About the Seaweed in East Anglia Project
The project will be used by businesses, investors and local authorities to provide an understanding of the opportunity Norfolk has to build a seaweed economy, focusing on three areas:
- Scoping farming methods and species, as well as co-location opportunities for seaweed aquaculture
- Understanding Norfolk’s production capability of seaweed-based products, including foods and bioplastics
- Developing a roadmap for industry and Algae Cluster development
Rikke Nagell-Kleven – Hethel Innovation
Rikke Nagell-Kleven founded and has led the AIP group since it was started in June 2021 and has extensive knowledge of the seaweed industry’s current state in Norfolk through her connections with local and international businesses in the space. Rikke is the Project Manager for the Seaweed in East Anglia project.
Imogen Shipperlee – Hethel Innovation
Imogen Shipperlee is the Head of Innovation at Hethel Innovation and is responsible for the strategic direction and commercial operation of business support at the company. Imogen oversees the development of Hethel Innovation’s business community, managing the innovation consultancy offer, marketing and branding, and the delivery of funded projects. She has experience creating new revenue streams for businesses, establishing strategies for growth and sales, developing new product and services, and managing changes in resource needs. At Hethel Innovation she set up the company’s consultancy service, offering bespoke support to organisations looking to innovate and grow. She is an experienced project manager, having managed Breakthrough, a 2.5-year EU funded business support project which supported over 130 businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk, and was part of advisory team that delivered a second EU funded project, Innovation New Anglia, for 3 years across the region.
Dr Elisa Capuzzo – Cefas
Dr Elisa Capuzzo’s current interest is in supporting the sustainable development of seaweed aquaculture in the UK and abroad. Her work has been focusing on evaluating environmental effects of seaweed aquaculture, sites selection and coastal management for aquaculture, regulation and licensing process, feasibility study of seaweed aquaculture.
Professor Shenq Qi – University of East Anglia
Sheng is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Material Science and Technology at the School of Pharmacy of the University of East Anglia. Sheng has keen interests in material science and processing, and passion in innovation. By working closely with industrial partners as well as cross-discipline collaborators, her research has contributed to product development and innovations in many industrial sectors, from pharmaceutical, medical device to food, cosmetic, agri-tech and sustainable packaging. She recently has been focusing on developing value-added applications of plant-based biomass, including algae.
Dr Tomás Harrington – University of East Anglia
Dr Tomás Harrington is Associate Professor in Digitalisation and Operations Management at UEA’s Norwich Business School. His research focuses on industrial systems transformation and he will examine the potential in developing competitive supply chains in East Anglia from both supply and demand perspectives.
Dr Gill Malin – University of East Anglia
Dr Gill Malin is an academic at the University of East Anglia and Reader specialising in Biological Oceanography. Her research focusses on the essential roles that photosynthetic marine organisms play in the global biogeochemical cycles, how marine plankton and seaweeds adapt to and influence the environment, and how this could alter with climate change and the sustainable production and exploitation of seaweeds and microalgae for food, feed and other products.
Dr Colette Matthewman – University of East Anglia
Useful Links
Want to learn more about seaweed? Check out the links below and find out more.
British Phycological Society (BPS)
The BPS is a charity devoted to the study of algae founded in 1952. It was one of the first to be established worldwide and is the largest in Europe. The Society generally holds an Annual meeting in January and releases The Phycologist magazine twice a year. BPS also publishes the long-running European Journal of Phycology and its newer sister journal Applied Phycology. BPS membership is open to everybody and corporate members are welcome.
Phycological Society of America (PSA)
Established in 1945, the PSA is the premier society in North America dedicated to the study of algae and phycological research. The society holds an annual meeting often jointly with other national or international societies of mutual member interest and publishes the Phycological Newsletter and the Journal of Phycology. Membership is open to all.
AlgaeBase
Founded by Michael Guiry, with inputs from many collaborators and funding from various phycological societies, AlgaeBase is an excellent searchable database of information on algae and cyanobacteria (formerly blue-green algae) from terrestrial, marine and freshwater habitats. The data for marine organisms are the most complete.
The Seaweed Site
Mike Guiry’s excellent website provides lots of general information on seaweeds of the North Atlantic and Australia.
Algae-UK
Algae-UK is a collaborative network supporting researchers and others interested in the exploitation of algal products and processes in industrial biotechnology. It is one of six Networks in Phase II of the Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (NIBB) scheme funded from 2019 to 2024 by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), with support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa
CCAP is a Biological Resource Centre with aims to access, maintain, characterise and distribute living cultures of marine and freshwater algae, cyanobacteria, protozoa, algal pathogens and related organisms. They also provide taxonomy, technical and educational expertise, services and resources for culture isolation and curation to scientists, educators, researchers, and businesses worldwide. CCAP is a National Capability Service supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and is based at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS, Oban, Scotland) and underpins aspects of their research.
Natural History Museum Algae Collections
The NHM in London is a global centre of scientific research on the natural world with a remarkable collection of more than 80 million objects. The algae collections (seaweeds, freshwater algae, microalgae and cyanobacteria) comprise some 400,000 specimens including some of the museum’s oldest that date back to the 1600s.
Marine Conservation Society
MSC is a UK charity that works towards a cleaner, better-protected and healthier ocean. Check out their information on the Big Seaweed Search and log your field observations. This includes a ‘Meet-the-Seaweeds’ section that covers the issues of rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification and non-native species.
World Wildlife Fund – Aquaculture
Some general information on aquaculture including seaweed farming. Includes a paragraph on a project looking at seaweed-based fertilisers that involves some of our Norfolk-based colleagues.
Natural History Book Service
You might find the blog useful as a basic guide to seaweed identification.
Scottish Seaweed Industry Association (SSIA)
SSIA is dedicated to promoting the growth and development of the seaweed and aquaculture sector, providing essential resources and services to their members and the wider industry. The SSIA provides a dedicated platform to help seaweed and aquaculture businesses network, share information, and gain access to the best resources the industry has to offer.
Norfolk Seaweed
Norfolk Seaweed is a company created by people who come from and live in North Norfolk, with a family background in growing and selling oysters and mussels. Their pilot farm will produce sustainable, ethical seaweed for use in bio-fertilisers, bioplastics, food, nutraceuticals and much more. Started in the summer of 2020, they aim to harvest their first offshore-grown seaweed in the spring of 2024.