The Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences (IBES) held its annual Post-graduate research conference on the 14th and 15th of April. There was a wide variety of topics for the talks from 3rd year students covering everything from fish health (from SFIRC's students) to alternative wetting and drying in rice to fleas and shark ecology. Second year students presented posters throughout the breaks. The majority of talks were very well attended by IBES students and staff with lots of engagement with the audience and presenters.
Several prizes were awarded for the best talks. First prize went to Munmi Phukon, who presented on the effect of alternative wetting and drying irrigation on water use efficiency, yield and gene expression in rice. The best poster prize was awarded to Laura Williams for her poster on using aerial video footage to assess the distribution of harbour porpoise on the east coast of Scotland. Second prize for the posters was awarded to Rachel Chance from SFIRC on her poster Development of non-lethal sampling techniques to investigate Atlantic Salmon Immune gene response to the ectoparasite agent of amoebic gill disease. This year saw the introduction of a new prize for best engagement, which was awarded to Dwight causey.