdoor activities. “The most amazing part of my Master’s studies so far are the field trips and cruises”, he says. “I had so many “first times” here – my first time on the research ship, first multi-beam survey, first CTD collection, first time sailing with dolphins…”

Xingyu explains what else he likes about the Department. “The community here is kind and obliging. We are an international group with students from Israel, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, China and so on”, he says. “Also, the interdisciplinary perspective helps our department go to a more diverse and promising future. I am an unusual researcher with my first and second degrees in mechanical engineering, but I also have some experience in polymer analysis and experiments. That is why I was admitted into this multi-disciplinary project, crossing materials science, environmental strategy, oceanography, and microbiology”

Talking about his free time, Xingyu says that he is also a robot scientist, so reading papers and doing experiments compose most of his academic life. However, regular sports activities like basketball, ping-pong, and mount hiking are helping him to get energy for his future endeavors, one of which is securing a PhD position in Israel.