About

The aim of STEEMI - the Student Ecological and Environmental Modelling Initiative - is to build up a large set of ecological and environmental models, accessible over the web for anyone to use - researchers, students and the general public.

This will be done using the commitment, enthusiasm and knowledge of the student population - within University and College courses, in course-related projects, or as an extra-curricula activity. We envisage that there will be clusters of students at various institutions around the world, working collaboratively within and between clusters.

Students are a largely untapped resource for the advancement of science, largely because both staff and students are conditioned to think of education as a somewhat passive process of transferring knowledge. In contrast, we subscribe to a learning-through-doing philosophy: students learn better by engaging in research-relevant activities, while at the same time contributing to the global research effort.

The primary activity in STEEMI is the conversion of existing published models. There are many of these, but they are in many different formats, making them inaccessible for others to use. For many models, the process of converting them into a standard format is pretty much a mechanical exercise, and STEEMI novices can learn to do this quite quickly. However, many models have some non-standard or subtle features, hence the need for collaboration between those doing the conversion work and those with more experience (whether academics or other students).

As time progresses, we envisage that some students will have gained enough knowledge of the modelling process to wish to embark on developing a model of their own - perhaps as a final-year undergraduate or Masters project.

STEEMI was formed in February 2012 by a group of students studying for a BSc in Ecological Science at the University of Edinburgh and Robert Muetzelfeldt, a former lecturer in ecological modelling on this course, and now an independent academic with an interest in promoting the use of systems modelling for socio-ecological systems.