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Voyage Number

IN2026_T04

Voyage Dates

10 Sep, 2026 to 23 Sep, 2026

Voyage Location

Brisbane to Lautoka (Fiji)

Chief Scientist

Dr Gabriella Semolini Pilo

Institution

CSIRO

Map with line track overlay detailing voyage IN2026_T04
View the full voyage

Voyage livestream

Follow our 14-day sea training voyage from Brisbane to Lautoka, Fiji.

Voyage summary

RV Investigator will undertake a training voyage from Brisbane to Fiji as part of the Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea-training Alliance Network (CAPSTAN) sea training program. This is the sixth CAPSTAN voyage following the relaunch of the program in 2024.

CAPSTAN is a maritime education and training initiative of CSIRO, the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium (ANZIC). The voyage will provide university students and trainers with direct experience with the equipment, systems and techniques on board Australia's advanced ocean research vessel, RV Investigator, as well as the opportunity to develop professional networks and experience life at sea.

This will be the first CAPSTAN voyage to travel internationally. The study area for the voyage will be the Coral Sea and Western Pacific Ocean. Training on the voyage will include seafloor mapping, geological surveys via rock and sediment sampling, environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys, deployment of ocean floats and drifters, ocean profiling via CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) surveys, microplastic surveys in surface waters, and seabird and marine mammal observations.

Several shipwreck surveys will also be conducted to expose students to the procedure for conducting underwater cultural heritage surveys.

There are 6 other projects on the voyage:

  • Globalising Marine Biodiversity Observations - GLOMBO (Dr Sahan Jayasinghe, CSIRO): development of an autonomous environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling system that can be integrated into RV Investigator's underway seawater system.
  • Developing Jonathan (Carlie Devine and Dr Rich Little CSIRO): development of an automated on vessel seabird detector called ‘Jonathan.’
  • Deployment of Argo floats including Australian core, deep, and BGC, and floats from international partners (Dr Gabriela Semolini Pilo, CSIRO): deployment of Argo floats in support of the International Argo Float Program.
  • Deployment of surface drifters (Dr Gabriela Semolini Pilo, CSIRO): deployment of two drifters as part of the Global Drifting Buoy Program, a component of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). 
  • Chumbucket: low tech, high return sampling for phytoplankton diversity (Dr Ruth Eriksen, CSIRO): understanding and documenting biodiversity of lower trophic levels (phytoplankton and microzooplankton) in Australian marine waters.
  • Building student capacity in marine mammal and seabird observation for marine conservation (Dr Saia Bartes, Deakin University): establishing a low-cost, standardised marine megafauna observation program.
     

The voyage has 38 science participants, including 20 students and 6 trainers from 18 universities across Australia, plus 20 ship crew from Cyan Vessel Operations.

This is RV Investigator's second visit to Fiji following a research voyage in 2016.

CAPSTAN partners CSIRO and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium (ANZIC) receive funding for this activity from the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

About CAPSTAN

CAPSTAN is a first-of-its-kind training initiative that offers Australian university students and trainers experiential training onboard Australia's dedicated ocean research vessel, RV Investigator.

Watch the video below to follow the journey of students on the fourth voyage in the CAPSTAN program to see their experience living and working on the high seas to apply their knowledge, develop new skills and create new networks.

CAPSTAN Call 2025 Promo Video_CSIRO

[Music plays and an image appears of a long line of students walking up a gangway onto the ship RV Investigator]

[Image changes to show a smiling male on the left turning to look over the ship’s bow as a male and female are looking over the bow on the right, the female turns around briefly laughing at the camera]

[Camera pans left to show a female talking to a male as she’s looking out over the ship’s bow]

[Image changes to show the coastline in the background, the ship’s radar mast in the centre and in the foreground a female is taking a photo on the left]

[Image changes to show a male crew member giving a presentation to voyage participants in a breakroom]

[Image changes to show a male crew member talking to listening participants]

[Image changes to show a line of participants standing on a deck below the bridge looking out to sea]

[Image changes to show a rear view of the participants looking out to sea]

[Image changes to show the Investigator sailing towards the camera on the choppy sea]

[Images move through to show crew members lowering a winch with a sediment sample collected and then emptying the sample into a tray at the ship’s stern]

[Image changes to show participants sifting the sample and recording data]

[Image changes to show a male talking and holding an open research book as three males are looking at the book]

[Image changes to show a female using binoculars to look out of a ship’s window]

[Image changes to show a female using a computer and then turning and talking to the participants flipping through a research book in the foreground]

[Image changes to show participants looking at a bank of computers of various collected data, and a male talking and pointing to the left screen]

[Image changes to show a female talking to two listening participants]

[Images move through to show the female talking a colleague through collecting a sample of clear liquid into a conical flask from a multi corer, and the camera zooms in on the liquid in the flask]

[Image changes to show a male talking with participants, a male places a bottled sample on the bench]

[Image changes to show a close view of the clear liquid being poured into filtration funnels]

[Image changes to show participants playing a card game in the breakroom]

[Image changes to show a female collecting a sample from a multi corer, and then the image changes to show another female collecting a sample from the multi corer]

[Image changes to show a rear view of female looking over the shoulder of a female looking into a microscope]

[Image changes to show a female squinting down through a microscope]

[Image changes to show the RV Investigator sailing towards the camera on a choppy sea as the camera pans up to the masts of the ship and then pans down towards the ship’s bow]

[Images move through to show participants sitting and standing in a dark room watching a monitor screen showing the sea floor, the camera zooms in on a male and female sitting at the front laughing]

[Image changes to show a close view of the monitor screen zooming in on the sea]

[Images move through to show participants watching and listening to a female talking while using lab equipment]

[Image changes to show a room full of participants sitting and interacting together]

[Images move through to show crew members winching up a sample collector as participants watch on at the ship’s stern ready to collect the sample]

[Image changes to show a female hosing the contents of a metal bowl sieve and then another female appearing beside her to watch, and then the camera zooms in on the sample in the sieve]

[Images move through to show a hand balancing a small tray with a sample on a container under a microscope, and then the camera zooms out showing participants looking through the microscope]

[Image changes to show a close view of ship windows showing the reflection of the sea ripping below with the coastline in the background]

[Image changes to show a small island]

[Image changes to show a rear view of three participants looking over the ship’s rail at an island, and then the camera zooms in between two of the participants looking at the island]

[Image changes to show a rear view of a female and a male  looking out to sea from beside a lifeboat]

[Image changes to show birds swarming the top of an island]

[Image changes to show a view of the island looking from the ship]

[Image changes to show a side view of participants at the ship’s bow looking out to sea]

[Image changes to show a female giving a presentation as she is pointing at a screen showing the “Sea level anomaly”]

[Image changes to show an engine room with participants walking past in the background]

[Image changes to show the RV Investigator sailing as the camera rotates left around the ship]

[Image changes to show a close side view from the bow of the ship looking up to the bridge]

[Image changes to show participants playing table tennis]

[Image changes to show a laughing female giving a presentation]

[Image changes to show a male crew member talking to participants]

[Image changes to show a female on the right taking a photo of the diesel generator as a male looks on from the right]

[Image changes to show a long line of participants waving from the ship’s bow]

[Image changes to show a white screen with the logos of CSIRO, University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium between text: CAPSTAN, Seas the opportunity!, www.csiro.au/capstan]

Voyage outcomes

Voyage outcomes will be published approximately 3-6 months after the completion of the voyage.

Voyage media