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Alongside getting ready for all the exciting things to come in November (see 'Coming up'), we have been busy with experiments and sample processing! An experiment in pink Grace, our integrated MSc student, has hit the ground running since returning from her placement year. Her experiment looking at the impacts of disturbance on bioturbation by the benthic worm species Hediste diversicolor is well on its way! Processing plastics from Pakistan Asif, one of our PhD students, has

If you're attending this year's MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland) is having their Annual Science Meeting (ASM) from the 10th-12th of November, you might run into some of our team. The MASTS ASM brings together researchers from across marine science to share knowledge and create new connections, and this year some of our PhD students are on the programme! Michael will be giving a talk, and Tamara will be leading a workshop. I asked them both to te

Another quiet month at the Hope Laboratory, but the start of a new academic year means things will start picking up! New and returning faces A new year means new faces, but it also means welcoming back old ones. MSc student Grace is back from her placement year and ready to start her research project. She's already begun fieldwork! Cathi's work with Natural England Cathi has been working with Natural England's climate change team, looking at carbon stores in natural and manag

Who am I and what have I been up to? Hi, my name is Jackson! In June I completed my undergrad in marine biology at the University of St Andrews. During my final semester and into the summer, I worked with Julie on a project exploring the applications of how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, can be used to map estuaries. In particular, we were keen to discover how they could help to quantify the biomass and productivity of common estuarine primary prod

It's been a slightly slower paced month, but full of preparation for conferences and the start of term. Prepping for MASTS With the deadline fast approaching on the 31st, a few of our team have been busy putting together abstracts for this year's MASTS conference. Michael and Asif are hoping to give talks, and Lauren is planning to present a poster. We'll hear more about what they will present in the leadup to the conference, which will be taking place in November. End of sum

Hi blog readers! I'm Lauren Carl, one of the PhD students in the Hope Lab, writing to provide some updates on the first year of my PhD. What is my project about? My project studies how anthropogenic disturbances to soft sediments impacts microbial processing of the benthic environment. With the current increase in atmospheric CO2, understanding how to mitigate further increases has been a topic of great interest to scientists. “Blue Carbon,” (BC) is a term for all carbon foun

For the team here at the Hope Laboratory, July brought: travel, new skills, and travelling to learn new skills. Field Trip! Cathi and Lauren went down to Boston Lincolnshire and Hull to collect soil samples from the saltmarsh, building on a project originally commissioned by Natural England to observe carbon stocks in mudflat habitats. The project has been expanded to observe carbon stability in saltmarsh–mudflat ecotones, the transitional areas between the plant communitie

Welcome to the first monthly "highlights" blog. This is where we show off achievements and events from the past month, and share what we will be working on next month. Without any further ado, here's a brief overview of what we got up to this month: PGR Conference PhD student Lauren Carl (right) and PhD candidate Michael Vail (left) each gave talks about their projects. Michael is coming up to the end of his PhD studying the impacts of stressors, and Lauren is just beginning

While plastic products are convenient and our lifestyles are increasingly ‘on-the-go’, we need to think about the everyday choices we...

It’s Plastic Free July, and to get things started (a little late) the Hope lab is sharing a 31-day swaps sheet that was generated at the...

This week we hosted the Sutton Trust Widening Access students from across Scotland, introducing them to microplastics in the environment...

PhD student, Michael presented his poster at the School of Biology PGR conference in June 2025 - well done on a fantastic poster...

Michael Vail has recently joined our team here at the SOI embarking on his School of Biology funded PhD studentship for the next 4 years....