With the previous weeks containing so many cool activities, weeks 9 and 10 gave us a chance to really get stuck in with our projects. However, as usual we did get to get out of the office and into nature.
Week 9 was all office based but still really exciting. This was the first chance for me and Ryan to properly sit down and spend some dedicated time solely on our projects. Our joint project on Offshore Wind Farms (OWF) is a completely new topic to the both of us. Our main focus over the last few weeks has been to get familiar with the background and decide the direction we want to take the project in. We have also been preparing questions for interviews we are leading with some major stakeholders in OWF. It’s important for us to engage with stakeholders from the beginning as this gives us the best chance to design our project with informed views. This allows us to be sure we are filling novel knowledge gaps. It also gives us a great first-hand knowledge of OWF and any areas that may be interesting during the project we haven’t thought of yet.
My individual project has also been kicking on, and I have been designing methodology and risk assessments for the in-field Pacific oyster surveys. This has been awesome as I get to use my experimental design skills I learnt at university and transfer them to a more technical environment. The sites we are planning on surveying have all had confirmed Pacific oyster sightings in the past. However, the latest of these sightings was at least 10 years ago. This will be a great opportunity to see if populations have been growing over this time or if it was just a random occurrence.
