Ellen Barrowclift-Mahon’s Placement Report

I conducted a UKRI-Mitacs Doctoral Exchange at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada in Professor Nick Dulvy’s research group who specialise in marine biodiversity and conservation. I conducted research on global patterns in intrinsic sensitivity of rays (Batoidea) to fishing.

This research resulted in a publication highlighting the high intrinsic sensitivity of tropical rays compared to temperate skates, contrary to metabolic theory and of particular concern given the greater extrinsic exposure to overfishing in shallow, tropical coastal waters (Barrowclift et al., 2023).

This was a great opportunity to work with international collaborators within a different research group and culture at a different academic institution. I gained key modelling skills, including Bayesian approaches, using R programming. I also had the opportunity to work with wider collaborators within Canadian and US research institutions and presented our research at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island.