Summer and Autumn were both busy times of year for CBESS, with two major field campaigns to complete and the start of the data processing. We have now moved onto a quieter phase (relatively speaking).
It may seem that not much has been going on over past couple of months, but the CBESS Team has been busy behind the scenes. We are currently processing over 20,000 ecological samples and discussing how best to analyse the data that we produce.
In November, CBESS worked with International Baccalaureate students at St Leondard’s High School in St Andrews, to give them a taste of CBESS research. This is the first school that CBESS has worked with a high school and we are keen to repeat the experience. Read the summary and student reports for a highlight of our activities.
At the end of November, CBESS hosted the first of two socio-economic workshops. The November workshop was in Abbotts Hall, Essex, where we collected data on how local users recreate on the salt marshes and mudflats of Essex. We had a wide range of recreational sectors represented; from wild fowlers, to kite surfers to amateur naturalists. The second workshop will be held in Morecambe Bay during the Spring. A full up-date on the two workshops will be provided later in the year.
In December, CBESS held it’s first Annual Science Meeting in York; where all of the universities and institutions working on CBESS discussed the next phase of the project, processing and analysing of data.
The UK east coast storm surge of 5 – 6 December 2013 tested sea defences, damaged infrastructure and locally flooded urban centres and rural communities. The Cambridge Coastal Research Unit collected valuable data during and after the storm which will inform modelling and forecasting efforts and aid fine-tuning early warning systems and strategic evacuation planning. Read the full report on their activities.
12 of the PhD students informing CBESS research provided a non-technical summary of their research for the Autumn addition of the BESS Newsletter. Three of those students have provided an up-date on their research and an insight into their busy worlds where the ability to adapt research ideas in light of new knowledge is essential.
Finally, Dr John Bothwell, one of the researchers working on CBESS is taking part in a unique event; a fusion of science and art. The group Encounter are inviting artists and scientists to come together in an enquiry about process and practice. The project that John will be involved in is called Fieldwork, where art, science and curiosity are combined. Watch this space for an update in April.