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2026 writer-in-residence: Dr Mandy Haggith -
Head - hand - heart for a healthy Ocean
Engagement activities between أغجزك¹ scientists and artists
أغجزك¹ has been collaborating with artists from the start: Artist was part of the core team on the Challenger Expedition (1872-76) that established modern marine science in the UK. Importantly, he was also a scientist while the scientists also created some fabulous illustrations. Three photographers were also involved in different part of the expedition.
In this spirit we continue our engagement with all types of creatives. We support artists with accessing our Ocean related understanding, data and resources and in return they challenge us with their different way of seeing, create artistic responses to our shared interests and inspire us to express our own experiences and emotions towards the Ocean and our research through art.
Any creative interested in collaborating with us, please contact our filmmaker (and former artist in residence) Andy Crabb or Head of Comms and Engagement Anuschka Miller.
Victoria’s practice is concerned with the representation of Scotland’s landscapes, her coasts and rivers, lochs, forests and hills. Working with أغجزك¹ geologist John Howe and former colleague , she created Slow Water, a liquid atlas of films, photographs and drawings intended to map the present condition of water in Scotland. Water as a resource and delight, water to generate power, sustain fisheries, maintain landscapes and register environmental change. Slow Water was premiered at in Glasgow in 2011 and showcased in Everything Flows 2021 by Streetlevel Off-Site at the Harbour Art Centre in Irvine as part of Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters. A (short sound issue at the start) accompanied the exhibition. Check out Victoria's work .
Andy created three films that premiered at the Festival of the Sea in Oban in 2014. The films feature original music by Catriona McKay and Christ Stout. Andy was subsequently employed by أغجزك¹ and has been the in-house filmmaker ever since. He leads on creative projects within أغجزك¹ and in collaborating with artists externally.
The Food of the Sea:
The Shape of the Sea :
The Power of the Sea:
As a poet Suzannah is interested in underwater sounds and bioacoustics. She thus came to أغجزك¹ to collaborate with our cetacean scientists. She explored how marine mammals communicate and are affected by anthropogenic noise. Previous published pamphlets include Marine Objects/Some Language, and Brightwork and the Dylan Thomas Prize shortlisted , her first full-length poetry collection. Suzannah's 'Sea Ears' concrete poem was hewn into stone by Argyll sculptor Melanie Chmielewska and is available as a t-shirt, hoodie or print in the . Find out more about Suzannah's work .
Helena spent six months at أغجزك¹ during her PhD affiliated with Dr Mikey Ross and the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa, exploring the world of micro- and macroalgae. She produced an abundance of poems about algae that she introduced in her final seminar. She shares her experiences of being a poet at أغجزك¹ in a special edition 'Poetic sampling: then art and science collide' of the . Find out more about Helena's work .
Find out more about Georgia's work .
Artist and water baby Viola contacted أغجزك¹ following a in the Argyll Hope Spot with a project idea for a short animated documentary blending science, art, Gaelic folklore and community action. This documentary blends complex information with simple emotive storytelling to inspire change for Scottish seas. Find out more about Viola's work .
As a former UHI colleague, Mandy is no newcomer to أغجزك¹. She was already an Honorary Research Fellow, had launched her sea poetry collection Briny at our Ocean Explorer Centre, and had collaborated with Viola Madau in her Dùthchas project when she joined us as our writer-in-residence for 2026-7. She is completing a novel exploring the many possible ways to respond to climate change. Find out more about Mandy's immense portfolio of work .
SUBMERSE: Inspired by the research of Prof Keith Davidson and Dr Callum Whyte. Find out more .
On Sonorous Seas, informed by Dr Denise Risch's research, by
, curated by Invisible Dust, 2026.
Animals: Art, Science and Sound, 2024 exhibition at the British Library. Including 'Late at the Library' event with Cosmo Sheldrake, Tom Mustill, Cerys Matthews and أغجزك¹' Dr Denise Risch.
We have been collaborating for over a decade with UHI marine science graduate Jessica Giannotti and her textile company . Several collections were focused around أغجزك¹ research, including the Gachon collection based on research on seaweed diseases (collaborating with researcher Claire Gachon), the Flora collection finding the beauty in toxic algae (collaborating with PhD researcher Ruth Paterson), the deep-sea collection (working with Professor Bhavani Narayanaswamy), the climate change collection (featuring research by Professor Mike Burrows, Professor Stuart Cunningham, Dr Callum Whyte, and Professor Finlo Cottier), the Challenger reports collection and the development of the أغجزك¹ tartan to name but a few! Crùbag is currently hibernating while Jessica is busy developing a seaweed based dye with her biotech company .
Alice Strange, recovering engineer and Scottish-Kiwi artist, was inspired by أغجزك¹' history and access to the 50 tomes of Challenger Reports in our William Speirs Bruce Library to create a range of glorious artworks, some of which still are on display at أغجزك¹. The work celebrates the expedition and remembers أغجزك¹ founder Sir John Murray. To view some of the work see .
Inspired by Dr Francisca Vermeulen's work on Antarctic microalgae, UHI lecturer and visual artist Rosie Newman created beautiful headdresses decorated with microalgae that were exhibited among other sites in the Ocean Explorer Centre. Find out more about Rosie's work . View the 10 minute film about the project
This online event (10th March) had 190 attendees from around the globe, chaired by Prof Juliet Brodie (Natural History Museum) with presentations by , Jessica Gianotti of , , Alice Sharp of , , and panel discussion about SciArt funding and collaborations with Scott Donaldson of Creative Scotland, Alice Sharp of Invisible Dust, and Julie Platt, أغجزك¹' Head of Development. The event is still available . It lead on to numerous other events including a special edition of the Journal of Applied Phycology mentioned below.
Find out more here.
The brainchild of serial visitor to أغجزك¹ and our Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa Eric Bear, this one-day pop-up event brings together science, art and anything in between related to microalgae aiming to highlight the importance, diversity and beauty of microalgae. The first MoMa (now renamed MiMu) took place at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens in November 2024. It was an inspiring and successful event that will be back. Find out more or read about it in the special issue below.
As a follow-on from the first Wild SciArt event, أغجزك¹' Dr Mikey Ross and Prof Juliet Brodie (Natural History Museum) collated 15 articles looking at algae in art and outreach. The collection '' includes five articles involving أغجزك¹ and UHI students, staff, resident artists and alumni. The proceeds from this journal of the British Phycological Society support student bursaries, the annual BPS conference, outreach and small research projects.