If you are seeking to deliver an impactful dissertation topic, with direct relevance to environmental policy makers or, simply looking for inspiration for your final year project, you can search for ideas below.
You can search the research questions that have been directly submitted to us, or browse other collections of research ideas from partner organisation such as Natural Resources Wales and Climate Cymru. We are still adding relevant keywords to the data, so try a different search term if nothing comes up or get in touch for support searching the database.
If you do find a question of relevance and decide to address it through your dissertation, we would really like to know about it. Please fill out the form that can be found here.
[Enter keyword and press ‘search’ or the return key]
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What are the impacts of acoustic surveys on marine fauna?,
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
For more, and updated information, please visit https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Keywords (discipline, other): Impacts of acoustic surveys on marine fauna,”Acoustic surveys, Marine fauna, Impact assessment, Marine life disturbance”,
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: Yes External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Email Address: marinecoastalevidence@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Phone: NA
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What are the impacts of cable installation methodologies to reef habitats?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
An increase in offshore renewables is leading to an increase in cables and sometimes a difficulty in finding cable routes that avoid reef habitats. Current cable installation methodologies include trenching, horizontal directional drilling and pinning. A literature review would be carried out of the impacts of these installation methodologies on Habitats Regulations Annex I Reef types that occur in Welsh waters. Of particular interest is the impacts of pinning cables to reef as we have very limited information at present. This could start by investigating whether any monitoring has taken place on Annex I Reefs post-cable installation for the different methodologies. If there have been no studies, then monitoring could take place after discussions with developers to identify suitable sites. Next steps and progress: Likely to be a contract to carry out a literature review, possibly as part of a collaborative project.
Keywords (discipline, other): Offshore renewables, cable installation, reef habitats, Habitats Regulations Annex I, pinning, trenching, horizontal directional drilling, literature review, Welsh waters
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: No External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Email Address: Phone:
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What are the impacts of coastal defences on coastal habitats?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
NRW wish to better understand of the impact of coastal defences on adjacent coastal margin habitats, which will include consideration of coastal geomorphology impacts. This review will include a consideration of what the positive and negative impacts of coastal defences are and where they are located along the coastline of Wales. impacts could be on a range of habitats and species, including birds. Suitable case studies could include Borth and Morfa Dinlle.
For more, and updated information, please visit https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Keywords (discipline, other): Coastal defences, Habitat impact, Coastal erosion, Habitat loss, Coastal habitat
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: Yes External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Email Address: Phone: NA
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What are the impacts of dredge disposal on subtidal habitats?,
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
For more, and updated information, please visit https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Keywords (discipline, other): Impacts of dredge disposal on subtidal habitats,”Dredge disposal, Subtidal habitats, Marine environment, Habitat impact, Environmental management”,
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: Yes External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Email Address: marinecoastalevidence@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Phone: NA
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What are the impacts of intensive poultry units on water quality?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Pollution from rural sources is the second biggest factor in preventing Welsh rivers from achieving Good Ecological Status. In order to address this issue we need to develop an improved understanding of the impact of intesive poultry units on water quality, given the growth of this agricultural sector in Wales in recent years.
Keywords (discipline, other): Freshwater
Marine
Enclosed farmland
Land use and soil
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What are the impacts of intermittent sewage discharges into Marine Protected Areas and their catchments?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Intermittent sewage discharges enter the catchment and their effluent is carried to our Marine Protected Areas (MPAs); the discharges also enter directly to our MPAs. An analysis of data on intermittent discharges is required, including determining the volume and concentration (loading) from discharges from the wider catchment and determining if the assets are spilling only during wet weather. An assessment of the impacts of the discharges on MPA feature condition is required.
Next steps and progress: To be undertaken as part of the National Environment Programme
Keywords (discipline, other): Marine sciences, intermittent sewage discharges, Marine Protected Areas, catchments, effluent, analysis, data, volume, concentration, loading, wet weather, National Environment Programme
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: Yes External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Dr Kirsten Ramsay Email Address: kirsten.ramsay@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk Phone: NA
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What are the impacts of invasive non-native species on marine Special Areas of Conservation in Welsh waters?,
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
For more, and updated information, please visit https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Keywords (discipline, other): Impacts of invasive non-native species on marine Special Areas of Conservation in Welsh waters,”Invasive species, Non-native species, Marine SACs, Welsh waters, Conservation”,
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: Yes External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Email Address: marinecoastalevidence@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Phone: NA
________________________________________________________________________________
What are the impacts of new and emerging chemical contaminants and substances, such as neonicotinoid pesticides, nanoparticles and pharmaceuticals, on water quality and ecology?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Our limited understanding of new and emerging chemical contaminants and substances restricts our ability to assess their impacts. For example, there are currently no indicators for microplastics, and setting ecologically relevant thresholds is still in development.
Keywords (discipline, other): Freshwater
Marine
Urban
Enclosed farmland
Land use and soil
Biodiversity
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/state-of-natural-resources-report-sonarr-for-wales-2020/evidence-needs-table/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: n/a External Partner: Y Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: n/a n/a Email Address: Phone: NA
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What are the impacts of removal of slow growing, long lived fish species by recreational angling?,
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
For more, and updated information, please visit https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Keywords (discipline, other): Impacts of removing slow-growing, long-lived fish species by recreational angling,”Recreational angling, Slow-growing fish, Long-lived fish, Population impact, Fisheries”,
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: Yes External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Email Address: marinecoastalevidence@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Phone: NA
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What are the impacts of renewable energy devices on physical processes?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
We need to understand how wave and tidal stream devices will impact on the natural environment, and how that manifests itself in terms of impact on natural variability. While the reduction in wave height or tidal current (and subsequently morphodynamics) by individual devices is likely to be small, it is crucial to learn from these demonstration devices to gain confidence in model estimates of energy extraction and changes to the physical environment. This will enhance confidence in model predictions of array scale impacts which are likely to be more substantial.
Next steps and progress: This evidence gap requires deployment of renewable energy
devices before monitoring can be undertaken. Needs discussion with Government and Industry regarding post consent monitoring.
Keywords (discipline, other): Marine sciences, impacts, renewable energy devices, physical processes, wave, tidal stream, natural environment, models
Website/URL links: https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-and-data/research-and-reports/marine-biodiversity-collaborative-research-priorities/?lang=en
Looking for collaborators: Yes External Partner: Yes Organisation: Natural Resources Wales
Contact Details
Name: Dr Kirsten Ramsay Email Address: kirsten.ramsay@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk Phone: NA
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