My name is Hayley McLennan, and I am very excited to be joining ScAN as an intern for the next year. I am a final year PhD student at the University of St Andrews, based in the Scottish Oceans Institute. During my PhD I have travelled to Baffin Island, Canada, and Greenland to conduct fieldwork on bowhead whales and their zooplankton prey using fisheries acoustics. Through these incredible experiences I have developed a fascination with Arctic ecology and a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by both the environment and people in a rapidly changing Arctic.
I have enjoyed engaging with the UK and international Arctic research community over the last few years. I learned about ScAN in the first year of my PhD and attended the AGM in Aberdeen in 2022 alongside the Arctic Connections conference. My travel was generously supported by a ScAN grant for that event as well as the UK Arctic Science Conference (UKASC) in 2023. I also attended Arctic Science Summit Week in 2024, and UKASC in 2025. I always appreciate the depth and complexity of conversations at Arctic research events, the focus on interdisciplinarity, and the increasing and very necessary emphasis on engaging with Indigenous and local communities.
Over my year with ScAN I hope to be able to support more early career researchers to attend events like these, including the ScAN AGM and conference in March 2026. I think ScAN can create invaluable opportunities for researchers in Scotland to continue having these important conversations and develop new collaborations in Arctic research.
When I’m not working for ScAN, away on fieldwork, or attempting to write up my PhD thesis, you can find me surfing at East Sands and running on the Fife coast path.
