Meet the 2025 Innovation Fund Awardees and their Sea-Changing Solutions

Sea-Changers’ Innovation Fund seeks out bold and creative approaches to protecting the UK’s marine environment. In 2025 the fund has been supported by the William Grant Foundation, ARC Marine and a further donation from a family trust.

We were blown away by the calibre and diversity of project proposals to our 2025 Innovation Fund.  After some tough deliberation, our grant assessors selected a small number of outstanding projects to support. From pioneering science and cutting-edge technology to imaginative community engagement, this year’s successful grant recipients reflect a strong mix of passion and originality. Projects include those restoring fragile habitats, tracking elusive species and exploring marine carbon stores….but they all share one thing: fresh thinking in marine conservation.

Action West Loch aims to breathe new life into rare serpulid worm reefs (delicate, rock-like structures built over time by tube-dwelling worms) in West Loch Tarbert, Argyll. These unique reefs provide shelter and habitat for other marine life but are increasingly scarce. By mapping historical reef sites and installing custom ceramic reef structures, the team will encourage larval settlement and reef regrowth. Importantly, the project also includes strong community ties by working with schools and ceramicists to raise awareness of this distinctive habitat’s ecological value.

Heriot-Watt University  will be focusing on the Orkney Islands’ relatively untouched waters, with research targeting critical gaps in Scotland’s Blue Carbon (carbon captured by ocean ecosystems) data. The project will map the distribution of key Blue Carbon habitats like kelp, seagrass and maerl beds, which thrive outside protected zones yet remain vulnerable to benthic fishing which damages the ocean floor. These habitats help fight climate change but are often overlooked in policy because we don’t yet fully understand how much carbon they store or where they’re found. By improving our understanding of these precious habitats, Heriot-Watt University aims to support more informed marine conservation planning in future.

The Sea Life Trust, in partnership with Sea Life and The Seahorse Trust, hope to solve the mysteries surrounding the behaviour, preferred locations and population numbers of the UK’s native seahorses. Despite being legally protected in our waters, the spiny seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) and the short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus) are both considered "data deficient" on the International Union for Conservation Red List of Threatened Species, meaning very little is known about their habits. The team will trial acoustic tagging to track movement and habitat use along the south coast of England, along with AI technology to identify individuals by their unique spot patterns, which is a bit like facial recognition for fish. This innovative approach may provide the essential information needed to protect these elusive animals.

The University of Plymouth will be using custom drones to assess pregnancy in female bottlenose dolphins in Scotland’s Moray Firth. By capturing aerial images, researchers can measure body width to identify pregnant females and secure much needed insight into how well this protected population is reproducing. The data will also guide marine management in Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation (SAC), where dolphins face rising pressures from increasing boat traffic and offshore wind development.

The National Lobster Hatchery, a marine conservation, research, and education charity based in Padstow, Cornwall, submitted their application in response to recent studies by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which highlight a significant decline in brown crab stocks in UK waters. Building on 25 years of pioneering work in lobster stock enhancement, the Hatchery now aims to apply its expertise to pilot a new crab conservation initiative. They plan to create a ‘Crab Lab’ within their visitor centre—both to support improved stock management and to raise public awareness of this growing concern.

Conservation Detection Dogs Scotland has developed an innovative method for identifying the invasive non-native carpet sea-squirt, Didemnum vexillum, which spreads quickly and can smother native marine life and habitats. Currently, identification relies on visual inspection followed by expert confirmation—a process that allows time for the species to spread. By training conservation detection dogs to detect and indicate the presence of D. vexillum, this approach enables rapid identification and control, helping to prevent its spread and protect marine users such as shellfish aquaculture sites.

The Shark Trust has been running the Great Eggcase Hunt for the past 22 years as a global citizen science project. In the last year alone, participants submitted 49,621 egg case records through the project’s reporting app. Manually verifying this volume of data requires significant staff time and resources. To streamline the process and enhance the user experience, the Trust plans to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) image recognition and a machine learning model (MLM) into the app. This upgrade will be supported by a community verification platform (CVP), marking a step-change in the evolution of the Great Eggcase Hunt. By automatically approving records that meet a defined identification threshold, the new system will help conserve valuable resources and scale the project’s impact.

We can’t wait to see how these incredible projects progress and support the future of our seas!

About the Funders

The William Grant Foundation is supporting Scottish based innovation projects with a generous donation of £16,500. The William Grant Foundation is a non-profit association established to support charitable causes in Scotland. Its work is funded by William Grant and Sons Ltd. ARC Marine Ltd. have invented and patented a concrete solution enabling them to create sustainable, recycled reef structures anywhere in the world. They work closely with environmentally-conscious companies, authorities, environmental agencies and other NGO’s to rehabilitate damaged marine habitats across the world. They donated £5,000 towards this year’s Innovation Fund. A further £11,000 was made available by a family trust.