BBC Radio Shetland interview
Dr Rebecca Macklin was interviewed about the project by BBC Radio Shetland on 12 May 2026.
Listening to North Sea Coastal Communities in Transition
Project overview
How are intersecting environmental and energy transitions reshaping ecocultural heritage in North Sea coastal communities?
Through a focus on sound and the sensory experiences of transitions, the project aims to facilitate exchange between community groups and generate new insights into the ecocultural impacts of transitions. By amplifying local voices and centring multispecies relationships, it aims to support and strengthen community-driven approaches to ecocultural heritage preservation.
The project is a new collaboration between researchers at the University of Aberdeen and the Elphinstone Institute, working with local partners Greyhope Bay and North Yell Development Council (NYDC). It builds on the successful 2025 project ‘Just Reverberations’, led by Dr Macklin and Dr Whitehouse in collaboration with Greyhope Bay. Funded by the University of Aberdeen, this pilot project worked with community members to produce a set of field recordings for preservation in the Elphinstone Institute.
Funding
Listening to North Sea Coastal Communities in Transition is funded by the COAST-R Network’s 'Small Grants Fund' and will run from February – November 2026.
Project news
Sonic postcard workshops
A sonic postcard is an audio snapshot of a place. Like a postcard, it can convey information about a specific place in time. From the hum of industrial machinery to the call of an arctic tern, sound is deeply tied to place. The sounds of coastlines shape our memories, reflect the health of local ecosystems, and connect us to generations past and future. By tuning into a soundscape, we can explore how an area has changed over time and imagine how it may continue to evolve.
Between May-September 2026, we are holding community arts workshops in Yell and Torry to make recordings of day-to-day sounds. We will use these recordings to create sonic postcards of places that hold significance for the local community, such as the Torry Battery and St Fittick's Park, in Aberdeen, and Cullivoe Pier and the Gloup Fisherman's Memorial in Shetland.
Project team
Professor Roxane Permar
Professor in Art and Social Practice, University of Highlands and Islands
Project photographs by Rosie Baillie, Syabil Azri Arian, and Rebecca Macklin
