Outreach
Winegrape industry
A live updating dashboard in collaboration with the Canadian Government and industry partners
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Through my discussions with our winegrape grower industry partners, I realised there is an urgent need for up to date estimates of winegrape cold hardiness over winter in the Okanagan Valley. This information is needed for effective and efficient crop protection management, but the old system was insufficient for grower's needs. I am therefore coordinating a team of students and collaborators to publish a live updating dashboard were all growers can get daily estimates of vine cold hardiness throughout the winter. This winter we are trailing the dashboard with a selection of industry partners.
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Winegrape phenology historical
overview factsheets |
I produced a set of three factcheets on historical winegrape phenology in the Okanagan Valley. These factsheets are for local growers to see how varieties and sites different in their phenology, and to see trends in phenology over the last three decades. The phenological stages were budburst, flowering, and veraison (where berries change colour as they ripen).
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Career advice
British Ecological Society Conservation Special Interest Group Career Stories
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On request, I gave this interview about my career so far and any career advice I have for young and aspiring ecologists.
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Schools and general public
St Andrews Bioblitz (June 2016 and 2017)
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During these events I led groups of primary children through Opal pollinator and habitat surveys, and assisted with strandline walks, rock pooling and a bird walk with members of the public.
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3 Minute Thesis (2017)
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I reached the St Andrews final of the 3 Minute Thesis competition, where I had to explain my biodiversity research in three minutes to non-specialist adult audiences
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Explorathon Science Festival (2017)
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I ran a stall themed around freshwater invertebrates at this evening science festival. To do this I organised volunteers to kick sample a local river to collect invertebrates, then in the evening set up microscopes, and showed local people how biodiverse their river is.
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XX Factor for 12 year olds (2017)
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The XX Factor was a series of short talks by female PhD students to children, to try and combat gender stereotyping of science as a man’s job. I presented a 3 minute presentation to 100 11-year-old school pupils at a Glenrothes High School about my project and science as a career. I then held Q&A sessions with groups of 30 pupils in the afternoon.
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XX Factor for 9-10 year olds
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As with the XX Factor mentioned for 12 year olds, this was a series of short talks by female PhD students with the purpose of enspiring children to consider careers in Science, Engineering and Mathematics. This was an event for children of ages 9-11 from a selection of local schools with the purpose of inspiring children about science and combating gender stereotyping. In the morning I gave a 3 minute talk about my work and why I enjoy it. In the afternoon I met the children in groups of 6-7 and answered their questions. I was subsequently part of a group of PhD students from the XX Factor who visited one of the schools to talk to more pupils and the judges of the Scottish STEM Education Award
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Policy
STEM for Britain
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I won the opportunity to present my research at parliament as part of the STEM for Britain policy event. My poster was designed specifically to explain my biodiversity change research to politicians.
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Prison
Cell Block Science (2017)
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I organised and ran an outreach practical for high security prisoners at HMP Shotts. My theme was freshwater invertebrates. I brought in invertebrates I had collected the previous day using kick sampling. The prisoners then separated the invertebrates out from general detritus and counted how many there were. We then measured area (a proxy for biomass) by taking a photographing the samples and measuring the images using the software ImageJ. Finally we discussed difficulties in comparing numerical abundance and biomass values. In addition prisoners were able to identify some creatures using ID guides and dissection microscopes.
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