Alumni Association
Dr. Patrick Miller (University of St. Andrews)
20 October 2011
Joint Research Project
Project title: Behavioural physiology of aquatic vertebrates
Japanese Lead Scientist: Professor Katsufumi Sato, Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo
UK Counterpart: Dr. Patrick Miller, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews
Project Duration: 2009 to 2011
The goal of this project was to accelerate the exchange of expertise and research techniques for the study of behaviour, biomechanics, and physiology of whales and seals. The focus of the work was to share field techniques and develop data-collection systems including camera, sound, and speed-recording tags for cetaceans, and a novel automatic blood-sampling device for seals. Profs. Katsufumi ('Katsu') Sato, Yoshio Takei, and Susumu Hyodo of the University of Tokyo and Drs. Patrick Miller, Ailsa Hall, Niel Hazon and Mike Fedak of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of Saint Andrews took part in the exchange, which also included a number of students and post-doctoral researchers. There has long been a strong link between the two Universities - this specific collaboration started after Katsu and Patrick met at an international conference for the study of marine mammals in 2000. They found they had a shared interest in the use of emerging technologies to study the behavioural physiology of diving animals. Both the U of Tokyo and St Andrews advanced substantially over the years, and there was a clear benefit to exchange and develop techniques, and to conduct collaborative research using these novel tools. The award of 5,000,000 YEN to the U of Tokyo enabled Japanese participation in two field projects with killer, sperm and long-finned pilot whales, a field project with sea-birds, and exchange visits to St Andrews. The project led to important training for students and post-docs, improvements in research methods on both sides, and collection of a substantial data-set. The strengthened collaboration has continued with joint publication of research papers, additional collaborative fieldwork and academic exchanges, and continued development of new systems for collection of physiological data from free-ranging seals and whales.
※Click here to view the full report (pdf)
