The MBA works locally, nationally and internationally on a diverse and innovative programme of education, communication and public engagement.
For more information and to get involved in the programme please contact:
Jon Parr jpar@mba.ac.uk, 01752 633338
For our latest activities and events please go to our What’s New section
We run a number of public events and actively encourage members of the public to get involved either through shore visits or recording marine life they see. Education has always been at the heart of the MBA activities and included the running of a public aquarium at the Citadel Hill Laboratory in Plymouth for over 100 years until the set up, by the MBA, of the National Marine Aquarium.
Interactive information about marine life and online activities
Public safaris on the shores of south west England. The records of marine life made by members of the public at these events form part of the Sealife Survey database. This summer we have dedicated Beach Rangers at three locations to engage the public in marine life and marine sceince.
The Shore Thing works with volunteer groups and schools to survey shores across the UK. The Shore Thing is monitoring change to our shores either from climate change or the introduction of non native species.
The SHARC (Surveying Habitats and Researching Coasts) group is for people aged 18 – 25 and is made possible thanks to V funding provided by IgoMango. The group meets regularly and undertakes surveys of the coast and seas, as well as helping with the overall work of the MBA. New members are recruited on a yearly basis and in return for their work whilst volunteering they receive training and gain experience. Contact Jack Sewell for more information (jase@mba.ac.uk)
Blue Sound is working to connect more people with the marine environment of Plymouth Sound and estuaries. Blue Sound is made possible by the support of Natural England as part of its £25 million Access to Nature programme, funded through the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme. Blue Sound is a partnership project of the Marine Biological Association, with key partner CoastNet and many others across Plymouth. For further information, visit www.bluesound.org and join our Facebook group.
Young people returning from a Blue Sound snorkel safari
We need your records. Please send in your sightings of marine life to help keep track of the changing marine environment. We have a dedicated Web site and your records form part of the National Biodiversity Network.
We have an active programme for members of the public to get involved with the British Science Association National Science and Engineering Week.
A BioBlitz is a biological survey of an area involving experts and members of the public, generally lasting 24 hours.
Following past successful Bioblitz events (24 hour+ biodiversity survey) at Wembury in 2009 and Mothecombe in 2010, we ran a Bioblitz at Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, near Plymouth on the 30th Sept – 1st October 2011.
Fantastic weather and a great turnout of partners, volunteers and members of the public all contributed to a very succesful event.
We are still counting and cataloguing the species records gathered us to reach our target of recording over 1000 species.
A major focus of the event this year was to encourage people from both sides of the Tamar to visit this amazing coastal location and learn about the wildlife which lives there, also to provide an exciting and interesting day out for all ages and abilities (schools and families).
Individuals and organisations took part in one or more of the following ways:
If you are interested in future BioBlitz events, or if you would like more information, please get in touch with Jack Sewell.
Our Membership publication JMBA Global Marine Environment is a magazine for MBA members that rounds up marine science stories from all over the world. Selected articles are available here. For more information, including how to subscribe, please visit the JMBA web pages.
We have developed our school resources in close collaboration with teachers from all over the UK. All projects and resources are trialled in school and are linked to the national curriculum.
The Shore Thing works with schools and volunteer recorders to collect information on the marine life of rocky shores around Britain. All the information collected is available online and is helping to build a picture of our current status so that future changes can be measured.
A Shore Thing survey in Scotland
National Science & Engineering Week 2011 at the MBA
We offer hands-on marine science with experts as part of a programme for Primary and Secondary schools.
In 2011 we invited schoolchildren from all over the country to become ‘Marine biologists for a day’.
Over 100 school children from around the country took part in interactive workshops, investigations and experiments ranging from DNA analysis (‘Seashore CSI’) to fish dissection. A similar workshop is planned for 2012, so please contact us if you would like to be kept informed. Read the winning reports from our report writing competitions for participants in the event. Please get in touch with Jack Sewell if you would like more information.
We offer a number of teacher training opportunities including courses in marine life identification and running shore projects (e.g. the Shore Thing – see above). All our projects and resources are curriculum linked. Please contact us for more information
We have colourful, interactive workshops that introduce life around the turbines and the issues surrounding offshore wind energy. As well as being fun for children and teachers alike, these novel teaching aides always stimulate discussion and debate.
We can provide Life around the turbines in several formats, up to a full package of three workshops with trained staff suitable for a whole day of activities for up to 60 children (Years 5 and 6).
For online resources see www.offshorewindfarms.co.uk/Pages/Education
A 'Life Around the Turbines' workshop.
Members of the MBA education team run ‘Discovering Plankton’ workshops for schools and interested groups of children and adults outside school. Workshops take place in the MBA Resource Centre with participants catching their own plankton from Plymouth Sound. The team can also take the scientific equipment necessary for setting up a plankton laboratory in the school classroom. As well as the excitement of discovering a new world of creatures not normally visible to the naked eye, living in the seas around us, the workshops provide a fantastic way of introducing science topics such as marine food-webs, life cycles, dispersal and adaptation
We have developed a number of curriculum resources for use by schools at all levels. We welcome feedback and suggestions for additional material.
The MBA education team has worked closely with the Real Ideas Organisation (RIO) to run a series of exciting cross curricular projects with schools locally, linking marine biology with a range of other disciplines. The MBA is running additional projects with RIO through ‘Shoal’ a membership-based network of schools and marine educators who share a passion for learning and teaching about the marine environment.
The MBA runs a series of training events and conferences at all levels. These are often linked with our membership and are held in the UK and Europe. Most Plymouth based events utilise the Citadel Hill Resource Centre, a purpose built facility available for hire. For information on recent and upcoming events please see the ‘what’s on’ section of the web site.
There are opportunities for members of the MBA to get involved in the Education Programme as well as discounts for related training and conferences. Members have access to the National Marine Biological Library, the JMBA and receive the JMBA Global publication
The workshop provides intensive practical experience of a number of microelectrode, patch clamp and optical techniques applied to single cells. It is intended for postgraduate students, post-doctoral workers or established scientists wishing to apply these techniques in their research.
For further information please visit the Microelectrode Techniques webpage.
This advanced workshop runs for 10 days each year in April. Teaching staff on the course are selected from world experts in their respective fields in optical microscopy and related areas. Lectures range from fundamentals of microscope optics to advanced fluorescence imaging. The workshop is supported by the major optical manufacturers and participants have the opportunity to use state of the art equipment including, confocal and multi-photon microscopes, CCD cameras, a total internal reflection system and image analysis software.
For further information please visit the EMBO Practical Course in Advanced Optical Microscopy webpage
The Centre is designed for a variety of educational and training purposes in support of the local, national and international community, including charities, small and medium-sized businesses, schools and colleges, universities and learned societies.
The MBA has a proud tradition of marine science excellence. We have an extensive archive housed within the National Marine Biological Library. The collection documents the history of marine sciences in Britain and the diversity of the collection has shown itself to be of interest to researchers from many academic disciplines as well as to members of the public.
For more information on MBA history including links to the original barnacle expert, Charles Darwin (prepared under Darwin 200)
A one-year Masters course in Marine Biology is run jointly by the MBA and the University of Plymouth. The course started in 2003-4, has places for about 15 students, and runs from September to September. The programme aims to broaden the existing skills of marine biology graduates or alternatively, to offer graduates in other relevant disciplines the necessary training for them to apply and develop their particular skills in a marine context.
Programme highlights