The MASTS Directorate is responsible for the day to day operation of MASTS and is led by a small team based at the University of St Andrews consisting of an Executive Director (Prof David Paterson), Operations Director (Dr Mark James) & Programme Co-ordinator & Deputy Dean of Grad School (Dr Emma Defew). We are assisted by a Finance Co-ordinator (Tanya Harkins), and where appropriate, cross-cutting administrative capacity from MASTS member institutions is brought together. The Dean of Graduate School is Dr Lois Calder.
In 2020, Hannah Ladd-Jones joined the MASTS Directorate to run its communications, outreach and internal and external engagement. She has organised and hosted the annual MASTS online webinar series, and throughout 2020 she produced weekly MASTS CASTs. She has organised multiple high-level events online, including the launch of the Scottish Marine Assessement 2020, Structures in the Marine Environment 2021 and 2022 and the MASTS 10th, 11th and 12th Annual Science Meeting. She also runs the MASTS social media: Twitter and LinkedIn.
In 2021, Elizabeth Mills became the newest team member. She leads to engagement of the MASTS Forums to guide their future development as well as working alongside individual Forums to help them develop Forum-specific initiatives and outputs. A keen science-communicator, Elizabeth loves finding new ways to help people connect and learn about our ocean.
Both of Elizabeth and Hannah are developing the People Ocean Planet (POP) initiative, which received kick-starter funding from Vodafone UK, MASTS and the University of St Andrews in 2019. POP works to explore novel and thought-provoking methods for science communication to empower individuals with information regarding marine climate change and the actions they can undertake to protect our seas.
Hannah Ladd-Jones (left) and Elizabeth Mills (right)
MASTS is overseen by the Governing Council (GC). The GC meets 2-3 times per year and is chaired by Prof Neil Simco of the University of the Highlands & Islands, and has the following representatives:
The MASTS Executive Committee (EC) meets 3 or 4 times per year and is populated by a representative of each of the institutional partners plus the Dean of the Graduate School (Dr Lois Calder), the Theme Leaders (in an ex-officio capacity), and is chaired by the Executive Director (Prof David Paterson).
The EC has the following representatives:
The MASTS Advisory Committee (AC) takes an active role in guiding the development of MASTS and meets twice a year.
The AC is chaired by Prof Peter Liss and has the following representatives:
MASTS was founded in 2009 to be a unique collaboration between marine research organisations, government and industry.
Charity Number: SC045259
Company Number: SC485726
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