"This year’s National Societies & Volunteering Awards Ceremony was held at Sheffield’s student union, on the 15th of June. Although we were unfortunately not able to attend in person, we’re very proud and excited to say that MarineWatch won one of the awards! 

The NSVAs are run to recognise the contributions of student volunteers and student-led societies from UK higher and further education institutions. This year, two societies from the Falmouth & Exeter Students’ Union were nominated, and both made it to the shortlist for their category! Ecosoc was shortlisted for the Committee Excellence Award, which celebrates the teamwork and achievements of outstanding society committees. MarineWatch was shortlisted for and won the Development Award, which recognises development opportunities which give students the chance to gain new skills and experiences to help them achieve their full potential.

With MarineWatch, we pride ourselves in offering opportunities to enjoy, learn more about, and get involved in marine conservation which are open and accessible to all students, regardless of their degree of study. We have strong ties with local conservation groups and organisations, such as AK Wildlife Cruises, Falmouth Marine Conservation, MARINElife and ExeterMarine, through which we are able to offer amazing opportunities for networking and gaining new skills, especially for those wanting to pursue a career in marine conservation. This year, we’ve run two classroom training events with conservation charity MARINElife, as well as training in marine surveying practice, allowing us to collect data on the boat trips which we run bi-monthly during the season (which have been very popular!) After a whole academic year of not being able to run the events we usually do due to lockdowns and restrictions, we’re very excited that the society has been able to bounce back even better than before.

This year’s committee has worked really hard to make the society’s events more varied and accessible, and this has shown in the amazing level of engagement we’ve had from our members. We’re so proud that our efforts have been recognised in the form of a national award, and that this might also help make nature themed societies more visible. As we handover MarineWatch to an almost brand-new committee, we can’t wait to see how it continues to develop!"

- MarineWatch Committee