COAST has developed great partnerships with various universities over the years. For example, MSc students from the University of York come each year to continue monitoring of crustaceans in and around the No Take Zone. The University of Glasgow leads a project that studies fish behaviour linked to different seabeds within Arran’s MPA. Students from Heriot-Watt University and York have been studying seagrass beds while students from Edinburgh Napier have conducted social science research such as perceptions of the protected areas or volunteer motivations. We developed a Marine Education Resource Pack with assistance from the University of West England and we regularly give talks for university courses. This past year we have been talking at the University of Highlands and Islands, Scotland’s Rural College Scotland’s Rural College and Heriot-Watt.
We enjoy attending the annual Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland’s conference that gives a good overview of the latest marine research in Scotland.
SAMS are also a reference for Marine Sciences in Scotland and their Ocean Explorer Centre team have been very supportive of COAST’s Octopus Centre project.
