Showcasing collaborative MSc dissertation projects

The September EFLN provided a platform for MSc students to share the findings of their collaborative dissertation projects – highlighting how the CSFL network brings together research, policy and practice.

EFLN presenters: Anneliese Sinclair, Carla Fiore, Chizoba Kama, and Erin Moran

CSFL article author: Rachel Orchard, CSFL digital media officer and PhD researcher

Starting September with an inspiring and reflective EFLN, four MSc students from a range of School of GeoSciences programmes presented their dissertation projects. The presenters had all attended the CSFL mixer event in January, finding opportunities for research collaborations amongst the network of organisations, charities and businesses sharing their knowledge needs and ideas. The engaged audience of academics, practitioners, policymakers and enthusiasts were transported from the rainforests of Liberia to the suburbs of Glasgow with talks covering a range of topics and research approaches.

CSFL programme development manager Dr Iain McNicol introduced the event with a warm welcome back after the summer break before introducing and thanking the students for agreeing to share their research findings rather than go on holiday after handing in. 

First to present, Anneliese Sinclair from the MSc in Environment and Development shared their experiences of carrying out fieldwork on the Communities for Conservation (C4C) project in the Gola landscape, Liberia. Working in partnership with RSPB and the Society for Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL), she explored the alignment of the C4C project’s objectives across six sites participating communities and found the power dynamics distinct for each community. The effectiveness of the conservation projects was found to partially depend on the quality of the relationships built between delivery staff and local residents. A reminder that people are always participating and not passive recipients of conservation projects. 

Without RSPB and SCNL’s logistical support during research design and fieldwork, my project would not have been possible. Their support ensured my research reflected the on-the-ground realities of rural Libera and encouraged culturally appropriate engagement. I was delighted to share my research findings at EFLN to promote the importance of partnership and relationship building.

Anneliese Sinclair MSc Environment and Development

Carla Fiore completed the MSc in Environment, Culture and Society and collaborated with interdisciplinary co-supervisors from Forest Research - Dr Anthony Schultz and Dr Harry Marshall. She carried out case study work at Greenoakhill and Sighthill in Glasgow to explore how feelings and experiences can be better accounted for in regeneration project planning. Spending time in the area to build trust with participants and using walking-mapping methods to engage locals in sharing their personal experiences of the regeneration projects, Carla used an approach of learning across sites rather than comparison to identify patterns sensitively. The findings made it evident that for planning processes, listening to people through consultations is often insufficient if they do not feel heard and involved in a meaningful way. 

To me, having collaborators meant looking at my dissertation from a practical public-sector perspective. Moreover, it was invaluable in helping me sharpen the focus of my project. The EFLN showcase was the best way I could imagine to close this research cycle. It was a great opportunity to exchange opinions with people from different sectors, as well as to share in detail the reasons behind my project and its practical potential.

Carla Fiore MSc Environment, Culture and Society
Person presenting in a classroom
Carla Fiore presenting her MSc dissertation project at the September EFLN.

Shifting from regeneration to restoration, Chizoba Kama investigated the concept of reference states for informing the ongoing ecological restoration work at Ardtornish estate in the Scottish Highlands. Applying skills from the MSc in Environmental Sustainability, and as part of the University’s Forest and Peatland Programme cohort of Living Lab MSc dissertations, Chizoba extended an existing reference state framework with a new set of operational and social feasibility criteria. She explored data availability on a local, ecosystem and regional scales across the estate’s woodland, peatland and freshwater habitats, and tested her findings against interviews with practitioners, surfacing patterns such as the estate’s deepest, most carbon-rich peat also being its most degraded. This applied research offers guidance for land managers identifying ecological benchmarks for restoration projects. Top tips include auditing existing data, recognising that monitoring is heavily shaped by funding structures, and being explicit about the difference between an ideal and a target benchmark. 

Presenting at EFLN was a great chance to share those findings with people who could engage with and challenge the reference states approach in ecological restoration.

Chizoba Kama MSc Environmental Sustainability

Erin Moran was speaking with an RSPB policy officer at the CSFL mixer and learnt about the paradoxical problems facing forestry given the ongoing policy development in the UK and EU around mitigating deforestation abroad. Erin collaborated with an independent shop, cult coffee roasters, to follow coffee beans through the supply chain and unpack the perspectives around deforestation legislation for people involved at each stage. She found that trust was the glue between the steps with the changing law causing uncertainty. The sense of care for farmers that importers and roasters mediated to the end buyer adds value to the coffee in both quality, but also through the nuanced sustainable stories that connect end-consumer to farmer. Introducing a new notion of ‘deforestation-free’ coffee could change the sustainability labelling landscape for consumers and potentially disrupt the strong relational values that have come to characterise the speciality coffee sector.

I found about the EFLN mixer event through its email advertising. It was very well run and I was able to sit at tables with many different researchers and professionals that pitched research projects they were working on. The first table I sat down at, I ended up working with that collaborator. This professional gave me initial direction when starting the project and then I ultimately took over leading the direction, but it was very helpful to bounce ideas off of them when starting the dissertation project. It was really nice to wrap up the whole thesis project with the EFLN MSc showcase. I really care about my thesis findings and it was really nice to be able to share the work with professionals and other researchers that may find the results interesting for their line of work.

Erin Moran MSc Environment, Culture and Society

As usual, the informative presentations were followed by informal conversations over refreshments with a buzz of follow-up questions and post-summer catch ups providing a warm atmosphere. Be sure to catch our next EFLN about High integrity nature markets on Wednesday 7th October 4-6pm – please sign up using the following link: https://csfl.ed.ac.uk/nextefln

If hearing about these incredible MSc projects has sparked ideas that you would like to pose for the new intake of students to tackle in 2027, please contact Iain McNicol ahead of the January MSc mixer event: I.McNicol@ed.ac.uk 

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