Podcast explores impact of man-made structures on the North Sea

Published:  26 October, 2022

A new podcast explores the growing interest in and research about man-made structures in the North Sea. The podcast – called “Insites Into” – explores research topics and informs current debate around their impact on the marine environment. It has been created by INSITE, a joint industry initiative which encourages, through funding and facilitation, scientific research to better understand the effect of man-made structures on the North Sea.

Topics in the new series include the anticipated growth of offshore wind and what it might mean for the North Sea environment and their research, as well as an interview with new programme director, Dickon Howell and a review of the recent SIME conference which was hosted by INSITE.

Howell comments: “The podcast concentrates on non-coastal structures in deep water outside the 12 mile limit. These are mainly energy structures to do with oil and gas and wind energy as well as thousands of wrecks,”

“As the podcast series progresses we will feature commentary and interviews with academics from across the UK and Europe who have had research funded by the INSITE programme. This will create a unique and useful library of interview material that will inform future offshore structure decisions.”

INSITE grew from an industry initiative concentrating on decommissioning and the environment to one that now draws significant academic funding to explore the marine environment and study how natural ecosystems adapt or otherwise to human intervention.

The research, combined with extensive mapping and topographic data from the industry, is building into a significant resource for an increasingly international audience.

Insites Into can be found on most podcast sites or on www.insitenorthsea.org and future podcast topics will cover:

• Research Projects

• Rigs2Reefs

• Offshore Wind

• Scientific Collaboration

INSITE draws funding from various sources (including the Natural Environment Research Council) to provide grants to academics across the UK and Europe to carry out specific research. The resulting findings become part of an ongoing research resource, which is available to industry, academia, government and other relevant policy bodies to inform current and future decisions about activity in the North Sea.

https://www.insitenorthsea.org/