Show notes
You might remember that earlier in the series we spoke to Flora Rendell and Lowenna Jones about an arctic sailing expedition they were about to embark upon in 2018 titled ‘Sail Against Plastic’. Well they’ve been there, done that, and got the microplastic samples to prove it. If you didn’t catch the episode, I would recommend having a listen to it here.
In short, Sail Against Plastic was a two-week multidisciplinary research expedition taking place in the waters off Svalbard. Sailing aboard the Blue Clipper, the team investigated the impact of plastics and noise pollution on this arctic environment whilst producing film, photography and artwork to capture the experience and illustrate their findings. You can find out about the background of the expedition on the Sail Against Plastic website.
This time Flora is joining us with Daniel Osmond, with both of them being greatly involved in the scientific aspect of the expedition. Since recording they have both gone on to secure PhDs, well done to both!
“It was just a great example of how different people with different experiences, interests and skill sets can all come together”
About our guests
Flora Rendell – Scientific Director
Flora is a current postgraduate research student at the University of Exeter, with a strong interest in science outreach and the effects of anthropogenic stressors on populations and habitats. Her key interests in aquatic habitats and the conservation and management of local sites around the UK.
Daniel Osmond – Scientific Officer
Daniel is an MSci Zoology Student at the University of Exeter. During his degree program and ongoing work in Wotton’s research group he has been spurred on to use ecological knowledge to help us to protect threatened ecosystems.
You can find out more about the team through this link.
Topics discussed
- Background of Sail Against Plastic
- Where did the expedition go?
- How do you do plastic research on a ship that’s not designed for it?
- How to analyse the microplastics samples that were found
- Building the team
- Multidisciplinary expeditions – Science, art, film-making all in one trip.
- How the expedition was funded
- Citizen Science projects
- How do you make the best of 24 hours daylight for research?
Resources
The Sail Against Plastic expedition film can be viewed above.
This was Ethan’s final episode (for now, at least), if you want to follow his adventures, take a look at the Trail and Errors website.
Hosted by Ethan Wrigglesworth and Ben Toulson
Episode and show notes produced by Ben Toulson and Ethan Wrigglesworth
Check out other episodes of the podcast here.
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#ExeterMarine is an interdisciplinary group of marine related researchers with capabilities across the scientific, medical, engineering, humanities and social science fields. If you are interested in working with our researchers or students, contact Michael Hanley or visit our website!