The possibilities for working in marine or environmental science in the Highlands and Islands are endless! Whether you want to study bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth or biofuels in Orkney, there’s something for you.
SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency)
They are Scotland's environmental regulator and monitor quality of water, air and land. They are also delivering the flood warning system. They have 22 offices across Scotland, in the North they are based in Dingwall and have offices in Lerwick, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Thurso, Elgin, Fort William and Lochgilphead. You could work for them e.g. as an ecologist, hydrologist or environment protection officer. They advertise summer work for students on their vacancies page.
The European Centre for Marine Biotechnology near Oban is home to a number of marine science organisations, including the Scottish Association for Marine Science, Aquapharm and GlycoMar.
Would you like to work for a major research company here in the Highlands and Islands? Would you like to be involved in a nationwide program to protect our oceans? No, you don’t have to be a marine scientist! You could be a biologist, a chemist, a physicist, an engineer….. the list goes on.
SAMS are Scotland’s leading marine science organisation, and are one of the oldest oceanographic organisations in the world. They do research into a wide variety of marine science, and have 4 different research departments:
Physics, sea ice and technology
biogeochemisty & earth sciences
ecology
microbial and molecular biology
Around 150 people from a number of countries work for SAMS, in a variety of different jobs involving STEM. You could be working on anything from microbiology to marine ecology, the impact of climate change on fish, disease and immunity in algae, the genetics of marine creatures, coastal seas of the Arctic, or even studying tides and waves.
Or you could be………
Communications officer in charge of public relations and public events
In the finance department
Skipper of a research ship
An aquarium manager
An engineer
A diver
An IT technician
There are loads of different courses you could do to get involved in an organisation such as SAMS.
Environmental courses such as ecology, ecosystems, ecotoxicology, environmental science, marine biology, ocean science, earth science, marine geology
Biological subjects including genetics, immunology, virology AND chemistry, physics, maths, finance, engineering
Aquarpharm is a drug discovery company aiming to create new products using the chemicals found in marine micro-organisms. Their work has led to the identification of chemicals which could be used in pharmaceuticals as well as personal care. They have a collection of over 7000 marine micro-organisms which have been collected from the sea as far north as the Arctic and as deep as 4000m! These organisms are being screened to see if they can be useful for treating infectious diseases.
The NAFC Marine Centre in Shetland provides first class training, marine science, research and quality management services to support the nautical, fisheries, engineering, aquaculture and food industries. The centre is made up of the Shetland school of nautical studies, the department of marine science and technology, Shetland seafood quality control, and the department of marine management.
Aberdeen University’s Lighthouse Field Station is located in Cromarty, and provides a base for studying the ecology of seals, dolphins, and other marine wildlife. Their aim is to understand how natural and man-made changes in the environment affect these populations. The Lighthouse Field Station is an ideal place to do a masters or PhD in marine biology, in a region famed for its marine life, in particular bottlenose dolphins.
The Environmental Research Institute (ERI) is part of the UHI Millennium Institute, and is based in Thurso. They carry out a variety of research in fields such as renewable energy and the environment, biogeochemistry, climate change and biotechnology and bioresources, which includes areas such as waste treatment.
The ERI employs people with a large variety of STEM degrees, including biologists, chemists, physicists and engineers. So if you are interested in working for an institute that aims to protect our environment and natural resources through scientific research, the ERI could be the place for you!
The Agronomy Institute is a research centre within the UHI Millennium Institute, located in Orkney College. The institute was created to provide a research centre for the development of plants and plant-based products within the region. Some of their research includes the use of biofuels such as oil seed rape, crops that are not widely grown at the moment but which have the potential to be of use in agriculture, and the growth of fruits that could have economic and health benefits. A degree such as plant science would be ideal for working somewhere like the Agronomy Institute.
The Marine Environmental Research Laboratory is located in Machrihanish, in Kintyre, and is part of the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture. The centre provides facilities for marine aquaculture and fisheries research, including research into fish disease and behaviour, feeding and nutrition, and the effect of chemicals on different species.
Integrin are based in the Marine Resource Centre in Oban, and carry out research into marine biotoxins and microbiology. They provide services for the shellfish and finfish industry as well as the academic research community. They have a marine aquarium on site, and provide a variety of analytical services and tests.
The University Marine Biological Station in Millport, on the Isle of Cumbrae, is owned by the University of London and managed in association with the University of Glasgow. Much of their research in recent years has been concentrated on fishing, which is of great economic interest. They also carry out research into the ecological impact of human activity on marine environments, and regional marine biodiversity.
AWS Ocean Power
Based in Inverness, AWS Ocean Power is a company that develop, commercialise and deliver technologies and services to the marine energy sector. They employ researchers, engineers and business people to help make marine energy a reality. Their lead product is the Archimedes Waveswing wave power system that will be rolled out in 2011.
There are two parts to the company, Opus Plus is based in Stromness (Orkney) and Opus Maxim is based in Surrey, England. In Orkney they have large-scale test facilities where equipment that will be used in the sea can be tested before it is going offshore. There are also environmental laboratories, where they study how chemicals affect marine organisms like algae and how long it takes until the chemicals degrade. They do this to ensure that the chemicals that will be approved for offshore used by oil companies are safe and will not harm the environment.
