The Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity opens doors for research showcase, hands-on experience

By: Jonas May and Fallon O’Grady Berry

A new marine biodiversity centre is set to open at Dalhousie University next month, and professors say it will create opportunities for students to showcase their research and gain hands-on wildlife experience. 

Construction on the Beaty Centre for Marine Biodiversity began in 2024. It will feature exhibits of marine wildlife found in the Maritimes, including octopi, mackerel and an 18-metre-long blue whale skeleton, hanging from the ceiling of the second floor. Dalhousie students and staff will receive free admission with their DalCard. 

Derek Tittensor, the scientific lead for the Beaty Centre and a biology professor at Dalhousie, says experiential learning opportunities will give students the opportunity to take care of marine life and communicate research findings to the public.

“It’s part of Dalhousie, so it’s important that the Dalhousie community also benefits from the centre,” he says.

Boris Worm, a marine biology professor at Dalhousie, says the centre will create opportunities for students to perform ecosystem restoration research. 

“We’re recognizing we have to get these kids wet. We have to get them into the environment, into the Northwest Arm, into a wet lab to actually do hands-on science.”

Worm says the marine biology department is considering creating a certificate in aquaria and agriculture that would involve experiential learning through the centre.

Gaby Pasternack, a second-year marine biology student and the chairperson of the Dalhousie Association of Marine Biology Students, is excited for the attention the centre will bring to the university.

“It’s monumental,” says Pasternack. “I think that it’s putting us back on the playing field with other universities of a similar rank.” 

Daria Goncharova, the Beaty Centre’s operations manager, said the centre will nurture the next generation of “ocean leaders.”

“[The centre] aims to give opportunities to Dal students and recent grads to develop their science communication skills and share their knowledge with visitors,” Goncharova said in a statement to the Dalhousie Gazette. 

Nelene Silva, a fourth-year marine biology student, says she has already spoken to her honours project supervisor about displaying her research in the centre. 

“That would be pretty cool,” she says. “It’s nice that students will have a way to present the research they’re working on.”

Silva says the Beaty Centre “puts the emphasis” on the communication of scientific research, something she says hasn’t been a priority in the research community. 

“Having the Beaty Centre at Dal will show that it’s really important to talk to the community and the general public about the research that’s being done and how it can benefit them so that science doesn’t seem so obscure.”