{"id":24,"date":"2015-07-20T11:20:44","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T11:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/synergy.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2026-03-09T17:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T17:20:08","slug":"research-overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/research-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/03\/cropped-PLACEMENT-IMAGE-1-1024x320.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3849\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sea Mammal Research Unit is a world leading academic and applied research group, whose expertise and interests span a wide range of subject areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Current Research Priorities:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Evaluating the status and dynamics of marine mammal populations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Investigating the importance of marine mammals as components of marine ecosystems<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Determining the impact of anthropogenic activities in the oceans on marine mammals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Studying marine mammal social structure and communication<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Observing the oceanographic environment of marine mammals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Providing the technological basis for observing free-ranging marine mammals and their environment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"accordion-group \">\n<li class=\"accordion-item\"><div class=\"accordion-item__toggle toggle-me\"><h2 class=\"accordion-item__toggle-title\"><button class=\"accordion-item__toggle-button\">Research Groups<\/button><\/h2><\/div><div class=\"accordion-item__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wildlife and Tidal Energy Research Group (WATER)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>DanGER (Russell &amp; Hastie Ecological Research Group)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ecophysiological Group<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<button class=\"accordion-group__toggle\">Open all<\/button><ul class=\"accordion-group accordion-group__toggle-container\">\n<li class=\"accordion-item\"><div class=\"accordion-item__toggle toggle-me\"><h2 class=\"accordion-item__toggle-title\"><button class=\"accordion-item__toggle-button\">Research Projects<\/button><\/h2><\/div><div class=\"accordion-item__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>BND<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>BMP<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"accordion-item\"><div class=\"accordion-item__toggle toggle-me\"><h2 class=\"accordion-item__toggle-title\"><button class=\"accordion-item__toggle-button\">Citizen Science \/\/ How you can contribute<\/button><\/h2><\/div><div class=\"accordion-item__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Citizen Fins<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Seal Tag Sightings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Report a seal predation event<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not an exhaustive list, but provides a broad outline of how our research is of strategic importance to understanding marine ecosystems and our changing oceans, the impact of which was recognized in the <a href=\"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/knowledge-exchange-ref-2014\/\">2014 REF exercise<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The University of St Andrews recognises the need for greater understanding of animal research and has therefore signed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk\/regulation\/concordat-openness-animal-research\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Concordat of Openness on Animal Research<\/a> in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sea Mammal Research Unit is a world leading academic and applied research group, whose expertise and interests span a wide range of subject areas. Current Research Priorities: This is not an exhaustive list, but provides a broad outline of how our research is of strategic importance to understanding marine ecosystems and our changing oceans,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-24","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biology.st-andrews.ac.uk\/smru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}