Industry Data Pilot Studies
Working alongside our customers and stakeholders, we create, invest in, and deliver critical data and evidence programmes.
As the offshore renewables sector expands, so does the spatial footprint of survey data collected by offshore industries.
Industry data can inform important monitoring programmes put in place as part of UK policy, such as the UK Marine Strategy (2012) and 25 Year Environment Plan (2018), which aim to achieve good environmental status (GES) in British Seas and increase biodiversity and ecosystem health.
In our Industry Data Scoping Report - linked below, we explore how offshore marine industry data could be used to inform UK marine assessments and reporting.
The report sets out 5 industry data pilot studies designed to explore what insights we can gain from offshore industry data. Only 2 projects will be taken forward this year.
Pilot Study One: The Industry Data Discoverability & Accessibility Pilot Study
The aim of the project is to undertake comprehensive MDE user research, to understand how industry data accessibility and discoverability could be improved.
We are very proud of the MDE and its evolution over the last decade. However, there is always more work to be done. We want to enable our customers, stakeholders and colleagues to gain maximum value from the offshore industry data available on the MDE.
Therefore, we are conducting a study to seek to understand how those within government bodies, NGOs, industry specialists etc. search for natural capital data, how quickly and effectively they can find what they are looking for and how the MDE could be improved to increase industry data accessibility and discoverability.
THE MDE NEEDS YOU!
We will be asking for a range of stakeholders to take part in workshops and user research.
We are currently proposing 3 user research groups (research does not have to be conducted by those who already use the MDE, but by those that are regularly searching for natural capital data/marine data & evidence). These groups include:
•Those engaging in Marine Natural Capital Assessment projects – for example, those within the mNCEA programme at Defra.
•EIA/HRA user research (interviews with individuals involved in analysis and data collection to support Environmental Impact Assessments and Habitat Regulation Assessments.)
•Nature Recovery/Habitat Creation user research (interviews with those involved in projects aimed at increasing biodiversity, achieving Good Environmental Status in marine ecosystems and restoring marine habitats etc.).
Join the MDE Discoverability & Accessibility Pilot Study:
If you are currently involved in any of the above scopes of work, would benefit from improved access to marine data and would like to take part in MDE user research, please contact: Harriet.baldwin@thecrownestate.co.uk or MDE@thecrownestate.co.uk
