On Wednesday 28th May iPACT hosted an engaging evening of talks from a broad range of academics from the University of Southampton and SeaCity Museum. 90 people attended the event at Sir James Matthews Building in the Guildhall Square, Southampton to hear from Andy Skinner, Prof Andy Cundy, Dr Felix Pedrotti and Postgraduate student Panos Manias.

Prof William Powrie introduced the audience to the infrastructure for Port-cities And Coastal Towns (iPACT) network and recent pilot research projects carried out in Southampton, North Norfolk and Morecambe.

Andy Skinner explored the history of the city in ‘Southampton: Gateway to the World’ this talk discussed how and why the town has become such an important maritime centre for commerce and the movement of people inspired by SeaCity Museum’s exhibition.

Prof Andy Cundy covered the issue of plastic waste and microplastics in our coastal water in “Into the Plastic-cene? Coastal and marine plastics in Southampton Water and beyond”

Panos Manias presented a “Wind-to Wake” approach to comparing sustainable energy options that could decarbonise shipping activities in “Route to 2050: Decarbonising the Ferry Industry”

Dr Felix Pedrotti are helped us rediscover the maritime character of Medieval Southampton through new digital technologies, including laser scanning and 3D Imaging in “Mapping the Lost Waterfront: How Technology Reveals Medieval Southampton”.

Each talk provoked a lively question time with the audience, who were keen to quiz the presenters.

The overall feedback from the audience was that this was a really interesting and engaging event, that they would be interested in attending the Urban Wild Festival and future events like this hosted by iPACT and SMMI.

“Just a quick note to say that last night was really brilliant – one of the very best events I’ve been to since joining the uni. There was a great range of knowledgeable and passionate speakers and we learned so much 😁” Feedback from event attendee.

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