Hi my name is Louise Smith and I am an upcoming PhD student with QUADRAT. I will be based at Aberdeen University within the School of Geosciences. I did both my undergrad and my postgrad in Germany to save on tuition fees. My undergrad was a BSc in Environmental and Resource Management at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. During my undergrad I discovered a great interest in Ecology and corresponding fields such as conservation. My thesis was on the effects of microplastics on bivalves. Therefore, I did my postgrad in Ecology at the University of Bremen where I conducted several research projects into coastal plant conservation and biodiversity. I have been interested in historical ecology since my postgrad. The information that we can gain within this field is endless and it can help us to fill in gaps in our biodiversity knowledge as well as inform future conservation projects. The severe decline in biodiversity globally needs to be addressed. My project will hopefully show how humans have influenced the landscape hundreds of years ago and what ecosystem changes have originated from this. Additionally, it might establish a framework of how to identify landscape changes which have originated from undocumented post-medieval colonies.
QUADRAT Sponsors and Partners
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar & Marine Research
Forest Research Scotland
Belfast City Council
BGS
NI Water
DAERA
Aberdeen City Council
National Trust NI
Wildbyte Technologies
Historic Environment Scotland
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Loughs Agency
SAERI Falklands Limited
RSPB NI
RSPB Scotland
Ulster Farmers’ Union
Bioversity International
NFU Scotland
Syngenta
SAERI
James Hutton Institute
Forestry and Land Scotland
Arup
Marine Scotland
Aberdeen Harbour Board
Tilhill Forestry
Pacific Seafoods Group
Northern Ireland Environment Agency
Shetland Amenity Trust
Siskin Asset Management
Causeway, Coast & Glens Heritage Trust
The Crown Estate
Ireland Brownfield Network
Geological Survey NI
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS)
Scottish water
3DEO
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute
SEPA
Ulster Wildlife
Volcanic Basin Petroleum Research
National Trust for Scotland
NOAA Fisheries
JNCC
The R&A
CB Dennis Trust
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Carl Zeiss Microscopy Ltd
Environment Agency
National Biodiversity Data Centre Ireland
National Trust
Northern Ireland Environment Link
Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR)
Botanaeco
Mourne Heritage Trust