Research Hub
Welcome to the Research Hub. This is the place to explore research projects that are on or about Scilly independent of the CRN. We want to create an informative, dynamic space that showcases what's going on across the islands for those interested in finding out more. If you're involved in a project on or about Scilly, past or present, and would like it to be shown here, please get in touch.
Locally-led Research Projects
Scilly Labyrinth Project
The Scilly Labyrinth Project is a public arts project by artists Teän Roberts and Layan Harman, uncovering Scilly's pebble maze heritage. Scilly has the only example of a pre-20th-Century pebble labyrinth in the UK - Troy Town Maze on St Agnes - and many others inspired by this early original. This research into a unique but little-known element of Scilly's heritage is an attempt to inform a reimagining of Scilly's lost folk practices.
24/03/2025 - 30/06/2026
Pollinator Monitoring Scheme
Can you spend 10 minutes to help contribute to citizen science on Scilly?
The Small is Beautiful Landscape Recovery project is seeking volunteers to help record pollinators on Scilly.
For information on how to download the app and get involved, please visit the IoSNL Facebook page.
For more information about the Isles of Scilly National Landscape, visit their website:
2025
Research Projects About Scilly
Cetacean Acoustic Trend Tracking
"This project aims to explore, develop, and validate all the steps involved in obtaining low cost, high quality estimates of trends in cetacean numbers using static acoustic monitoring with F-PODs."
The CATT project is a collaboration with University of Plymouth Fish Intel project. The deployment of the F-PODs was with IoS IFCA.
2022
ORIGIN
Optimising cultural experiences for mental health in underrepresented young people online.
The project is hosted by the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. It's asking for people aged 16-24 to share their experiences with mental health and contribute to important research. The study will conclude with diverse young people co-designing an online arts and culture intervention aimed at reducing anxiety and depression.
2023 - 2028
BatBug
"Long-term acoustic monitoring of bat populations, monitoring in remote locations, and low-carbon-cost monitoring."
The 'BatBug' is a solar-powered, weather resistant piece of kit the monitors bat populations and is going into production to be deployed on Scilly. In collaboration with the IoSWT, the aim is to establish long term monitoring in remote and inaccessible places such as Rosevear and Great Ganilly.
2024
Underwater Scilly - Monitoring Marine Life in the Isles of Scilly
Researchers from the University of Exeter and the Isles of Scilly Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority are using underwater cameras to explore the rich marine life around the Isles of Scilly. Their footage has revealed healthy populations of sharks, fish, and crawfishliving in seagrass beds, kelp forests, and reefs. This work is the first of its kind in the area and provides important information to help protect sensitive local habitats and species. The project also supports global efforts to monitor ocean health using new video technology.
You can read more about the project and see examples of the underwater videos here:
2025
![Underwater Scilly[21].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/353d81_aa11f1d81f0645cbaf093561b79e6ce5~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_426,h_493,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Underwater%20Scilly%5B21%5D.png)
Structure and Function of Kelp Forests around the UK Coastline (Newcastle University)
Over the past decade, our research group has been working to build a clearer picture of the structure and function of kelp forests around the UK coastline. These underwater forests are ecologically important habitats, supporting rich biodiversity and playing potential roles in important processes such as carbon sequestration, coastal protection, and wave attenuation. To better understand these roles, it’s essential that we first develop a detailed understanding of kelp forest structure, the biodiversity it supports, and the amount of carbon stored within their tissues across different regions of the UK.
Our work has previously taken us along the UK’s western coast, from Plymouth up to Orkney, and more recently into under-studied areas on the eastern coastline. With support from the British Phycological Society, we’re now extending this research to the UK’s latitudinal extremes — conducting kelp forest surveys in both the Isles of Scilly and the Shetland Islands.
19 May - 22 May 2025
Published Data & Research
Application of spatially robust stereo-BRUV sampling forquantifying fish assemblages in UK marine protected areas
Owen M. Exeter, Annette C. Broderick, Xavier A. Harrison, Francesco Garzon, Sarah Morcom, Ricky Pender, Trudy Russell, Ian Saunders, Paul J. Somerfield, Kate Sugar, Colin Trundle, Julie Webber, Tom Hooper, Kristian Metcalfe
September 2025
"Marine protected areas (MPAs) often lack adequate data on the status of marine assemblages to support evidence-based management. Stereo baited remote underwater video (BRUV) systems offer a powerful, low-cost tool for collecting ecological data, yet they remain underutilized in the North East Atlantic, especially compared to more invasive methods such as fisheries surveys. Here, we demonstrate how a spatially comprehensive stereo-BRUV survey can generate benchmark data to support MPA management at an ecosystem scale, using an ecologically distinct oceanic archipelago as a case study."
Making sense of community-led placed-based research
Jane Wills
July 2025
This perspective introduces a new experiment in community-led place-based research that is taking off in the United Kingdom. The article provides the background and rationale for funding nine independent Community Research Networks for up to £1 million each, for up to 5 years. This, in turn, raises questions about how human geographers might respond to this development and the implications for disciplinary thought and practice.
South-West Marine Ecosystems - The State of South-West Seas in 2024
Edited by Keith Hiscock MBE and Bob Earll
July 2025
A collation of observations made through the year from monitoring studies, harvested from social media, publications etc. and recorded by the editors of chapters.
Fine-scale mapping of ocean user groups to support species and habitat spatial management
Owen M. Exeter, Julian Branscombe, Annette C. Broderick, Tom Hooper, Jan Maclennan, Trudy Russell, Kate Sugar, Alice Trevail, Julie Webber, and Kristian Metcalfe
April 2025
In a collaborative study by the University of Exeter, Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority, and Natural England, vessel movements around the Isles of Scilly were mapped to understand how different types of boats interact with local marine life, habitats, and protected areas. Using satellite tracking data, the study found that recreational and passenger vessels frequently overlap with sensitive habitats like seagrass beds and seabird foraging areas. Some seagrass beds experienced up to four times more pressure from anchoring and mooring compared to surrounding waters. The findings highlight the need for more detailed monitoring to help protect marine life from growing vessel activity.
Quantifying the impact of the social environment on human life-histories in times of change: Insights from archival records for the Isles of Scilly, UK
Rosie Layfield
March 2025
"Research using historical archival records to explore how social and economic reforms introduced in the mid-19th century – including expanded access to education and training, infrastructure investment and changes to tenancy arrangements - shaped lifespans, family size, household wealth and occupations on the Isles of Scilly. As part of the project, historical enrolment records from Carn Thomas School (St Mary’s), rental terriers and rate books held by Kresen Kernow and the Isles of Scilly Museum were digitised and transcribed. Additional sources included parish burial records, memorial transcriptions and a database of families constructed from parish birth and marriage records."
Porths & Gigs of the Isles of Scilly
Cathy Parkes BA MCIfA
February 2025
"A ‘Monument Management Scheme’ project by Cornwall Archaeological Unit (CAU) for Historic England with grant funding also from FiPL (Farming in Protected Landscapes) and Cornwall Archaeological Society."
Using unmanned aerial vehicles to estimate body volume at scale for ecological monitoring
Thomas C. Stone, Katrina J. Davis
12 November 2024
This research provides a new method to estimate the 3D body size (body volume) of pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses) at the colony scale using drone imagery, developed using data collected in the Isles of Scilly. Because body volume is closely correlated with body mass, these data help us understand how populations change over time and how they respond to threats like climate change, which improves our ability to monitor them and make effective decisions about their conservation.
A synthesis of the current state of marine biodiversity knowledge in the Isles of Scilly, UK
Owen M. Exeter ,Magnus Axelsson,Julian Branscombe, Annette Broderick, Tom Hooper, Sarah Morcom, Trudy Russell,Paul J. Somerfield, Kate Sugar, Julie Webber and Kristian Metcalfe
October 2024
A new review by the University of Exeter, Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and Natural England brings together what we know about marine biodiversity around the Isles of Scilly. Researchers reviewed 150 sources and found growing interest in the area’s unique mix of warm and cold-water habitats. However, literature has historically focused on certain species and habitats, leaving key knowledge gaps. The study highlights the need for more research into the impacts of warming seas, vessel activity, and under-studied species like lobsters, forage fish and sharks.
The status of seabirds breeding in the Isles of Scilly
Vickie Heaney, Jay Cowen, Paul St Pierre & Hester Odgers
May 2024
This report presents the results of a comprehensive breeding survey of all the seabirds breeding
in Scilly in 2023. The survey was carried out by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and principally
funded by Natural England, as part of the mNCEA programme, with substantial match-funding
through the Isles of Scilly AONB Partnership, along with smaller sums provided directly by IOSWT
and the RSPB, including HPAI funding to protect members of staff while working.
Establishing a Community Research Network in the Isles of Scilly: The Community View
Jane Wills
August 2023
Research by undergraduate students at Exeter University who, led by a team of representatives from the Isles of Scilly Community Venture, the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and the Isles of Scilly Museum, conducted interviews with locals on Scilly about the major challenges of living here and the implementation of a Community Research Network.
Evaluating S(c)illy voices: The effects of salience, stereotypes, and co-present language variables on real-time reactions to regional speech
Chris Montgomery and Emma Moore
September 2018
This article explores the relationship between salience, stereotypes, and cooccurring language variables in the social perception of language.
The dialect of the Isles of Scilly: Exploring the relationship between language production and language perception in a southern insular variety
Emma Moore and Chris Montgomery
July 2018
This article explores the relationship between salience, stereotypes, and cooccurring language variables in the social perception of language.
Torrey Canyon: the wreck that changed our world
Rob Lambert
April 2017
Fifty years after oil-tanker Torrey Canyon hit reefs off Cornwall, Rob Lambert commemorates the disaster as a major turning point in environmental awareness. (BBC Wildlife)
Isles of the Dead? The setting and function of the Neolithic and Bronze age chambered cairns and cists of the Isles of Scilly
Katharine Sawyer
January 2013
A detailed overview of megalithic chambered cairns on the Isles of Scilly.
"This thesis examines the evidence about these structures, generally known as entrance graves, and the associated cist graves, as well as the human remains and artefacts found in them. The research seeks to understand how the entrance graves were used, their dating, their positioning in the islands and any links with megalithic burial chambers in other parts of the British Isles and Brittany."
Important Bird Areas: Breeding seabirds on the Isles of Scilly
Vickie Heaney, Leight Lock, Paul St Pierre and Andy Brown
July 2008
"The Isles of Scilly are long famous for attracting rare migrant birds, and much-visited in spring and autumn by those in search of them, but it is much less widely appreciated that the islands also support an outstanding and internationally important assemblage of breeding seabirds. We document the present status and distribution of seabirds on the islands, set populations in their regional, national and international contexts, and review recent and historical changes in numbers. In the light of some alarming population trends, we discuss the possible roles of persecution, disturbance, predation, habitat change, waste and fisheries management, climate change and pollution in bringing about these changes. Finally, we identify a range of actions that we believe will do much to improve the fortunes of the seabirds breeding in the archipelago."