OT SAMS aquaculture researcher wins Outstanding Contribution honour
A marine biologist at Oban’s Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) has become a prize winner at the Women in Scottish Aquaculture (WiSA) Awards on International Women’s Day.
Professor Elizabeth CottierCook of SAMS was presented with WiSA’s Outstanding Contribution award on Wednesday, which recognises her teaching in aquaculture and her research contribution to the global seaweed industry.
Prof Cottier-Cook leads a European aquaculture master’s degree (ACES-STAR) and the Global Seaweed STAR programme, which seeks to safeguard the rapidly expanding industry.
The Erasmus Mundus joint master’s degree teaches all aspects of aquaculture and allows international students to learn at centres in Oban, Crete and Nantes.
It has awarded 126 scholarships to EU and international students since 2015, providing access for talented students from developing nations to first-class academic teaching.
Prof Cottier-Cook has also been the principal investigator on the five-year Global Seaweed STAR programme, which ended in 2022.
This programme’s aim was to help safeguard the seaweed industry through combining UK expertise in taxonomy, genetics and disease management with the knowledge and practical experience of seaweed farming in Africa and Asia.
Seaweed farming is an important employer in many developing nations and is key to empowering women, who make up the majority of seaweed farmers globally.
Along with the UN University and partners in the UK, Tanzania, Malaysia and the Philippines, Prof Cottier-Cook also published an international policy brief.
This made recommendations on improving biosecurity and how best to protect the industry from climate change.
Prof Cottier-Cook said: “It was such a surprise to be told I had won the Outstanding Contribution Award, but I am also extremely honoured. It is important to celebrate the success of women in any STEM field.
“There is an increasing number of women working in aquaculture and it is interesting to note that in the eight years of our ACES joint master’s degree, women have made up roughly two-thirds of our students.”
She added: “Our Global Seaweed STAR programme included some of the leading seaweed researchers in the world and all of the work package leaders were women. Considering many women are involved in the seaweed industry, it was nice to be able to reflect that in our research team.”
WiSA exists to introduce more women into aquaculture, and support those already working in the sector and WiSA founder, Heather Jones, said: “Not only is Liz an inspirational scientist who is globally recognised for her work on invasive marine species, but also, she gives her time to initiatives such as the Athena Swan Charter, an important framework with potential to lead to more inclusive policies within higher education and research.”