A seaweed invasion: Dr Vicky Dominguez Almela and Dr Sien Van Der Plank on how Sargassum is affecting coastal communities in West Africa and the Caribbean

In this episode of the Meliora Podcast from the Sustainability & Resilience Institute at the University of Southampton we welcome not just one, but two of our brilliant academics Dr Vicky Dominguez Almela and Dr Sien Van Der Plank to discuss their fascinating work investigating how Sargassum is affecting coastal communities in West Africa and the Caribbean. You will be thinking 'I never knew seaweed could be so interesting!'Our chat covers Sien and Vicky's careers to date, how they became interested in sustainability, their fascinating research, links to the SRI, and how their work is having an impact across the world.Vicky and Sien are two of our best early career academics, conducting great research and inspiring our students with their teaching. They are fantastic examples of the crucial work conducted by early-career researchers, and will be  important academics working in sustainability through their careers - hopefully here with us at Southampton! We hope you enjoy this episode!Further reading:Victoria Dominguez Almela, Kwasi Appeaning Addo, Jack Corbett, Janice Cumberbatch, Jadu Dash, Robert Marsh, Hazel Oxenford, Thierry Tonon, Sien Van Der Plank, Mona Webber and Emma L Tompkins. 2023. Science and policy lessons learned from a decade of adaptation to the emergent risk of sargassum proliferation across the tropical Atlantic - https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acd493 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/acd493 Episode guests: Dr Vicky Dominguez Almela and Dr Sien Van Der Plank Episode host: Prof Simon KempEpisode editors: Jack Dinham and Libby KaleCommunications editors: Hannah Parish, Alexander Ayerst, Maya StevensEngage with us on instagram and X: @meliorapodcast