Join us for the MASTS Annual Science Meeting: 18 - 20 November, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Join us for the MASTS Annual Science Meeting

MASTS ASM 2025 – United in Marine Research & Impact

Date: 18 – 20 November 2025

Venue: Technology & Innovation Centre (TIC), University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Join us at the fifteenth MASTS Annual Science Meeting (ASM) – a cross-disciplinary event that brings together members of the marine science community, with the aim of promoting and communicating research excellence and forging new scientific collaborations.

Register and View the Programme

Email masts@st-andrews.ac.uk if you have any queries about the event.

The first two days will bring together expert plenary speakers and contributed talks, panel sessions and e-posters outlining the latest research and management practices that address key topics related to marine science and management in the face of global climate change and a biodiversity crisis. Alongside our general science sessions, the event will include special topic sessions, and plenty of opportunities to network.

Tue 18 Nov – Opening and Plenaries; General Science Sessions; a Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources Session; and a Special Session on Multiple Stressors. NatureScot will also run a workshop on “Conservation advice to support the upcoming consultation on the management of fishing activities to improve protection for marine wildlife”. Drinks and networking session.

Wed 19 Nov – Marine Mammals Special Session; a Coastal Science Special Session; General Science Sessions; a Marine Bioacoustics Special Session; a Technological Innovation in Environmental Monitoring Session; and a Special Session on “Bottom Trawling: Beyond the Headlines – Science, Sustainability, and Solutions”. ASM Ceilidh.

The third day (Thurs 20 November) is devoted to workshops:

High-throughput integrative ecological sampling at the Culzean floating wind platform – designing data pipeline for the scientific community. Culzean has the scope to deliver synchronised high-throughput observations from its sensors. We aim to estimate essential biodiversity variables (EBV) from those observations, particularly focussing on multi-sensor observation integration. Input from the marine science community is invited.
Why, where, and when? Learning the value of airborne drone surveys in nearshore marine environments. Drones have proliferated as a tool for high-resolution surveys of terrestrial environments, supporting habitat monitoring efforts and facilitating a wealth of scientific research. Increasingly, drones are used to survey nearshore intertidal and subtidal marine environments, for purposes such as monitoring the extent and health of seagrass meadows. However, drone surveys in nearshore marine environments can be logistically and technically more complex than terrestrial surveys. Issues such as site-access, sun-glint, water turbidity, sea surface roughness and a lack of tie-points affect both the feasibility of the survey work and the quality of the captured data. In this workshop, participants will consider the application of airborne drone surveys to a nearshore site of their choosing. We will use real-world case-studies of surveys in Orkney and Pembrokeshire to facilitate discussion and demonstrate output data quality. Together, we’ll work to understand why, where and when drone surveys are best suited for monitoring and research in nearshore marine environments.
MEDIN Marine Data Management – MEDIN workshops are designed to enhance attendees’ knowledge and skills in marine data management. Training will cover data management planning and tips for effective data management during a project as well as resources such as the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard, the MEDIN Data Guidelines, and controlled vocabularies.
Grant Proposal and Fellowship Application Writing Retreat for Early Career Researchers. This workshop aims to support late-stage PhDs and ECRs in developing and advancing their grant proposals, funding applications, narrative CVs and fellowship applications. By providing a structured environment with dedicated writing time and expert feedback, participants will be able to make tangible progress on their applications. The workshop will be structured as a writing retreat, with short instructional sessions followed by focused writing blocks and peer or mentor feedback.
Emotional Intelligence for Leadership. Developing strong leadership skills is essential for both professional growth and the ability to collaborate effectively. In this interactive workshop, we will explore the importance of emotional intelligence as a key leadership skill. The workshop will cover what emotional intelligence (EQ) really is – how it influences our interactions, decision-making, and overall effectiveness as leaders. We will discuss why EQ is important in leadership, especially in dynamic, challenging and interdisciplinary research environments, and identify the social and emotional skills that underpin successful and emotionally intelligent leadership, such as self-awareness, empathy, stress tolerance and relationship management. We will also look at practical ways to apply these skills to your own situations and explore strategies for ongoing personal development. By the end of this session, you’ll have a clearer understanding of how emotional intelligence can enhance your leadership potential and positively impact your research and professional relationships.
Introduction to Open-Source GIS (QGIS). This course will introduce postgraduates, early career researchers, and anyone new to Geographical Information Systems, to the use of GIS, and specifically the Open Source QGIS program.
Migration and Prey Energyscapes in a changing oceans: Advancing observations, models and synthesis. The MASTS Working Group on Migration and Prey Energyscapes in Changing Oceans aims to find new common ground and shared questions between movement ecologists and ocean modellers looking at the same food chains but with opposite perspectives: from top predators looking down, from lower trophic levels looking up.