Thirteen undergraduate students, participating in this year’s Marine Institute’s Summer Bursary programme, recently showcased their projects at a poster presentation day, held at the Marine Institute’s Headquarters in Oranmore.
The Bursars presented the outputs of their projects to the staff of the Marine Institute and answered questions about their project work. This year’s bursaries comprised a broad range of projects that are linked to the work undertaken by the Marine Institute. The project areas include Fisheries, Molecular Chemistry, Aquaculture, Marine Infrastructure Asset Management, Oceanographic analysis, Ocean Economics, Research Office, Human resources, Library and Marine Communications.
“The presentations showcased the diversity and high standard of work our bursary students are involved in,” said Helen McCormick, Bursar Programme Coordinator and Senior Laboratory Analyst at the Marine Institute.
A panel of judges, drawn from a range of Marine Institute staff, reviewed the posters, selecting three winners based on the student’s knowledge of their work, the presentation of their project information and their answers to a variety of questions.
Éabha Gaughan (NUI Galway) was awarded first place for her outstanding work on Human Resources Support which showcased her restructuring of the Marine Institute’s internal staff intranet using SharePoint software.
Éamonn-Joeín MacDonnachá (University College Cork) and Sara Ellis (NUI Galway) were both awarded second place for their creative work on analysing crayfish historic records and how they can be used as validation for the molecular detection of crayfish pathogens.
Hadia Mahmood (Munster Technological University) was awarded third place for her informative presentation on Ireland’s marine economy, in which she gathered data from various sectors and identified specific marine-related state investments.
“Each student showcased their work with energy and clarity and a great strength of the bursary scheme was to see students undertaking projects that were unrelated to their undergraduate degrees” said Dr Paul Connolly CEO of the Marine Institute. “Our Bursary scheme is a great introduction to the diversity of marine science and having undertaken four such bursaries many years ago, I am so proud to see the scheme continue to flourish.”
The Marine Institute Summer Bursary Programme has been running since the 1960s. A highly sought-after work experience programme in marine science, the programme continues to offer a promising gateway for students into the expanding world of marine science and research in Ireland.
The programme is aimed at undergraduates who have completed two years of study in a relevant discipline and is advertised on www.marine.ie in February each year. The scheme will continue in 2023.
