Kathy’s Fullbright Scholarship

Kathy has recently left Tasmania for the sunny beaches of the USA. She is on a Fullbright scholarship experience and will spend the next 10 months working with Professor Julia Parrish and the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) at the University of Washington. Kathryn will examine the COASST marine debris dataset to find patterns in human activities along the coastline that match patterns in marine debris deposition rates. She then plans to apply her previous work investigating Australian local government waste abatement policies to understand the impacts of infrastructure, policies, and outreach efforts addressing those issues in the United States. Kathryn’s goal is to then apply this knowledge to establish best-practice waste management strategies in communities around the world and reduce the harms of plastic pollution.

We wish you all the best Kathy and look forward to getting more updates from you!

 

Kathy with COASST interns, Julia and Rachel completing a marine debris survey following COASST methodology.

 

Kathy and a COASST intern completing a marine debris survey following COASST methodology

 

COASST interns, Julia, Anna Vallery (COASST participant coordinator) and Rachel completing a marine debris survey following COASST methodology.

 

Julia Parrish (COASST Executive Director) describing the different debris characteristics they record during their marine debris surveys. (L-R: Prof Julia Parrish, Rachel Cohen (COASST Marine Debris Team Member) and me) We called this “Story time with Julia!” 😃