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]
.
What is the current extent and recent trends of sea cliff habitats (including maritime grassland and maritime heath) inside and outside protected sites?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Stocks of natural resources is a basic measure of sustainable management of natural resources. The extent data for sea cliffs is relatively old and in places is incomplete.
Keywords (discipline, other): Coastal margins
Ecosystem resilience
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
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the current extent and recent trends of vegetated shingle inside and outside protected sites?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Stocks of natural resources is a basic measure of sustainable management of natural resources. The baseline extent data for vegetated shingle is incomplete.
Keywords (discipline, other): Coastal margins
Ecosystem resilience
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
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the current extent, condition and trends of floodplain habitats in Wales?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Outdated or absent data and associated analyses hinders the assessment of the current extent, condition and trends of our freshwater ecosystems.
Keywords (discipline, other): Freshwater
Urban
Semi-natural grassland
Enclosed farmland
Land use and soil
Biodiversity
Climate change
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
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the current extent, conditon and trends of ponds in Wales?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Outdated or absent data and associated analyses hinders the assessment of the current extent, condition and trends of our freshwater ecosystems.
Keywords (discipline, other): Freshwater
Mountains, moorlands, heath
Urban
Semi-natural grassland
Enclosed farmland
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
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the current level of awareness of invasive non-native species, biosecurity, and Great Britain biosecurity campaigns in the 1) general public and 2) key stakeholders?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Keywords (discipline, other): Invasive non-native species
Ecosystem resilience
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
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the current species composition of wood pasture and traditional orchards?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
There is extremely limited survey work on species composition of wood pasture and orchards. A baseline for condition is required as well as information to inform optimum management.
Keywords (discipline, other): Enclosed farmland
Semi-natural grassland
Ecosystem resilience
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
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the degree of connectivity and the extent of foraging ranges in grey seals associated with Special Areas of Conservation?,
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Tagging and PhotoID evidence suggests that grey seals from Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are connected and seals move among several protected and non protected areas within a wide area/region (eg the OSPAR Region III management unit). However, the amount of connectivity is not well estimated – is it a large proportion of animals that share these sites, is there a high level of site fidelity at different times of the year which would influence management/impacts, or does connectivity follow a random/expected distribution suggesting that connectivity is somewhat trivial? Recent analyses of seals at sea (Carter et al 2022) provides a probable foraging range of 448km from Welsh SACs and maps the expected presence/density of seals at sea from these SACs. Further work is needed to develop a tool to estimate potential impacts / interactions at distance from SACs.
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): Grey seals, Connectivity, Foraging ranges, Special Areas of Conservation, Marine management, Marine, mammals
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: marinecoastalevidence@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk Phone: NA
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the direct impact of climate change on soil moisture levels?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Keywords (discipline, other): Land use and soil
Woodland
Coastal margins
Mountains, moorland, and heath
Urban
Water efficiency
Semi-natural grassland
Enclosed farmland
Climate change
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
________________________________________________________________________________
What is the distribution and abundance of sandeels 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): Distribution and abundance of sandeels in Welsh waters,”Sandeels, Distribution, Abundance, Welsh waters, Marine ecosystems”,
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 is the distribution and impact of non-quarantine pest and disease outbreaks throughout Wales and how is this affected by climate change?
Summary of the Research Question / Evidence Need:
Declining tree health, due to climate change and compromised biosecurity arising from global trade, is a significant risk to future ecosystem service provision, resilience and well-being. We do not know enough about the distribution and impact of non-quarantine pest and disease outbreaks across Wales. More information would help inform futuer policy and operational mangaement decisions.
Keywords (discipline, other): Woodland
Ecosystem resilience
Biodiversity
Climate change
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
________________________________________________________________________________