Jasmine and I started off this week with an educational visit to The Crown Estate in London, where we attended a business writing skills course. The course was delivered by Emphasis, who create tailored writing sessions. This year’s cohort of Marine Futures and Coastal Explorer Interns are all graduates from within the biological sciences, so it was a great opportunity to learn how to adjust our scientific writing skills for the business environment. One of the things I am appreciating most about this internship is the variation of opportunities given to us, from hands-on field work, to skills courses like this!

The following day, we headed to the Ørsted office, where we were able to meet some key contacts for our research projects and attend meetings with behind-the-scenes information about some of Ørsted’s offshore wind projects. I had a particularly insightful meeting with Onyekachi Emezi, who recently joined the company as an Onshore Environment Manager. This meeting gave me some great insights for my research project, where I have been delving into the impacts that blue and green hydrogen production may have on the marine environment. With a long day of back-to-back meetings planned, we were thankful to have some time to relax during our lunch break, where we played a quick game of table tennis in the office; what a great addition to the workplace!

On Sunday (17^th), we will be getting involved with The Great British Beach Clean at Trimley Marshes in Suffolk. Organised by Suffolk Wildlife Trust, in partnership with Marine Conservation Society, this beach clean is a great chance to gain survey skills, and volunteer experience. Plastic pollution affects thousands of marine species, so assisting in a beach clean is a good way of reducing the risk to these animals. The event will run from 10am to 3pm – with a minibus shuttle running for the first hour of the event from Searson's Farm car park to the reserve, and back at 3pm.

Sian