Frances Sandison
James Hutton Institute
Errol Road
Dundee
Scotland
DD2 5DA
Biography
Frances graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2010 with a BSc (Hons) in Biology. From there she went on to further specialise with her Masters in Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem Health, graduating from the University of Edinburgh for a second time in 2014. Developing a strong interest in sustainability as a result of my masters, she went on to accept a position working that the NAFC marine centre in Shetland, as a Graduate Trainee in the Fisheries and Marine Science department. While there Frances designed and ran a project exploring the carbon footprint of the local pelagic fleet. This was continued on the following year, in the role of Research Scientist, as the study was expanded out to follow the processing and supply chain of locally landed pelagic fish.
Following this she undertook a PhD with the University of Aberdeen in 'Identifying Climate Smart Development Pathways for the Scottish Pelagic Fishing Industry'. The PhD aimed to examine the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of the Scottish pelagic industry by means of LCA and explores the role of Scottish pelagic fish as a potential climate smart food source. It established Scottish caught pelagic fish as having a low carbon footprint compatible to that of vegan protein, as well as being shown to have a much greater nutritional density than other meats commonly consumed within Scotland. Finally it explored seafood ecolabels to establish to what degree they were indicative of climate smart produce by means of incorporating carbon footprint into their sustainability assessment metrics. It found that to date no seafood ecolabel had carbon footprint as as an essential component in their sustainability assessments, though a small number showed progress towards that goal.
After completing my PhD, Frances joined the James Hutton Institute as a Life Cycle Analyst where my research focus continues to be on climate smart produce and food security.