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Clifford Spencer The National Aquaculture Centre
quaculture without Frontiers co-ownership of the National Aquaculture Centre will start to come into its own as the latter’s operations now get underway. In this respect the National Aquaculture is a lead exhibitor and sponsor of the Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers event being held this week in the UK, and AwF representatives will be on hand to talk to aspiring young scientists and engineers about their hopes and aspirations at the start of their careers. The conference is aimed at early career scientists and engineers concerned with any aspect of physical coastal science or engineering and includes post-graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in universities. The organisation also encourages junior engineers, scientists and researchers in private companies and government agencies to attend. Research on coastal physical processes in the UK occurs under various disciplinary labels, including oceanography, geography, geology and engineering. This results in a fragmented coastal research community with limited interaction and collaboration between different disciplines. The lack of integration is felt most by young coastal researchers (post-docs and PhDs), who should be open to multi and interdisciplinary interaction. To assist with developing an integrated UK coastal research community, the first Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference (YCSEC) was held in Nottingham in 2005. It is now an annual event travelling the UK and has been replicated in North America. Our attending and exhibiting at this event will help the build-up of essential new involvement and interest of the young (and their associated open minds and enthusiasm) to support valuable and meaningful AwF charitable activity, with these volunteers also being then able to further benefit from the input of the most experienced AwF volunteers in their charitable work. The older volunteers will no doubt welcome and in turn benefit from the unshakeable confidence and energy of their younger AwF compatriots. Also, of great value will be the close working relationship of the NAC with the dominant UK fish processing cluster at the NAC’s geographically adjacent Grimsby base. The town and surrounding region hosts some 75 fish processing businesses ranging in size from the giants like Youngs to small family owned businesses that survive on speciality knowledge and products. Indeed nearly 80 percent of fish processing for the UK domestic demand takes place in the town of Grimsby and its surrounding region. Think of the opportunities for technology transfer for AwF, in supporting nascent aquaculture smallholder businesses for developing and transition countries and their hard working local staff that will come from these relationships! Also, the University of Hull, the NAC’s official academic partner
has a wide variety of academic sectors and institutes that will be linked to and working with the National Aquaculture Centre (NAC). These include: Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies, Hull International Fisheries Institute, Institute of Energy and Environment, Logistics Institute, Business School and Project AURA. These Institutes and Science Schools at the University are developing aquaculture related research and development projects; and National and International industry engagement opportunities with the NAC and its partners from which AwF will fully benefit. Finally, the library that is currently being installed in the NAC headquarters based at the Humber Seafood Institute at Grimsby’s Europarc will be named in honour of AwF’s founder and our patron Michael New O.B.E. This will ensure an enduring and lively connection between the charity and its co-owned NAC facility as visiting researchers go through the library doors and see the dedicated plaque to be installed explaining the background and connection between the NAC and AwF organisations. This library facility will be available to all the AwF organisations in order to support the global growth and development of our charity and its valuable work. Also coming up and of great interest to future AwF activities is the forthcoming visit to the UK in Easter week of the African Union’s NEPAD agency’s Head of Programme Coordination and Implementation. This visit is prompted by a high level and developing R&D tie up between the African Union/NEPAD and leading UK research universities across a large section of subjects. A feature of this visit will be the exchange with Hull University, the NAC’s partner, which has attracted so much interest that the BBC is planning to film the visit. The Vice Chancellor of Hull University will be prominent in the welcome of this AU/ NEPAD high level interest and delegation and from this again AwF benefits from the surrounding activity. AwF is currently constructing a number of African based projects and is actively looking to work with other AwF’s in this work and with other African interested organisations. Meanwhile trustees are currently busy in China investigating potential donors and support as well as worthwhile charitable projects to follow up. As a result, our next AwF trustee's meeting will take place on a trans-continental basis which always presents a timing challenge with the substantial difference of the respective time zones of the trustees say in Sweden, the UK, Africa and other world regions. However, this global approach will be a very necessary part of the future effectiveness and success of AwF led operations and projects. Such is the necessary organisation and infrastructure requirements of modern day charitable activity. www.nationalaquaculturecentre.com
Currently Mr Spencer leads the Global Biotechnology Transfer Foundation (GBTF), which is dedicated to promoting the potential for biotechnology to support sustainable, long-term, socio-economic development. He is also Chairman of Trustees for Aquaculture without Frontiers UK. 12 | March 2018 - International Aquafeed