Meet the scientists!

My project consists of three parts. In the first part I search beaches around Southwest England for plastic debris, and I try to find out why certain beaches have more plastic than others on them. The second part is an experiment I run to see what happens to different types of plastics when they are exposed in the environment. I chose to expose them ashore, in fresh water and in the ocean. In the third part I look at mussels and cockles to see how many tiny plastic particles they eat.

The first thing I do when I get into work is starting my computer because I have to check who wants to get in touch with me. Once I have done that I would usually put my lab coat on and disappear into one of our labs. My work can change every day. Sometimes I prepare the animal samples I have collected for dissection, then I actually dissect the animals, then I look at them using a special microscope that makes the plastic bits I am looking for apparent. Sometimes I spend a lot of time analyzing the material samples I have exposed in the environment to see if they have become more fragile or if they have lost weight or changed their molecules.

I also spend much of my time making calculations with the measurements I take in the field and in the lab. They help me make a link between effects I observe in my samples and possible causes for them. These links are very important because they help us not only see things happen but also understand why they happen, and this information I then write in reports (which I also spend a lot of time doing).

We have breaks at work for coffee and for lunch, I enjoy these breaks beacause they bring us together and we can discuss our work and also other things.

I would design a panel that explains the issue my work is dealing with, how research can help addressing this issue and how we all can do something about it. I would have a display made with some of my samples to go with the panel, because it’s a lot more exciting to look at the real thing than just at a description and pictures of it.

It’s important for me to tell people who would see the exhibit how they can help addressing this problem and even how they can help research on it.