SAMS news room

Student entrepreneurs win national competition

Proposing a fictional start-up company to address the conservation of the critically endangered European eel won four SAMS-based UHI PhD students a national environmental science entrepreneur competition 'Environment YES' run by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

Team MaraMor – Raeanne Miller, Kyla Orr, Karen Alexander and Lisa Eckford-Soper – are all marine science PhD researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science UHI at Dunstaffnage, near Oban.

After knocking out teams from elite universities, including Oxford and Imperial College, in the heats, MaraMor triumphed in the final of the Environment YES competition – designed to boost entrepreneurial skills and career prospects - run by the Natural Environment Research Council.

They beat the University of Southampton and the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland in the final – winning £1,000 to share between them, and a team place on a training workshop run by sponsors the Indigo Group.

The UHI team proposed a company that would address the conservation of the critically- endangered European eel, and the associated collapse of the eel fishery, by developing a novel spawning stimulant enabling the fish to be bred in captivity for the first time.

They developed fictional business plan and finance plans, and strategies for intellectual property and patenting and commerce and marketing. 

Karen, who was the MaraMor marketing director for the competition, commented: “We won’t become rich and famous with our idea because the spawning product isn’t likely to emerge in the near future, but it is encouraging to know that we put forward a feasible scheme and the quality of our skills has been recognised. As a local person from Kilchrenan, near Taynuilt, I am especially proud that we represented SAMS UHI and the Highlands.”

Raeanne added: “We are really proud of our team and so thrilled to have won. People were asking us about UHI so it was great to help put us on the map.”

MaraMor came up with their plan to save the European Eel after a brainstorming session looking at problems that could potentially be solved through scientific know-how and entrepreneurship.