Knowledge Sharing
I am passionate about public speaking, and sharing my research with an academic audience and with the wider community, and as such have received multiple awards and nominations for my engagement work, winning the Heriot-Watt 'Principal's Research Impact and Engagement - Involve' award in 2023, and short-listed again in 2024. In 2022 I was short-listed for the Scottish Funding council Saltire Emerging Researcher ‘Public Engagement Award’ and the Heriot-Watt University 'Societal Engagement Award'. As well as sharing my own knowledge, I also am keen to network, and to hear more about the multitude of fantastic research projects and opportunities going on globally to support marine conservation, so try to keep up with online talks and in-person events on topics important to the ocean.
Conference Talks
I was delighted to be invited to speak at the Green Tech environmental conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2024), giving a talk in the Arctic Shipping session: 'Navigating the Future: Collaborative Knowledge-Sharing for a Just and Sustainable Maritime Future;
In 2023, I travelled to Vancouver, Canada, to the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5). I was thrilled to give a talk about my PhD research on this international platform: ‘Same species, same space, different practice: reviewing the non-uniformity in assessment of cumulative impacts to marine mammals’.
I was delighted to be voted best speed talk at the UK & Ireland Regional Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, St Andrews, Scotland (2023). I presented work from the Scottish Vessel Project: ‘Improving understanding of vessel activity in Scotland’s coastal waters’. I also presented at this conference in 2023 (talk: 'Arctic vessel traffic is increasing, what does this mean for Arctic whales?'), in 2022 (talk: ‘Sweating the small stuff: improving understanding of the presence of smaller vessels in regions of high marine mammal activity around Scotland’s coast’), in 2021 (talk: ‘Many a mickle makes a muckle’: considering cumulative stressors on marine mammals’) and in 2018 (talk: ‘Assessing the Potential for Photogrammetric Assessments of Pregnancy in Free-Living Harbour Seals and Bottlenose Dolphins’). I would highly recommend this friendly conference and network for any early career marine mammal researchers based in the UK or Ireland!
I was an invited panel member for the 'Marine Policy and Management – Linking Current and Future Research to Policy and Impact' at the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS), Annual Science Meeting, in Glasgow, Scotland (2022). I also presented a talk on the Scottish Vessel Project: 'Improving understanding of vessel activity in Scotland’s coastal waterways: implications for wildlife and policy’.
The 24th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals (2022). I presented (online): ‘Many a mickle makes a muckle’: considering cumulative stressors on marine mammals.’
I won second best student talk at the 2021 MASTS Annual Science Meeting, which was online: ‘Many a mickle makes a muckle’: considering cumulative stressors on marine mammals.’
I won best talk at the ECSA 58 – EMECS 13 Estuaries and coastal seas in the Anthropocene online conference: ‘Many a mickle makes a muckle’: considering cumulative stressors on marine mammals.’
I gave a talk on my PhD and GIS plans at the CoastGIS 2021 conference, online: ‘Mapping the cumulative effects of human activities on marine mammals in UK waters: informing management, planning and conservation efforts’.
I gave a talk to my peers as part of the EGIS Research Symposium ‘Innovation that Inspires’, online in 2021: ‘Investigating and mapping the cumulative effects of human activities on marine mammals in UK waters: informing management, planning and conservation efforts’.
I introduced myself and my research to the MASTS Multiple Stressors Forum, online, in 2020: ‘Climate change, multiple stressors and marine mammals’.
In 2019, I travelled to the FSC Millport Marine Centre to give a talk on my research and voluntary experiences at the 3rd Millport Marine Symposium: ‘St Andrews to Shetland, the Tales of Two Top Predators: Killer Whales and Harbour Seals’. Proceedings available online.
I presented results of my fisheries related research at the Scottish Ecology, Environment and Conservation Conference, in St Andrews, Scotland in 2018. This was work conducted with Dr Tara Marshall as part of my MSc. at the University of Aberdeen: ‘Temporal changes in maturation length of North Sea haddock and the implications for minimum landing size’.
Engaging the Public in Science
As part of my work within the Scottish Arctic Network, I was pleased to be invited to give an online seminar on our Arctic vessel related research. You can watch the talk 'Arctic vessel traffic is increasing, what does this mean for Arctic whales?' online here.
I was delighted to be invited to give a talk as part of the Bay Cetology & Whale Scientists seminar series 'Cetacean Sessions', in May 2023. I gave a short talk 'Predation in the Anthropocene – An example of man-made infrastructure being utilised during a killer whale-harbour seal hunt', . You can watch the talk here.
In June 2023 I headed to Orcawatch with a hydrophone and vessel watch sheets, to gather data as part of the Scottish Vessel Project, and to demonstrate the sounds to the public of the underwater world.
I shared more about my vessel related research during an online webinar as part of the MASTS Webinar series, check out the talk ‘The Scottish Vessel Project: Understanding coastal vessel activity around Scotland’' here.
In collaboration with the Scottish Fisheries Museum and Youth Space Fife, in 2022 I designed and led a day trip of young people to the Isle of May, to encourage and inspire them to engage in nature right on their doorsteps.
I was invited to give a talk on the latest updates from the Scottish Vessel Project, at the (fantastic!) 2022 WDC/SMASS Marine Forum, in Glasgow, Scotland: 'Stories of Collaboration’. Watch my talk here. I also was an invited panel member during the 2023 Marine Forum, and gave a talk during the WDC/SMASS Digital Marine Forum, held online in 2021. This was a fantastic evening of talks discussing 'Spike' the dolphins life history. I gave a talk: 'How have human impacts on the ocean changed over the course of Spike’s lifetime?’ You can watch it here.
I was delighted to be invited to give a lecture to my local community about my research, the local area (the Firth of Forth) and how the community can get involved and contribute to the Scottish Vessel Project. I presented ‘Marine Mammals and Man in the Firth of Forth’ at the Pittenweem Coastline Community Church, in 2022.
In 2022, I was invited to give a talk as part of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust Winter Webinar Series:‘Spot that boat! Studying Ships and Whales with Emily Hague’.
I have given a number of (online) invited talks to the Shetland Wildlife Community Group, 2021.
In 2021, I was really excited to give an invited talk as part of the Scottish Seabird Centre/Explorathon Meet the Scientist Series: ‘Meet the Scientist: Marine Mammals in the Firth of Forth’. You can watch my talk here.
I presented 'The Harbour Seal Decline Project’ at Orca Watch, in Wick, Scotland in 2019.
I was invited by Dundee City Council to present at the Broughty Ferry Beach Management Group, in Broughty Ferry, Scotland in 2019, to discuss research and share ideas about how to protect the marine wildlife in the local area: ‘Bottlenose dolphin photo-ID surveys in St Andrews Bay and Tayside’.
During my time at SMRU I was an active member of the public engagement team, and helped to run stalls at various events (inc. Explorathon and DolphinFest), and ran activity sessions at Edinburgh Zoo and local schools.
Guest Lectures
Whilst on a networking visit to British Columbia in 2023, I gave a talk as part of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Sciences Seminar Series: ‘Cumulative effects of anthropogenic activities on marine mammals: informing management, planning and conservation efforts’.
As well as supporting and providing undergraduate and postgraduate courses, I have given invited guest lectures to the 'Sustainable Management of Marine Resources' Master's course at the University of Aberdeen, and the ‘Scientific Management of Marine Environments’ 4th year undergraduate course at Heriot Watt University.
During the pandemic, I joined the Skype a Scientist programme, and skyped with Grade 1 and Grade 2 classrooms in North America. I (attempted!) to answer their many questions about the oceans.
Posters
I was co-author on a poster presented in Sicily, at the European Cetacean Society Conference by Valeria Ferrari: 'Research trends and gaps in the impact of vessel on cetacean species: A Systematic Map'.
‘“Smart Shipping” for emerging Arctic sea routes’. I was co-author on a poster presented by Dr Kate Gormely at the 2021 ArcticNet conference. This poster presents work undertaken as part of the ePIcenter research project.
'Monitoring of harbour seals in Irish waters - a comparison of manual and automated matching processes’. I was also co-author on a poster at the Irish Ecological Association conference, presented by Kristina Steinmetz in 2021.
In 2019, I travelled to the World Marine Mammal Conference in Barcelona to present some of the Harbour Seal Decline Project research findings: ‘Assessing the performance of open source, semi-automated pattern recognition software for Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) photo-ID’. This has since been published in a research paper (Langley et al., 2021).
Blog Posts
Blogs and newsletters are a great way to get research and news across quickly and succinctly. My trips to European research institutions were featured on both the Saturn H2020 Project website and the Scottish Funding Council site. Furthermore, my research has been featured in various blogs (e.g., the Mammal Society, the Scottish Seabird Centre, the Sirene Project), featured posts (e.g. Year of Coasts and Waters) and newsletters (e.g. Northlink Ferries, WDC Shorewatch, Shetland Marine Planning Partnership).