On 25 June 2021, our More than Maps Team attended Day 4 of the SARTRAC Annual Consortium Meeting #2 “Capacity Building – Outward Facing”. Capacity building is a key component of the SARTRAC programme and the Global Challenges Research Fund (click here for further information).

As part of the ACM2 programme, PhD students Marie Schlenker and Yanna Fidai delivered taster sessions of the More than Maps outreach programme for schools and professionals. In the workshop “How can studying people help solve sargassum problems?”, attendees learnt about how social science methods and specifically stakeholder analysis can be used in developing solutions to environmental issues. The taster session on “What is environmental mapping and how can we use it to detect sargassum?” equipped participants with the knowledge to use remote sensing and Google Earth Engine to understand and solve spatial problems in environmental science. While both workshops had a strong focus on Sargassum research, participants learnt highly transferable skills, which are applicable to a variety of environmental issues.

The workshops were well received by the SARTRAC audience and the More than Maps Team is looking forward to delivering more workshops to professionals in the future. If you are interested in learning more about More than Maps or would like to attend a workshop, please get in contact with Dr Sien van der Plank (sien.vanderplank@soton.ac.uk).

Word cloud: “How can studying people help solve sargassum problems?”