After finishing my Honour’s project dissertation, I was incredibly lucky to receive an opportunity to present my undergraduate research, a project titled “Niche Partitioning of Native British Bumblebees on a Temporal and Floral Resource Scale in Machair Habitat on Orkney, Scotland” at the Posters in Parliament session in the Houses of Parliament in London.
This event is an amazing opportunity for undergraduate researchers to get their research and voices heard by MPs in parliament, and to make academic connections with other undergraduate researchers and engage with a wider audience. Here, I spoke with a myriad of students, MPs, charitable body members, and more about my findings of how wild bumblebees in Orkney use the available foraging period and available floral resources to live harmoniously alongside each other. It was an invaluable experience, and I was so fortunate to be able to speak to students who have studied similar topics but approached them from an entirely different academic perspective, widening my own perspective. It was an amazing opportunity to engage with the attendees about my research and how we can all help our native pollinators, from amateur gardeners to policy makers, to advocate for a conservation topic that my time at university has brought near and dear to me. Bringing the conservation problems that our wild bumblebees face to the attention of the people who are able, and willing, to enact change to help the cause was an incredibly rewarding and educational experience.
Additionally, a parliamentary outreach workshop, titled ‘Getting your voice heard in parliament’, was a really informative and engaging opportunity to hear from experts on how undergraduates with research that they believe to be important to government can get their research noticed, and their ‘voices heard’. I learnt so much about how parliament works with scientists and researchers, and how I can make effective changes in UK policy for my cause.
Talking with other undergraduate students who are also passionate about their work and enthusiastic about making positive changes in government was immensely rewarding, and I learnt so much from the variety of posters and researchers that I spoke with. Attending such an interdisciplinary event gave me the chance to learn about areas of research I would never have even considered, and it was great! The Posters in Parliament event is an unforgettable experience that I am hugely grateful for, and proud of my participation in. It was made possible through the support from the University of Aberdeen, and in particular I would like to thank my project supervisor, Dr. Fabio Manfredini, for his unending encouragement and guidance, and Tegan Gaetano, without whom I could not have accomplished the field work in Sanday (nor have had as much fun as I did!).
