Pete Bevington

1 May, 2007

DORMANT graduates in marine science and related subjects are being sought amongst Shetland's house or croft bound community to help with an innovative research programme.

The isles-based environmental organisation KIMO UK has launched a nine month initiative to carry out research on the internet from the comfort of their own home.

Jane Macaulay, from Unst, has been appointed to co-ordinate the project with her first task being to seek out people with the time, energy and qualifications to carry out the work.

If there are enough people with PhDs or degrees out there to fit the bill, the next part of the project will be to identify customers who would like to use their services as researchers.

Rick Nickerson, of KIMO UK, said: "Initially there will be a skills search to find out how many people in Shetland have degrees and are maybe crofters or young mothers at home who would be interested in doing this kind of work.

"Then we will start looking for clients who might be, for example, looking for a political brief on coastal erosion.

"There's a lot of information out there and there's people in local government and industry who don't have the time to look for this stuff."

The £18,000 project has been funded by Shetland Enterprise, Shetland Islands Council and Europe through Leader Plus, in the hope of creating attractive employment opportunities some of the highly educated workforce that live in the isles.

"If we can find enough people with the interest and the skills then there's a business at the end of the tunnel with the potential for expansion beyond the narrow parameters we have put on it. If we can prove it's possible with marine science someone might expand it into other fields."

Anyone interested in finding out more about the opportunity can contact Mrs Macaulay on Jane Macaulay on 07789 790 775 or email datatrawl@kimointernational.org