Here Professor Kaufman talks about the importance of community-endorsed data compilations for accelerating discovery in paleoclimate science. He helped coordinate an international consortium that assembled “A global multiproxy database for temperature reconstructions of the Common Era”, which was published on 11 July in the journal Scientific Data. You can read it here. 

A respected colleague of mine once told me that compiling data was a task better left to bookkeepers. He’d rather focus on ‘science.’ Granted, that was before the term ‘informatics’ had appeared on the scene, and prior to the massive buildup of data we now face. But his sentiment still rings in the inevitable criticism of my grant applications in which I propose to assemble a database of existing data: rehashing other people’s old data is one rung down on the intellectual ladder. If one needs to borrow data from a previous study, one just contacts the public data repositories.

I contend, however, that there’s more scientific ingenuity to a well-crafted ‘data compilation’ and more coordination behind a ‘community endorsed’ data product than meets the eye.

My experience with the development of the Past Global Change’s (PAGES) 2k paleo-temperature dataset, which was just released through the journal, Scientific Data, is a case in point. PAGES aims to improve understanding of past climate variability; within this program, PAGES2k focuses on the past 2000 years—the Common Era (CE)—a period when climate was relatively similar to today and for which records based on ‘paleo’ records (evidence from natural archives that attest to climate change prior to the instrumental period) are relatively abundant. But to start, I first need to define a ‘paleo data compilation’ and to provide some background to the topic.

Motivations for a paleo data compilation

The first step to securing data resources for any scientific community is to establish a long-term, well-organized data repository. Fortunately for the paleoclimate community, several first-rate data repositories actively curate relevant data.

The theoretical next step is to mine the archives to extract the data needed to address a particular research question, such as the pattern of surface temperature change over the planet during past two millennia, the purview of the PAGES2k project.

When doing so, however, my data-hungry colleagues and I have discovered that the repositories contain an uneven and incomplete sampling of the huge variety and long legacy of observational datasets that have been interpreted in terms of past climate. We also found that key metadata and other data needed to assess uncertainties are missing in many cases, hampering the reuse of the data.

The high proportion of unavailable, inconsistently formatted or incompletely documented data motivates some paleoclimate researchers to assemble datasets that target a particular scientific question. They might start with data from existing archives, but then add missing records, fill in fundamental information, provide quality control and standardize the format and vocabulary so the contents can be easily ingested by computers.

These paleo data compilations accelerate scientific discovery on several fronts. For example, they often point to future scientific priorities through recognition of crucial gaps. They enable us to avoid over reliance on select records while proving an objective means to recognize aberrant or misinterpreted records through systematic comparison against the full body of other available recordsAnd, they lend themselves to quantitative analyses by multiple researchers who can apply a suite of different approaches to solve a research question, all using the exact same set of records.

Maximizing its scientific value

Such data compilations have great utility in paleoclimate science, but considering the enormous amount of work involved, how do we make the best use of limited resources to maximize the scientific outcome? Addressing this question has been one of the most rewarding scientific challenges of my career.

The iterative process involves identifying the most substantial scientific questions, then adapting them according to what can actually be answered based on the existing data, which isn’t known at the outset, and also fitting them to what is doable given the person power available to assemble the data, which is a major limitation. Additional questions, including those that are lurking beyond the scientific horizon, are brought into the mix, especially if they could be tackled through an incremental additional effort to expand the dataset.

The endeavor becomes more scientifically challenging in light of the large variety of information sources about past climate, including tree rings, coral, glacier ice, and marine and lake sediments, not to mention the complicated array of data that are used to establish the timelines that underlie the paleoclimate records. Organizing a disparate assortment of data into a uniform and unified database requires a wide-ranging appreciation of the variety of data and the questions that they might usefully address, now and into the future. It requires a coordinated community of collaborative specialists.

Promoting it as a community product

A bone fide ‘community endorsed’ data product, especially one that seeks to gather evidence about worldwide phenomenon, is based on an extended international effort. The process must be open, but not a free-for-all. Participants need avenues for genuine engagement and explicit credit for their contributions.

The PAGES2k paleo temperature database project was coordinated through the PAGES International Project Office in Switzerland. PAGES is a core project of Future Earth and is funded jointly through the US National Science Foundation and Swiss Academy of Sciences.

PAGES actively maintains a large directory of paleoclimate scientists, all of whom were invited to participate in the data compilation. This process gathered 98 volunteers from 22 countries to represent the paleoclimate community. Most of the authors contributed new data and many certified records as appropriate for inclusion in the database, including whether they met some basic quality criteria.

Some authors also annotated individual records according to their expert judgment and, in some cases, included cautionary notes about alternative or evolving interpretations. Their expertise and their identity will travel along with the data, in hopes that the data will be used wisely. In my view, the inclusion of expert’s comments and other documentation needed for intelligent reuse of paleo data is the most important development in the PAGES2k database.

To incorporate these and other innovative features, the PAGES2k database is contained in the highly flexible Linked Paleo Data (LiPD) format, which was developed along with the database itself. LiPD can accommodate the unlimited variety of data types used by paleoclimate scientists, including chronological data. A systematic version scheme has been established to track revisions as new data are added or existing records are modified. The data have also been loaded onto the LinkedEarth data-management platform, which enables transparent discussions of the evolving interpretation and versioning of individual records, and is supported by the first paleoclimate ontology.

It’s difficult to foresee how data-handling practices will evolve in the rapidly changing, cyber-based, data-management landscape. Yet one thing is for certain: it will be in the direction of taking better care and making better use of our scientific data assets, regardless of whether it’s considered tedious bookkeeping or challenging science.

Earlier in 2016 Scientific Reports celebrated its fifth anniversary. You can view our interactive infographic and blogs marking this occasion here.

As this fifth anniversary year draws to a close, we’ve got back in touch with authors from two popular papers from recent years.

Now that some time has passed, we wanted to know about their experience publishing with the journal, what impact they felt their research has had and if there’s been any surprises along the way.
Last week we posted an interview with Alex Greenwood, author of the study “Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis in the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) Knut”.

In this blog, we’ve spoken another Scientific Reports author: Paul Jepson. In January 2016, Dr Jepson and his colleagues published the study “PCB pollution continues to impact populations of orcas and other dolphins in European waters” in Scientific Reports.

Here’s what he had to say about the research.

Could you give a brief overview of your study?

The few remaining killer whale populations in European waters have very low, or zero rates of reproduction, and are close to extinction in industrialised parts of Europe. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are chemical pollutants which were banned in the EU in the mid-1980s, but after an initial drop in concentrations following the ban, they have now stabilized across Europe in humans, fish and wildlife.

The goal of the study was to assess the exposure to — and likely effects of — specific chemical pollutants including PCBs in European whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans). We found that PCBs were at excessively high concentrations in the blubber of several marine apex predator species across Europe, including killer whales and bottlenose dolphins, and were associated with long-term and on-going population declines.

Our results suggest that much more work is needed to mitigate PCB contamination of the marine environment, and to comply with the Stockholm Convention that requires the reduction and eventual elimination of large sources of PCBs and other persistent organic pollutants.

What impact would you say your paper has had?

The paper was only recently published but it has been widely reported in newspapers and by other media, globally. The PCB issue — as based on our paper — also featured on the BBC current affairs programme Newsnight.

A public meeting about PCBs in killer whales and dolphins in Europe was held at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in March, where I spoke along with two other speakers. The meeting had the second largest audience for a ZSL public meeting ever and, after a lively Q&A session, Professor Ian Boyd, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, closed the event.

This new cetacean PCB data has quickly fed into various international scientific and policy forums, including the Working Group for Marine Mammal Ecology (WGMME) of the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). The recent ICES WGMME report (2016) concludes that PCBs pose the greatest threat to bottlenose dolphins and killer whales throughout the Northeast Atlantic region. The ICES also provide rigorous scientific advice to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) — including EU compliance with the Stockholm Convention.

Were any of your findings unexpected?

The main finding that very high PCB concentrations still persist in Europe — over three decades after the EU ban on PCB use / manufacture — has surprised a lot of people, including scientists who thought the ban would result in a gradual decline in PCBs in all biota. In fact, Europe has the highest PCB exposures in the marine environment globally. The very low reproductive rates in some of the highly PCB-contaminated resident/coastal bottlenose dolphins and killer whales are highly consistent with known PCB effects on reproduction. This is a very depressing finding, because if an apex predator population effectively stops reproducing, it will eventually disappear.

Another surprise was the very high PCB exposures in bottlenose dolphins and killer whales around the Iberian Peninsula. We have known that the Mediterranean Sea has been a pollution hotspot for many years, but the very high PCBs levels in bottlenose dolphins and killer whales on the Atlantic side of the peninsula also rather surprised us. Clearly action is urgently needed to dispose of large stocks of PCB-contaminated materials, especially in France and Spain.

Was there a particular reason you chose to publish in Scientific Reports?

The journal is highly respected and open access.  It also takes longer papers and so we were able to include more results and a longer discussion. After submission, the Scientific Reports review process was very rigorous but fair. The referee’s comments improved the final manuscript, including the statistical treatment of the data. Shortly before publication, the journal Press Office held an international telephone conference for science journalists to attend — this undoubtedly helped the paper to obtain the excellent and high-quality media coverage that followed publication.

Dr Paul Jepson is a Reader at the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and is the main grant holder for the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) funded by the UK Government. He is a European Veterinary Specialist in Wildlife Population Health and has worked on pathological and other investigations into stranded marine mammals since 1993 and stranded marine turtles and basking sharks at ZSL since 2002.

{credit}Berlin Zoological Garden{/credit}

Earlier in 2016 Scientific Reports celebrated its fifth anniversary. You can view our interactive infographic and blogs marking this occasion here.

As this fifth anniversary year draws to a close, we’ve got back in touch with authors from two popular papers from recent years.

Now that some time has passed, we wanted to know about their experience publishing with the journal, what impact they felt their research has had and what’s surprised them.

First up, here is an interview with Alex Greenwood, an author of the study in Scientific Reports that suggested Knut, the famous hand-reared polar bear from the Berlin Zoological Gardens, suffered from anti-NMDA receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis. The study “Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis in the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) Knut” is available here.

We spoke to Professor Greenwood about the research.

Could you give a brief overview of your paper in Scientific Reports?

Our study in Scientific Reports was the culmination of our efforts to determine what caused the death of Knut, the world famous polar bear. A necropsy performed at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) determined that Knut had inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) and suggested the cause was an infectious agent. However, intensive, cutting-edge pathogen diagnostics immediately after necropsy did not identify any causal pathogen. The negative results required completely new thinking and approaches; among the candidates was an autoimmune disease.

Similar to Knut’s case, many human medical cases went undiagnosed for decades because a causative pathogen could not be linked to the symptoms of encephalitis. In 2007 it was revealed that many of these patients suffered from an autoimmune disease (where the patient’s antibodies attack their own brain as foreign material). The most common among these diseases is anti-NMDA disease — where the patient’s antibodies attack the N-methyl-D aspartate receptor in the brain, leading to severe inflammation. The team of Dr. Harald Prüß at Charité/German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Berlin, who are experts on these diseases, reasoned that this could potentially explain Knut’s case. After extensive testing, the teams at the IZW and Charité determined that this in fact is what explained Knut’s encephalitis.

What sort of impact have your findings had?

Anti-NMDA disease is now more broadly recognized among the public because of its association with Knut. This will hopefully lead to improvements in diagnosis of this and related diseases, particularly because in humans the presentation of the disease can be quite variable.  Zoo and wildlife veterinarians have realized that not all diseases, even those where a pathogen is suspected, will necessarily be the result of infectious diseases and that management practices may have to take this into consideration. For example, the counterintuitive management strategy in such an encephalitis case would be to suppress the immune system — not a therapeutic intervention one would necessarily consider in the case of a pathogen caused disease. At the very least, it is quite likely that new cases in more species will be identified, expanding this disease’s occurrence to mammals in general. Others have already seen rarer neuronal receptor diseases in domestic cats. These diseases are unlikely to be restricted to cats and polar bears.

Was there anything surprising about this research?

Upon taking on Knut’s case, the flood of expert opinions, all supporting an infectious pathogen as the cause of Knut’s symptoms, was deafening. It was interesting to see how this guided so many of the contributions from collaborators and spectators. In many ways this narrowed the number of avenues initially investigated. We tried to keep an open mind but some of the ideas we had — including an aberrant immune reaction — were beyond what we thought is amenable to study in wildlife diseases, given that so much less is known about wildlife biology than human or laboratory animal biology.  Many of the techniques we considered would have likely yielded data difficult to interpret, without the fundamental knowledge of, for example, which proteins are expressed where in a polar bear.

Their sharp eyes and the constructive collaboration with Dr. Harald Prüß and his team made it possible to consider the improbable — and demonstrate that the improbable was in fact the answer. The ability to transfer the techniques from human medicine to a polar bear case was both unusual and extremely fortunate.

Was there a particular reason you chose to publish in Scientific Reports?

The study performed, in essence, represents a case report. Scientific Reports recognized that the findings in this case go well beyond Knut as an individual and allowed it to be peer reviewed. The identification of this disorder, which before Knut was only recognized as a human disease, must now be considered a disease of mammals with consequences for diagnosis and management in veterinary medicine in particular. Because Scientific Reports is open access this means anyone who is confronted with a similar case and suspects an autoimmune disease can refer to our study and our methods with no barriers to access. This was an important element in our consideration of where to submit the manuscript.

Professor Alex D. Greenwood is the Head of the Department of Wildlife Diseases at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and Professor of Wildlife Diseases in the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Freie Universität Berlin, both institutions in Berlin, Germany. His work has focused on evolutionary virology, primarily on retroviruses and more recently herpes viruses in wildlife. He integrates ancient DNA, evolutionary and ecological analyses in most of his work and also has an interest in high throughput diagnostic methods. His work with Knut the polar bear intersected with the latter interest.

On Friday (23 December) we will post a second guest blog from another Scientific Reports author. 

Professor Jo Dunkley{credit}Wadham College{/credit}

“Very often the famous names we know and read about in science are not those of women,” says Professor Jo Dunkley. “To get more young girls studying the subject, we must change cultural perceptions and have more visible female role models.”

As we sit discussing the women who have inspired Dunkley, a professor of physics and astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, to study the universe, the mood is rather sombre. On a morning when the first female frontrunner for US presidency has missed out at the final hurdle, and the impacts of that decision on science, are yet unknown, there is a strong sense of disbelief.

“I was really hoping to see the first female president and that in itself is a disappointment,” she says. “I don’t see it as a positive turn of events in terms of funding for science, although I hope there’ll be enough influence to keep ongoing projects running.”

Dunkley admits to being shocked at the result. Having moved from the UK, just shortly after Brexit, she was already starting to see the effects of political uncertainty on European grants. “Uncertainty is not we need right now in science,” she says.

However, the astrophysicist has plenty occupying her mind other than politics. This week, she will receive the Royal Society’s Rosalind Franklin Award and present a public lecture in London. Named after the great English chemist and crystallographer, the award recognises both her research in the cosmic microwave background, and her work encouraging more young women to study physics.

“I see a really important part of my work is not just doing the research I love, but also encouraging others to pursue a career in science,” she says. Dunkley became aware of Franklin’s story when she was an undergraduate at Cambridge University. Sadly, Franklin died at just 37 years old, the age Dunkley has recently turned. “She’s such a wonderful role model, who achieved so much in a very short life.”

Our window on the universe

Dunkley’s own research has gained her much attention. As a research fellow at Princeton, she worked on NASA’s WMAP satellite, before analysing data on the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite. Interrogating rich and complex data, her research group made large strides in furthering our understanding of the universe’s origins.

Studying the evolution of the universe is, however, becoming easier as technology rapidly develops. “Our telescopes have become so sophisticated in recent decades, we are now able to see out into the far reaches of the universe,” Dunkley says. “We’ve been able to put together a fairly successful cosmological model that explains how we got here over the 14 billion year history of the universe.”

A large focus of Dunkley’s work involves turning recorded maps of the most distant light we can see—an image of the universe when it was born—into properties such as age, weight, and the rate of expansion.

“We measure the faint light by capturing a little snapshot of what the universe looked like when it was only 400,000 years old,” she explains. Her team then compare the experimental data to millions of theoretical universes, until they find one which matches. “We can now see the very beginnings of tiny cosmic structures that over billions of years develop to become the first stars and galaxies. It’s then our job to find out what these structures look like, and how they evolved,” she says.

After analysing more than 15 months’ data from Planck, Dunkley and her colleagues created the most detailed map ever made of the oldest light to shine through the universe. The results confirmed many of the theories cosmologists draw on to explain the evolution of the universe. “We think during the first trillionth of a second of the Big Bang, the universe expanded extremely fast, laying down the seeds for the cosmic structure we see today,” she says.

A view of the cosmic microwave background collected by the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite.{credit}European Space Agency, Planck Institute{/credit}

By Dunkley’s own admission, there are still many unanswered questions. Her current research at the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile, and a new five-year project at the same site in the Atacama Desert called the Simons Observatory, hope to make the next big steps forward in measuring cosmic microwave background.

“We keep looking for new physics, complexities and extra particles that could have existed when the universe was very young,” notes Dunkley. “Yet, the more data we collect, the simpler the universe’s behaviour looks, which is exciting, but we still have all these unanswered questions.”

After the breakthrough LIGO discovery earlier this year, which detected gravitational waves, Dunkley believes there’s much optimism in now finding a signal from the big bang. She also hopes through another development, gravitational lensing, scientists will soon be able to understand and map out where all the dark matter is in our universe.

Role models

Her optimism and love for physics is affable and evident in her responses. Yet, there is one area she believes cultural changes are needed: role models. This is a theme she will address in her lecture and one that will feature in her first popular science book out late next year, Our Universe: An Astronomer’s Guide.

“There really aren’t enough women role models in physics, and many of the great female astronomers are not often that well known, or talked about in education,” says Dunkley. “I think it is so important. The ability to see someone you can imagine being, is everything, and gives you the confidence to try things out and aim for something. And often that will mean having someone, as a woman, showing a woman can do it.”

Galaxies in our universe{credit}NASA, Hubble{/credit}

As she enthuses through the great achievements of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, “an incredible woman” who made it possible for Edward Hubble to determine that the universe is expanding; Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin who figured out how stars were formed; and Vera Rubin whose work led to the theory of dark matter, it’s easy to forget Dunkley has become a star in her own right.

Dunkley may feature on shows such as BBC’s Science Club and Stargazing Live, yet she believes the industry must do better. “The media must do more to get visible female role models on television to change perceptions,” she says. “I’d love to get to the stage where young people knew it was normal to be a female scientist, and expect to be able to have a family too, whether it be in physics or engineering.”

Time for change

On academia, Dunkley is keen to express some sanguinity. “We’re definitely seeing more women now at senior level, which makes a huge difference, and has a direct influence on female students,” she says.

At Princeton, she notes there are growing numbers in female students pursuing astrophysics. It was a similar trend at Oxford University, where until this summer, Dunkley taught for more than eight years.  However, it is the drop-out rate at colleges that worries her.

“In the UK, for example, only 20 percent of physics students aged 16-18 are girls, and this figure continues through to degree, PhD, and researcher level,” she explains. It is a target she’d like to see change. “Consciously or unconsciously, there is often still a common assumption that science, particularly physics, is more for boys than girls. To effect change, we need to influence both teachers and parents.”

Through her book release, she is a planning a series of workshops, talks and videos for students, as well as a public lecture tour of the UK. She hopes to raise awareness of women’s contribution to astronomy, as well as break down the idea that the universe is too difficult to understand.

“I want to promote the many remarkable women who have been central to our biggest discoveries in space,” she says. “We have an incredible group of women currently working in the field, but to answer our world’s most pressing questions and challenges, we need more.”

Professor Jo Dunkley’s Rosalind Franklin award lecture will be streamed live on Thursday, 6.30pm GMT / 1.30pm EST.

Carla Daniela Robles Espinoza {credit}Mamun Rashid{/credit}

Melanoma patients with genetic variants in the ‘red hair gene’, MC1R, have more mutations in their cancers compared to patients without such variants, found a study published in Nature Communications last week. Carla Daniela Robles Espinoza, one of the authors on the paper, takes us through the findings.

What were your main findings?

In this study, we wanted to investigate whether having common genetic variants in the red hair gene (called MC1R) can influence the number of mutations found in melanoma tumours. It has long been known that redheads are more prone to developing melanoma.

Melanoma patients with genetic variants in the ‘red hair gene’, MC1R, have more mutations in their cancers. {credit}Getty Images{/credit}

This is thought to be because they burn more easily in the sun, as exposure to UV light is one of the main risk factors for developing this cancer. However, there seems to be more to the story of how MC1R genetic variants increase the risk of developing melanoma. For example, previous studies have shown that, in mice, there is a sunlight-independent contribution to melanoma risk via the synthesis pathway of the red pigment¹, and that there is an association between MC1R and melanoma risk which occurs independently of sun exposure in humans².

Here, we analysed the melanoma tumours from more than 400 patients and observed an increase in the number of mutations in patients carrying variants in MC1R. This effect was observed also in individuals that are not necessarily red-headed (those with only one variant copy of the MC1R gene as opposed to two), which means that these people might also be highly susceptible to the mutagenic effects of UV light. However, we observed this increase in all types of tumour mutations, not only the ones associated to UV damage.

We could also quantify this contribution, noting that the expected number of sun-related mutations associated with an MC1R variant is comparable to the number gained in about 21 additional years of age. Therefore, our study provides evidence of the existence of additional mutagenic processes in melanoma patients with MC1R variants, which make up about 26-40% of the patient population³.

How does this work link melanoma and the gene MC1R?

Many studies had noted that people carrying MC1R variants are more susceptible to developing melanoma, but only recently we have started to fully understand the reasons. We provide evidence that there may be additional mechanisms, beyond the effects of UV alone, that contribute to elevating the risk of melanoma in patients with MC1R genetic variants. MC1R has important roles in DNA repair and cell survival; thus, processes that increase the risks of developing cancer might include the generation of DNA-damaging stress when making up the red pigment or a decreased ability to repair DNA in carriers of MC1R variants.

In this study we also report that primary melanocytes (the cells where melanoma originates) with incomplete MC1R function show defects in survival and DNA repair, suggesting this might be one of the mechanisms through which MC1R function impacts melanoma risk.

The distribution of mutation counts in melanoma tumours grouped by the presence of MC1R variants.{credit}Carla Daniela Robles Espinoza et al., Nature Communications{/credit}

What is the significance of this research for melanoma patients and for the general population?

The conclusion of our study is important because it has relevance for people who are MC1R carriers (for example, about 21% of the British and Irish population, 10% of the French population and 16% of the population in the United States⁴). This means that the majority of these people, who will not have red hair, are still more susceptible to the effects of melanoma mutagens than people with no MC1R variants, with UV light the most established environmental risk factor.

The results suggest that MC1R carriers should take care in the sun following established guidelines (for example: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/sun-uv-and-cancer/ways-to-enjoy-the-sun-safely).

Can you outline any future research steps?

Future research will aim to understand the different processes through which MC1R can increase the risk of developing melanoma, and also to look for other genetic contributors to skin cancer predisposition. This will hopefully help us to identify the people who are at increased melanoma risk and allow us to better inform patient management and public health campaigns.

References:

1. Mitra D et al. An ultraviolet-radiation-independent pathway to melanoma carcinogenesis in the red hair/fair skin background. Nature. 2012 Nov 15;491(7424):449-53. doi: 10.1038/nature11624. Epub 2012 Oct 31.
2. Wendt J et al. Human Determinants and the Role of Melanocortin-1 Receptor Variants in Melanoma Risk Independent of UV Radiation Exposure. JAMA Dermatol. 2016 Apr 6. doi: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2016.0050. [Epub ahead of print]
3. Williams, P. F., Olsen, C. M., Hayward, N. K. & Whiteman, D. C. Melanocortin 1 receptor and risk of cutaneous melanoma: a meta-analysis and estimates of population burden. Int. J. Cancer 129, 1730–1740 (2011).
4. Gerstenblith MR et al. Comprehensive evaluation of allele frequency differences of MC1R variants across populations. Hum Mutat 2007 May;28(5):495-505. doi:10.1002/humu.20476

Guest post by Naomi Marks, project communications manager at the Institute of Development Studies. She managed the communications for the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium and now works with two other multidisciplinary zoonoses-related projects, the Myanmar Pig Partnership, and Livestock, Livelihoods and Health.

With the end of a large research project, there can be a certain sense of bathos. All that ambition at the beginning culminating in … what? Published papers in scientific journals, conference presentations on Slideshare, a website that you hope will continue to be updated and, well, the move on to the next project.

None of this is to put down traditional academic outputs, only to acknowledge the desire of most scientists to see science really make its mark.

This is particularly true when it comes to research in developing countries where there is not just a real pressure from the funders, but also a strong desire from the researchers to contribute to real change in the world—or “impact“, as we all now know it.

And so it is with real pleasure that at the end of the large research project that I’ve been working with that I can report that we seem to have avoided that plummeting feeling.

The Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium focused on diseases that pass from animals to people—those such as Ebola, Zika and avian flu that have led to so many headlines in recent years. It sought to explore the links between these diseases (known as zoonoses), ecosystems and poverty, and, in particular, how wider global patterns such as climate and land-use change affect how diseases emerge and spread.

A multidisciplinary undertaking, the project included environmental, biological, mathematical, social, political, and animal and human health researchers from 21 partners across three continents and eight countries—working not just alongside each other but also integrating their findings in new and exciting ways.

As if this wasn’t enough of an endeavour in its own right, other challenges came up over the four years of the project—some welcome (our lead researcher became Director of the Institute of Development Studies, adding to her workload considerably); some expected—or at least expectant (our pivotal research manager went on maternity leave); and one truly unexpected and ghastly: our Sierra Leone team, researching Lassa fever, had to stop work when the Ebola epidemic of 2014/15 resulted in movement restrictions in that country, and laboratory and clinical facilities were turned over to crisis Ebola work.

Despite all this, the project can claim to have contributed to real notches on the impact post.

Particularly notable is the creation of new, detailed risk maps for Rift Valley fever (RVF). These have already been put to use, forming an essential element of the Kenyan government disease monitoring and containment strategy when an epidemic threatened late last year. In the past, RVF epidemics have led to the deaths of millions of animals and hundreds of people with huge poverty impacts for pastoralists.

Also of note has been the identification of the patches of land to which tsetse flies are increasingly being confined in the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe. Tsetse are the insect vector of the trypanosomiasis parasite which causes disease in animals (with major knock-on effects on the farmers who are financially dependent on their livestock), and sleeping sickness in people (fatal when not properly treated). This has major implications for Zimbabwe’s tsetse control measures which have, in the past, targeted huge swathes of landscape. The research shows more targeted efforts will not only be more effective but also cheaper—and these findings are now being fed into the policy process.

Tseste sampling in Zimbabwe (credit: Prof. Vupenyu Dzingirai)

Even in Sierra Leone where much of our work was necessarily curtailed, the anthropological research carried out pre-Ebola epidemic into the socio-cultural beliefs and practices surrounding infectious diseases found unexpected application during the epidemic. Much of it fed into an online platform delivering real-time evidence-based advice to organisations such as the World Health Organization, Department for International Development (DFID) and the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

To note all this is wonderful—and please do look at our other success stories—but some provisos are important. Impact is non-linear, takes time and can be hard to measure; some of our most compelling impacts (including those above) weren’t necessarily those we anticipated, while others—such as our original hope to facilitate more joined-up “One Health” interventions—require ongoing stakeholder engagement that will inevitably take time to filter through.

Also—and importantly—impact doesn’t happen on its own. The Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium, which was supported by the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation programme, had impact at its heart. It was stressed throughout the research process from conception workshop to final symposium.

So much science, both of the natural and social variety, is intrinsically fascinating. To make it worth celebrating too is a wonderful thing.

The impact stories from the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium can be viewed at: bit.ly/One_Health_stories

He speaks to Alex Jackson about his lifelong passion for science.

“I read chemistry books like other people read detective stories,” says affable, wide-eyed 86-year-old Peter Gallant. Gallant’s story is one of remarkable fortitude that in recent years has seen him awarded an MBE.

“I read chemistry books like other people read detective stories,” says Peter Gallant.
Photograph: Stephen Lake/Royal Society of Chemistry)

Early life

Growing up in the early 1930s in Edgware, London, Gallant’s early childhood was much like many of his schoolmates. Both his parents worked in the admiralty, his dad supplying crews for ships, and his mum, a secretary. An only child, he recalls how after class he would devour books, play with train sets, and listen avidly to his parents’ records. Yet one day at the age of nine, his life would dramatically change. Taken ill in the summer of 1938, Gallant was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a nasty bone disease which infects and inflames the bone or bone marrow.

“It was a killer. Back then, the death rate was about 50%. There were no antibiotics; the only treatment was major orthopaedic surgery,” says Gallant, describing how the infection spread rapidly through his body. He had operations on the femur and tibia of his right leg, his pelvis and arms, leaving his right hip at about 30 degrees and right leg 6cm shorter than his left. “I went into hospital in June 1938 and didn’t come out until September 1942 — more than four years later. At the start I was so ill, there was no question of any education.”

“I went into hospital in June 1938 and didn’t come out until September 1942 — more than four years later. At the start I was so ill, there was no question of any education.”

Evacuated from Guy’s Hospital during the Munich crisis for fears of German air raids, he was taken to Treloar, a children’s hospital in Alton, Hampshire. He vividly recalls the five hospital ward blocks, each arranged in an arc on a hillside, facing the train tracks. His few hospital perks included watching the trains – a “huge hobby” – a daily half pint of stout “to build me up”, and being wheeled out onto the balcony in the summer of 1941 to see an eclipse.

“For four years I was strapped to two pieces of wood which went from my armpits to my feet and was fixed to the bottom of the bed,” recalls Gallant. “We would overhear dogfights on the street and see the flames rise on the southern horizon when Southampton and Portsmouth were being blitzed.”

Encouraged by his mother to read the daily News Chronicle paper while confined to his bed, Gallant would keep his mind active reading about the war and international affairs. A school teacher would also visit twice a day for an hour and “stop us forgetting what we already knew.”

Wartime education

After such a long spell in hospital, Gallant returned to education. “My mother wheeled me up to the headmaster of the Haberdashers’ school in Hampstead and said, ‘When can he start?’ The headmaster wasn’t sure and put me in prep school for the Christmas term. I was this great lout of 13, with pupils four years younger.” His first memory of a science laboratory really stuck with him. Having never previously studied science, he managed to finish second in his class in chemistry and third in physics.

“I was hooked from the start. The practical work was exciting and seeing a gas given off or colour changes from experiments made me want to read more and pick up theories and the underlying science,” says Gallant. He remembers how in between classes he would be sent to the roof to sound the school alarm bells against threats of incoming doodle bugs, German V-1 flying bombs. Just months before he started, a bomb had badly damaged several classrooms across from the science block.

“We each took our turn at ‘doodlebug’ duty during the flying bomb attacks,” he says. “We watched them come over, and if any reasonably near ones cut their engine, we pressed the alarm bell. Students below were supposed to get under their desks for cover.”

Gallant: “We each took our turn at ‘doodlebug’ duty during the flying bomb attacks.”
Photograph: Stephen Lake/Royal Society of Chemistry

After graduating from Imperial College with a degree in chemistry, he attempted a PhD in X-ray crystallography, only for the research project to be scrapped halfway through. He later joined the phosphorus chemicals firm Albright and Wilson, based in Birmingham in 1953, to work on the synthesis of polymers of Phosphonitrilic chloride.

“I remember feeling intellectually out of touch with PhD colleagues straight of Oxford and Cambridge. I was just a grubby lad from London,” Gallant chortles. He quickly found the polymers had unpleasant health effects, but wanted to stay in the city, after making good friends and joining a church choir.

Scientific endeavour

Gallant found a role at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Metals division in the corrosion laboratory. Becoming something of an amateur metallurgist, his time was spent specialising in investigating and advising on problems caused by the corrosion of copper and aluminium and their alloys in service. However, it wasn’t until the late 50s that he became involved with nuclear power, taking on the first naval reactor for what was the first ever prospective nuclear submarine.

ICI Metals were contracted to produce zirconium alloys and hafnium for use in water and gas-cooled nuclear reactors, with Gallant testing their corrosion resistance to simulated reactor conditions. The first batches intended for naval submarines were rejected causing great concern to the Rear Admiral Submarines and a major investigation both in the US and UK.

Gallant’s opinions faced intense scrutiny from the Navy, arguing his case to an audience filled with trepidation. “I faced the submarine captain, naval officers, sales people, and industry representatives all wanting to build a reactor. One officer turned to me and said, ‘Young man you are going to emasculate the navy if we can’t send our submarine to sea.’ I could only reply with apologies and a refusal to send something into the sea with defect materials. It proved quite the stand-off.”

He believes that time taught him three great lessons around the “fundamental importance” of chemistry to modern technology, the need for graduate staff to learn the basics of other disciplines, and the importance of well-equipped, multidisciplinary laboratories to support new technology.

As well as later working on the development of solid propellant rocket motors for guided missiles, he also volunteered to teach a Friday evening class on corrosion at Aston University. “The previous teacher had been moved to the other side of the country just before the new term and the Fellowship of the Institute of Metals were in need of a replacement. I was newly married, skint, and had previously given lectures on corrosion, so thought why not? There were around 20 pupils each year and it took dedication to come, particularly on a Friday evening,” says Gallant.

“I loved the variety of the job, and getting involved with so many different industries. Seeing chemical and engineering technology being used, by and large, for human benefit was very stimulating, as was being able to offer solutions to serious problems,” he adds.

Community influence

Leaving the technical world was quite the learning curve. At 55, Gallant joined Leeds City Council voluntary services to advise inner-city groups on management, something completely foreign to his usual laboratory surroundings.

“The change was a major shock. I was chaotically working in a bitterly cold little glass box about eight foot square with a tatty old table piled with dirty, wet paper restored from a fire,” he says. He used his skills gained in applied chemistry, such as analysis, observation and concise writing, to work with many different groups. “I thought nobody wanted a chap whose knowledge is all about rockets or nuclear power, but I was wrong. And I loved it.”

“I thought nobody wanted a chap whose knowledge is all about rockets or nuclear power, but I was wrong. And I loved it.”

Gallant quickly became a key advocate for charities and an influential local figure. He is passionate about mental health awareness and helped advise the Leeds Mind branch, as well as housing associations, homelessness charities, and prison outreach. His most notable achievement was helping to set up and initially run Foundation Housing (formerly Timble Housing), offering accommodation and support to ex-offenders.

“A probation officer came into my office one day and said he’d run a hostel for people coming out of prison for over a year but couldn’t make head nor tail of the figures. If he’d made any money, he said he’d stay open, if he hadn’t, they’d finish there and then,” recounts Gallant, who has since helped the charity spread across the north of England. “Thankfully they’d made £1,500 and the hostel owner’s face lit up. They asked me to help set it up as a charity and its turnover has gone from nothing to nearly £20m today.”

Gallant would spend most days looking at budgeting, writing constitutions and offering personnel advice, as well as helping with general administration tasks. There were other times he would go out of his way to help community groups. “I’d often go into Chapel Town in Leeds, sit with families, and discuss domestic issues. Many of the families and groups were based in an area which had an unfortunate reputation at the time. I honestly never had any trouble. It was a rewarding job.”

The London-born scientist, who now lives in Wetherby, North Yorkshire, believes the biggest change in society’s attitude to disability is the willingness to discuss how people’s reasonable needs can be met. He received an MBE for his services to the voluntary sector in the January 2005 Honours list.

“We should promote the everyday benefits chemistry brings to society and the ability of good, but not exceptional, individuals to contribute a worthwhile activity,” concludes Gallant. “We are not all Nobel Prize winners, and I sometimes think we overawe outsiders and the young by the publicity given to brilliant research, giving them the impression that such success is the norm. Chemistry is a wonderful training ground for a fascinating lifetime in all sorts of spheres.”

“We should promote the everyday benefits chemistry brings to society and the ability of good, but not exceptional, individuals to contribute a worthwhile activity.”
Photograph: Stephen Lake/Royal Society of Chemistry

Peter Gallant is one of the 175 faces of chemistry on show at a free public exhibition at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, open weekdays (10-4) until 4 March.

Vanessa Smith is a patient activist working to raise awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the importance of the patient voice within the medical and research community. Vanessa has severe COPD and recently wrote a patient perspective which was published in npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine, an online-only, open access journal devoted to the management of respiratory diseases in primary care. She writes about living with COPD on her blog, COPD in Focus, and can be found on Twitter @vancopd.

Tell us about your experience with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

I was diagnosed with severe COPD during the winter of 2008/2009. Although I’d had chest infections over the last ten years, I’d never heard of COPD, so the diagnosis came as a real shock: “It’s caused by your smoking. There’s no cure and you’ll get worse. You may have only another two years.”

It was a bleak time. I was 53, recently widowed, and had a 13-year-old daughter who was still in school. I had no idea what the future would hold and was terrified of leaving her an orphan. The burning thought in my head was that whatever happens, I have to stay around long enough to see my daughter reach adulthood and finish university with a good starting point in life.

That was what really drove me online to find out anything and everything I could about COPD. The NICE guidelines were a starting point in telling me what I needed—the flu jab, pneumonia jab and pulmonary rehabilitation to learn how to breathe with my condition—but there wasn’t much else. I used to stay up until four in the morning, looking for scientific research that could offer me clues on how to cope with the disease. I read everything I could get my hands on and made a point of putting into practice what I found—if I read about the most effective exercises to prevent muscle wasting, I started doing those every day.

“I used to stay up until four in the morning, looking for scientific research that could offer me clues on how to cope with the disease.”

This was seven or eight years ago when research was far less open access than it is now. Sometimes I found older papers to download, but the most up-to-date research was always behind a paywall. It wasn’t just the cost of paying for articles that was the trouble—many journals required subscription, which I’d do, but some would ask which hospital I worked for and I wouldn’t be able to access those papers as a result.

Having access to the most up-to-date scientific research is very important to me, because it was through reading the latest research that I discovered my prognosis—two to five years’ life expectancy—was based on old information. By taking measures such as the flu shot and exercising regularly, people are living 10, 20, even 30 years these days. The science showed me ways to cope with my disease that I didn’t otherwise know about.

You recently wrote a patient perspective in npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine on the practicalities of living with oxygen as a COPD patient. What prompted you to write this?

I completed the European Lung Foundation’s European Patient Ambassador Programme, which taught me how to represent people living with my condition when interacting with healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers and journalists. The ELF passed on a request from one of the editors who was looking for someone willing to write on what it’s actually like to live with oxygen. Writing the patient perspective wasn’t any harder than other things I’ve done, like an event summary or a blog post—the hardest part was really keeping it so simple and short!

Why do you think the patient perspective is important?

The patient perspective is an opportunity for healthcare professionals to get feedback on things they don’t always hear. A GP could prescribe the best inhaler for you, but not know how you live with it and if you’re complying with it. If you’re not complying with it, is it because you have a swallowing or breathing issue? Do you have trouble handling the inhaler because you have rheumatoid arthritis in your hands, but don’t like to say?

By prioritising patients in research, doctors will know better what matters most to the people they are treating. In the arena of lung cancer, breast cancer and heart disease, there are some fantastic patient organisations which give voice on behalf of their patients, but for disorders like COPD which don’t have a specific organisation in the UK, patient perspectives offer a space for us to speak up.

What do you want COPD researchers to keep in mind when researching and publishing?

Be as generous and as open as possible with your work—the more you share information with your peers, patients and fellow healthcare professionals, the sooner we’ll be able to move forward in treating and curing COPD, which is the most underfunded disorder based on disease burden.

Clinical trials need to better reflect the real COPD population. Too often, trials focus on men with moderate COPD and no comorbidities. Very few patients are as lucky as I am and have only COPD—many will also have heart disease, diabetes, or lung cancer. We need more representative patient populations in the research: male and female, those with severe COPD or not, and a range of comorbidities.

What can publishers do to support and engage patients?

Make more research open access so that more people can benefit from the findings, from individual patients like me, to patient organisations that don’t have a budget for journals subscription. Developing countries like India have high levels of COPD so open access also helps doctors and patient organisations working there who otherwise wouldn’t be able to read the research.

Publishers should raise awareness of patient perspectives; most patients probably don’t know these even exist. It would also be good to have more diversity of voices. The patient perspectives I’ve seen in science journals are often written by well-educated, working professionals, but patients often get diseases like COPD in later life when they’re no longer working. They may not have advanced degrees, but they do have real knowledge about living with their disease. We need to see patient perspectives as opportunities for both patients and researchers to learn from each other.

Do you have any tips for other patients on writing patient perspectives?

1. Only write about what you know about.
2. If you have a brief, stick to it. It will keep you focused and make the article so much easier to write.
3. Don’t go over the suggested word count.
4. Be confident in your ability. Remember you’re writing as a patient from the patient perspective. This gives valuable insight to academics and researchers and healthcare professionals. They’re not expecting you to write an academic article.
5. Remember it’s OK to ask for help. While you know your illness, no one expects you to know about the publishing process.

What’s next for you?

The European Lung Foundation is starting a new module on patient involvement in research within the next month. I’m looking forward to taking that and finding out how patients can be more involved with research—it’s something I’d like to do more of.

Completing the Great North Run half marathon for COPD

Dr Ayana Elizabeth Johnson with then Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer. (Image: Waitt Institute)

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist and Executive Director of the Waitt Institute. Johnson’s mission is to collect, create, actualize and amplify the best ideas in ocean conservation. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, on her blog for National Geographic, in The Atlantic, and elsewhere. She holds a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a BA from Harvard University in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and has worked on ocean policy at both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). You can find her talking oceans on Twitter @ayanaeliza

“People used to talk about the size of the fish they caught vertically,” says a perspicacious 15-year-old Curaçaoan holding his hands off the ground at head height. “But now we show fish size horizontally.” As the young man lowers his hands at shoulder width apart to demonstrate this, it is strikingly clear the great fishing catches of old have all but gone in the southern Caribbean Sea.

The vibrantly scenic shores and glistening beaches of this bustling island are in stark contrast with the rather gloomier outlook of the once thriving Caribbean ecosystems that supported local fisheries. Speak to any of the older residents or fishermen on Curaçao and they’ll swear by the unprecedented changes they’ve seen in their oceans in the last half century.

This is a familiar picture across the Caribbean, which is suffering from the same threats of overfishing, climate change, pollution and habitat loss, seen worldwide. In August 2014, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) listed 20 species of coral as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, including five Caribbean species. Projected impacts of global warming and ocean acidification motivated this action, but as marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson eloquently writes in a New York Times op-ed: “climate change really is only half the story.”

Johnson’s encounter with the young Curaçaoan and his jarringly precocious words struck a chord with her eight years ago, in the midst of her PhD research. Focusing on fisheries management and ecology in the southern Caribbean, she interviewed more than 400 fishermen, scuba divers, and locals in Curaçao and Bonaire, to inquire what major changes they had seen in their oceans.

“It is critical to understand what local people see as the threats to the ocean, as the perceived problems have a huge influence on what the perceived solutions should be,” says Johnson. “Often scientists’ outside perspective can be very different to the local one – and this can lead to disconnect when discussing sustainable policy and solutions.”

Connecting the dots

Johnson’s affinity for the ocean goes right back to childhood, long before she became Executive Director of the Waitt Institute, a non-profit organisation, which “empowers communities to restore their oceans.”

“Like many kids when they are first exposed to the ocean and marine life, I had an immediate affinity for this beautiful and fascinating world,” says Johnson, who studied environmental science and public policy at Harvard University. “Visiting the Florida Keys as a five year-old and seeing the reef and fish really amazed me, and the sight of an electric eel sealed the deal. I asked my mother who the people were studying the ocean, and from that moment I wanted to be a marine biologist.”

Before joining the Watt Institute in July 2012, the New York-raised marine biologist worked on ocean policy at both the NOAA and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Her motivation is trying to ensure sustainable seafood for the one billion people who depend on the ocean for their nutrition and livelihoods.

“The most exciting challenge is connecting the dots in a new way to reach wide audiences and convey the importance and value of ocean resources, not just for conservation, but for livelihoods, culture, food and national security,” enthuses Johnson, who believes humans can use ocean resources in a way that is simultaneously ecologically, economically and culturally sustainable. “A lot of what we do at the Waitt Institute is about trying to embed ocean conservation and sustainable use into the broader dialogue of how humans interact with the planet and improve that relationship.

“A lot of people think of conservation as putting nature first; I don’t think of it that way. I believe without conservation we don’t have the resources that we as humans need to thrive, let alone survive.”

“Like many kids when they are first exposed to the ocean and marine life, I had an immediate affinity to this beautiful and fascinating world.” (Waitt Institute)

Caribbean decline

Born to a Jamaican father, Johnson’s heart lies very close to the Caribbean and much of her energy today is spent working with islanders on ocean conservation. She believes climate change is a looming threat, but insists many of the ocean problems in the Caribbean can be controlled locally.

This view is supported by a detailed report (of which Johnson was a co-author) released last year by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The report amassed 40 years of data collected between 1970 and 2012 from 90 locations, to look at the changing status of the Caribbean reefs. Data taken from more than 35,000 surveys indicated that the amount of coral has declined by more than 50% since the 1970s.

The report suggested most Caribbean coral reefs could disappear in the next few decades, unless overfishing, coastal development, and pollution are dramatically reduced. Yet despite “the alarming rate” of decline, the authors remained buoyant.  Their claim was that through restoring parrotfish populations and improving protection from overfishing and excessive coastal pollution, local governance could help the reefs recover and make them more resilient to future climate change impacts.

“I think there’s been this sort of defeatism in the face of climate change. The empowering results of this report emphasise that communities, if given the scientific and technical support, can help to restore their oceans in the face of this wider global challenge,” says Johnson.

Home to nine per cent of the world’s coral reefs, the Caribbean generates more than $3 billion annually from tourism and more than a hundred times more in other goods and services, which 43 million people depend on, say the IUCN.

What the report also showed is that some of the healthiest Caribbean coral reefs are those that harbour thriving populations of grazing parrotfish, such as Bermuda and Bonaire. In both instances, restrictions or bans on fishing practices that harm parrotfish have been introduced, including fish traps and spearfishing. Johnson has herself played a big role in helping empower new regulations in countries, most recently in the north-eastern Caribbean island of Barbuda.

A rare living coral on Palaster Reef, Barbuda (Waitt Institute – Barbuda Blue Halo)

“I think there’s been this sort of defeatism in the face of climate change and the empowering results of this report emphasise that communities, if given the scientific and technical support, can help to restore their oceans in the face of this wider global challenge.” (Image: Waitt Institute – Barbuda Blue Halo)

Blue Halo Initiative

Barbuda is quite the anomaly among many islands in the Caribbean: relatively remote, largely undeveloped and pretty much untouched by tourism, it lies 30 miles north of Antigua with a small population of just 1,600 and rules forbidding foreign ownership of land. It was here the Waitt Institute embarked on its first island-wide project in early 2013, tasked with developing a comprehensive sustainable management policy working with both the government and community.

“We wanted to work with a government that was an eager partner, as well as people who understood that the threat to their ocean resources had a big impact on their community,” says Johnson. “I met Barbudans, fell in love with the island, and saw there was great interest in a project aimed at improving ocean management— which became the Blue Halo Initiative.”

Johnson assembled a multidisciplinary team that over the course of a year and half would consult with the Barbuda Council, local fishermen and islanders to “design a plan to use the ocean (video) without using it up.” Initial feelings of trepidation from a foreign team of scientists, conservationists, policy and legal experts coming to a fairly untouched island subsided, and the community largely embraced their presence.

The team arrived to the community already having great concerns about the overfishing of parrotfish, the destructive use of nets, and the need to control illegal fishing in Barbuda’s shores. Johnson describes the once abundant Palastar Reef surrounding the island as “a graveyard of coral skeletons, and a ghost town with few fish.” Josiah Deazle, also known as Papa Joe, the island’s oldest active fishermen, sums up the issues in an interview with Johnson. “People don’t seem to understand that things are getting worse. If it goes good, it’s good for everybody; if it goes bad, it’s bad for everybody. It’s everybody’s business.”

Johnson talks with the island’s oldest active fisherman, “Papa Joe.” (Waitt Institute)

Local fisherman, Vernon, fishes for lobster. (Waitt Institute)

After months of interviews and seven rounds of consultations, the team created a set of scientific recommendations based on their research and community concerns and observations. In August 2014, Barbuda Council signed into law new ocean management regulations that zone the coastal waters, strengthen fisheries management, and establish a network of marine sanctuaries. Johnson hopes these will set an inspiring example for the region.

“The people of Barbuda have a strong connection to the sea— fish fries, camping on beaches, kids growing up learning to fish with their parents and grandparents. In order to preserve their way of life, ocean ecosystems must be protected,” says Johnson.

The regulations created five marine sanctuaries covering 33 per cent of the coastal waters. Catching parrotfish and sea urchins has become prohibited, as the herbivores are critical to keeping algae levels on reefs low so coral can thrive.  A two-year hiatus on fishing in Codrington Lagoon will enable fish populations to rebuild and habitats to recover. Barbuda became the first Caribbean island to put in place such a comprehensive set of important measures.

Plans are in place to set up a long-term scientific monitoring programme, train local staff in marine ecology and field research techniques, and work with the island’s schools to develop an ocean education curriculum.

Johnson cites the Barbuda project as one of many reasons to be optimistic about the future of ocean management. “Just as the science is very straightforward, in many cases, the policy is too,” enthuses Johnson. “That connection between the people who use the resources, the scientists and the policy-makers is so important and can yield some incredibly straightforward, yet effective, outcomes – many of which are being shared across the conservation community online using #oceanoptimism.”

Communicating ocean issues

With so little public knowledge of the ocean, which covers two-thirds of the Earth’s surface to an average depth of almost 4km, Johnson believes scientific communication is fundamental to helping improve understanding. “The general public doesn’t necessarily understand the ocean or relate to ocean issues and this causes a great challenge at a political level. For decisions to be influenced at a political level, you need a constituency that cares. An informed public leads to better policy-making, as people are able to lobby and influence their leaders about what they’d like to see as far as ocean sustainability.”

She continues: “I think we’ve still got a long way to go as a conservation community in terms of how we collaborate, engage and explain our work to the public. Scientific research is not useful if it sits in the pages of academic journals – it must be taken out into the world and presented to communities and governments, so that it can be used to make sound policies.”

Despite feeling there is more to be done in communication, Johnson is buoyed by how many ocean scientists are now becoming more savvy in the way they use social media and multimedia to communicate their findings. “It is exciting to see the scientific community engaging in more outreach and communication,” says Johnson. “Many scientists have sadly watched the ecosystem they studied fall apart and have really embraced the importance of engaging with the wider community.”

Johnson notes that economics has now started playing a bigger role in conservation dialogue and despite her initial hesitation, has now warmed to the idea. “It seems dollars is a language that everybody speaks. We need to be able to describe in economic terms why an area should become protected, or how limiting fishing will enable a fishery to recover and make a million dollars more in five years. There’s much more to the equation of designing policy, protecting communities and preserving livelihoods than the dollars alone can convey, but I’m encouraged that the science community is investing more time and energy in studying, explaining and modelling the economic side.”

Local Barbudan fisherman, Chaz, diving during a collaborative assessment of the oceans. (Image: Waitt Institute)

“It is exciting to see the scientific community engaging in more outreach and communication. Many have sadly watched the ecosystem they studied fall apart and have really embraced the importance of engaging with the wider community.” (Waitt Institute)

Sustaining coastal livelihoods

Communication has clearly played a major role in the success of the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative, and that pilot project became the model which the Waitt Institute is now replicating with the launches of Blue Halo Montserrat and Blue Halo Curaçao this month.

Much like the young Curaçaoan that stopped Johnson in her tracks during her PhD research, it is the generational stories of abundant reefs and plentiful fish supplies, so important to local culture, which continue to motivate the institute’s work in the Caribbean.

“When my father used to go free diving off the coast of Kingston, the harbour was brimming with life. Our aim, put simply, is to try and sustain the coastal livelihoods and culture he grew up with — that are now threatened,” concludes Johnson.

Science-based, community-driven, sustainable ocean management. (Image: Will McClintock.)

Barbuda Blue Halo – Evolution of zones (Waitt Institute)

A local diver measures conch. (Waitt Institute)

Jonathan Stone: “In volcanology a great deal of research is put into the prediction of specific hazards and the needs of those affected can often be overlooked.” Image credit: (Richie Robertson)

Jonathan Stone is a PhD researcher at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, working in volcanology and disaster risk reduction.  His research focuses on the interactions between citizens, scientists and authorities around volcanoes, examining the effects of citizen science on these relationships. Although his background is in Geology, with an MSc in the Science of Natural Hazards, Jonathan went on to study for an MRes in Environmental Social Sciences before starting a PhD funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the British Geological Survey. This experience (expertise in) of both the natural and social sciences has lead him to work on the Strengthening Resilience in Volcanic Areas (STREVA) project.

Outside of research, Jonathan is passionate about public engagement and was one of the creators of Volcanoes Top Trumps. More recently he has been involved in producing a series of short documentaries about the societal impact of volcanoes, told by the voices of those who lived through eruptions in St Vincent, West Indies. He likes running in his spare time, being involved in his local church – and of course – climbing volcanoes. 

Seemingly unflappable, tall and with a sharp sense of humour betrayed by a cheeky grin that can’t help but make you smile, Benigno Meneces is by no means your average citizen scientist. As a farmer in the modest surroundings of the Ecuadorian Andes village Bilbao, Meneces ploughs the land by day and monitors volcano eruptions by night. He is one of 35 residents across local villages and towns in the path of Volcán Tungurahua that make up a network of volunteers, known as the ‘vigías’.

Translated as watchman, guard or sentinel, the Spanish word ‘vigía’ only partially covers the passion and enthusiasm local villagers have brought to their voluntary roles protecting their communities. Made up from locals working in agriculture, teaching and business – the volunteers are tasked with communicating observations about the volcano to scientists at the Instituto Geofísico de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN) and the Secretaría Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos (the Ecuadorian civil protection agency).

Tungurahua looms over the town of Baños.

Radio Observations

Citizens are trained by scientists at the institute about what to observe, how to describe phenomena and how to communicate with the local civil protection organisations that manage the volcano. Every night at 8pm, vigías report their observations to the civil defence on a joint radio system and assist with visual confirmation of inferred activity seen on the geophysical monitoring network. As well as this, the volunteers assist with the maintenance of the scientific monitoring equipment near their homes or land, and organise evacuation drills and resource planning.

“In volcanology a great deal of research is put into the prediction of specific hazards and the needs of those affected can often be overlooked,” says UK Volcanologist, Jonathan Stone, who has worked independently with the vigías in Ecuador alongside an international team of scientists.

“Typically vigías will live in communities where there are 15 to 300 people, and many have naturally gone on to become community leaders. It has been fascinating to watch the relationships grow between the scientists and volunteers, as well as see how knowledge about the volcano has transferred into the community. Villagers now listen intently to the radio networks and often gather round in groups to hear updates and communications.”

“Citizen Science has been such a strong vehicle for communities to understand the volcano better, which in turn, has helped improve risk communication,” says Stone.

Creating Trust

The origins of the network stem from difficult times following the repercussions of Volcán Tungurahua’s eruption in October 1999, which followed 80 years of quiescence. Phreatic activity soon became magmatic, which led to an evacuation of the town of Baños and surrounding communities, called for by the President of Ecuador.  At this time, evacuees had a very limited trust of scientists and scientific information, and were proud of their communities close to the volcano – despite the risk. They managed to forcibly re-occupy their land, overrunning army checkpoints in the process. With resources insufficient to monitor and manage evacuations around occupied neighbouring communities, local civil protection organisations were forced to think outside the box and turn to villagers.

In almost 14 years since the network began, there have been lots of benefits, most notably in a renewed trust between scientists and the community. The vigías have acted as the link between the authorities, the towns and villages, and the scientists. “Citizen Science has been such a strong vehicle for communities to understand the volcano better, which in turn, has helped improve risk communication,” says Stone.

“From the observed instrumental data to the visual confirmations and acting as direct communication channels for scientists, the network has been massively beneficial. The vigías check ash fall collection and maintain seismometers to give confirmed observations if they spot what looks like pyroclastic flow.”

It is estimated that 20,000 people live in close proximity to the volcano, which has yet to erupt with any great magnitude since 1999. Yet despite any major eruptions, prompt evacuations without loss of life during escalations of activity can be put down to the role of the vigías. Activity in recent years has varied between violent Strombolian to Vulcanian style explosions with associated pyroclastic flows and lava jetting.

Following several deaths in 2006, the network was increased to include communities where mortalities occurred. Through monthly meetings with scientists, vigías would find out the latest updates on volcanic activities, talk through images of past eruptions and learn how to describe different scenes. Those close to the major valleys were even given motorbikes to check for volcanic mud flows in rainstorms.

A constant threat: Tungurahua explodes into life.

Collecting Data

What is most noticeable and key to the network’s continued existence and impact, is the motivations of the vigías themselves. Many are interested in science, willing to learn, and contribute to helping people feel safer in their neighbourhoods. Each vigía has an incredible story to tell, whether it is Don Carlitos who started his own volcano museum after his interest piqued when a seismometer was installed near his home, or Javier Jaramillo, the local fire chief who made the radio network possible fitting radio masts around communities. Others have filled bookshelves with volcanology textbooks and are teaching their children on the science of volcanic eruptions, while vigía radio communications have become as popular as sports matches in some of the communities.

“Vigías have learned to report on radio with such military precision and their clearly defined roles and responsibilities have been crucial in terms of coordinating communications,” adds Stone. “The most successful aspect of the process has been in the data collection, interpretation, and the fact the scientists have then talked to the people about the findings. It’s very much a two way process.”

Vigía Benigno Meneces (centre) and IGEPN staff inspect damaged solar panels following an explosion.

The Vascún Valley precariously perches in the path of pyroclastic flows from Tungurahua.

Not only has the network helped reduce volcanic risk, it has also coordinated responses to fires, road traffic accidents, medical emergencies, thefts, assaults and planning for future earthquakes and landslides.

The villages and towns are very self-sustained, primarily built on farming, with the volcanic ash excellent for the soil – growing bumper crops such as tree tomatoes and maize. It is one of the reasons Meneces is so keen to stay in Bilbao. The centre of the village is typical of many other neighbouring communities; there is a small church, municipal offices and a large futsal and basketball court – which is also where the Ecuadorian army park their trucks when preparing for an evacuation. Perched precariously in the shadows of Tungurahua, the main road that runs through the village from Baños to Penipe is often impassable due to lahar / pyroclastic damage.

Army vehicles prepare for any potential evacuations in the village of Bilbao.

Yet, similar to many of the vigías, Meneces describes volcanic activity and the everyday threat with such nonchalance. There is no sensationalism and very little bravado; it is just his duty to help protect his community.  He certainly epitomises the spirit of other vigías and talks of rocks the size of grape fruits smashing through house roofs during eruptions, setting fire to anything that lay in the volcano’s path. Meneces will often ring the church bells during evacuations and wait until the last villager has left safely.

As Stone concludes: “All these people are effectively devoting time to make people safer, through scientific data collection and observation. It is inspiring a whole new generation of scientists and volcanologists, and in turn, showing the influence citizen science can have empowering communities.”

Stone’s paper on his observations can be found here.

Strombolian activity at Tungurahua in July 2013.

Hot Pyroclastic flow viewed from the quadcopter the day after an explosion.

Vigías map community vulnerability and hazards at a STREVA workshop.