February 2021

February 2021 - Welcome to SeaChanges!

Nell Booker - SeaChanges Project Manager

Welcome to the SeaChanges Blog!

As the Project Manager for SeaChanges, I am going to provide an introduction to the programme and a brief review of our progress so far.

SeaChanges is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network (ITN), and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The programme commenced on 1st April 2019 and runs for 4 years, due to complete on 31st March 2023.

SeaChanges is made up of 7 Beneficiaries, each of whom hosts a number of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), 15 in total across the programme. ESRs are recruited for 3 years, each undertaking a PhD related to the overall theme of the programme. The network takes a long-term perspective on human exploitation of marine vertebrates, with projects covering species from herring to sperm whale, timescales from decades to millennia, and all of Europe's seas and beyond.

Over the course of the programme, the ESRs will receive training to enhance their skills and knowledge in relevant areas of bioarchaeology and marine biology, in order to provide a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers able to operate at the interface of both subject matters. In addition, each ESR will undertake at least one secondment away from their host organisation, for a total duration of no more than 10 months, to further enhance their skills, experience and networking opportunities.

The SeaChanges Network also includes a number of Partner organisations who provide support to the ESRs during their research and training - this may be in the form of access to data or samples, professional advice and guidance from experts, specialist content during workshops or it may be as a shot to one of the secondments.

The ESRs have all been in their roles for at least a year now (with individual contracts commencing between September 2019 and January 2020). Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the first year of the programme has not progressed quite as planned!

Whilst we were able to meet in January 2020 in York to launch the programme and participate in our first Workshop, a further two Workshops scheduled for 2020 were both postponed to 2021. Several of the ESR’s secondments were also delayed to 2021, reduced in length or removed altogether as a result of travel restrictions. Access to labs and samples was very limited, further delaying the progression of individual projects. However, despite the adverse conditions, the ESRs persevered and adapted to the challenging conditions, working extremely hard to progress as best they could, and good progress was made. It remains to be seen, once the pandemic abates, the full impact of the delays caused by Covid-19 and how these may affect the timeframes and content of each PhD project.

We look ahead to 2021 with optimism, and hope that the vaccine rollout and stricter management of outbreaks may allow some semblance of normality to return, and most importantly for SeaChanges, allow the ESRs to travel freely to complete vital research trips, secondments and lab work. In addition we hope to hold a further three Workshops in 2021, two of which we hope can be face to face - one in Oslo in the Summer and one in Cambridge in the Autumn. Groningen will run online in March as it has already incurred two postponements and the content can wait no longer.

The SeaChanges network is made up of a fantastic group of passionate, dedicated individuals, who are all extremely dedicated to their work. Being part of a MSCA ITN is a huge privilege for exceptional individuals, and already in this first year we have seen evidence of that. The ESRs are each making the most of opportunities to extend their network, advance their knowledge and complete their PhD to the best of their ability. I look forward to seeing how our network develops over the the next couple of years and to seeing some really interesting results at the end of the programme.

Future blogs will cover different areas of the programme, with insights into the progress of individual projects, the careers of our ESRs and Supervisors, and an introduction to some of our Partner Organisations.