PML’s Bryony Squires named recipient of prestigious IMarEST Apprentice Award

Image: President of IMarEST Professor Stephen De Mora awarding Bryony Squires the Lady Hamlyn Award certificate 

The Lady Hamlyn Award recognises apprentices who have shown outstanding commitment to their professional development. It includes £1,000 of funding to support apprentices build their careers, encouraging practical and transferable skills. 

Professor Stephen De Mora, President of IMarEST, and previously Chief Executive of PML, said: 

“On a personal note, I’m absolutely delighted that the Lady Hamlyn Award is going to an apprentice from PML. Plankton research is crucial to our understanding of marine ecosystems, and it was a real pleasure to personally present Bryony’s certificate at the laboratory.”  

Bryony, who joined PML last year as its first Plankton Apprentice, works within the Western Channel Observatory’s L4 Plankton Time-Series Team, supporting the important long-term monitoring of these mostly microscopic organisms that underpin the marine food chain and health of our ocean. 

Her apprenticeship involves everything from collecting samples at sea aboard the RV Plymouth Quest, to learning how to analyse and identify plankton species under the microscope, formatting and generating large datasets, as well as supporting PML’s cutting-edge plankton projects such as APICS (Automated, in situ Plankton Imaging and Classification System) and DEAL (Decentralised Learning for Automated Image Analysis and Biodiversity Monitoring). 

Her £1000 award supported her recent trip to Norway for the ICES-IOC Workshop on automated plankton analysis using imaging in flow methods. 

Reflecting on her award, Bryony said: “I’m so grateful to IMarEST for this opportunity. It was such an honour to be recognised for my work so far in my apprenticeship, and the £1,000 award made it possible for me to attend an invaluable workshop in Oslo.” 

Image caption: PML’s Bryony Squires (right) with supervisor Claire Widdicombe (left), pictured at the Natural History Museum of Oslo, Norway, for the ICES-IOC Workshop on automated plankton analysis using imaging in flow methods 

She continued: 

“It was an amazing experience to learn from experts in automated plankton analysis and to see how other organisations are developing similar technologies to our own APICS project at PML. I came back with so much useful knowledge to support both my personal development and our projects at the laboratory – and I can’t wait to put it into practice!” 

Image caption: PML’s Claire Widdicombe also attended – and presented at – the workshop. 

Image caption: “We made some invaluable contacts from others deploying similar automated technology to monitor plankton”. Bryony pictured with fellow workshop delegates. 

Bryony originally graduated in Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology at the University of Plymouth before joining PML to pursue hands-on training in marine science. She has also been active in outreach, visiting a local primary school to share her enthusiasm for plankton and inspire young minds to consider marine science careers.