As discussed in It's the fi-nal Group 4! and Aquaculture and kelp project - update, this year UWC Red Cross Nordic enlisted the help of local R&D organisation Akvahub to provide suggestions of real-world problems facing farmers in our region.

The highlight of the projects came the week after we set aside a day for collaborative work: the presentations.

We were joined by a panel of experts from Akvahub and Bue Salmon to judge the students' publications and I invited students and teachers to watch. Keeping things to tight time limits (4 minutes to present and 2 minutes for Q&A) meant that we were able to see all groups in a 2-hour period, and we also got our Marketing Team involved - for both the website and social media.

Our students' solutions to the challenges included:

• Water filtration using drum filters and bio towels
• Waste management by reusing fish waste as a fertiliser
• Extraction of nutrients from sludge using reverse osmosis
• Fish farm tank size optimisation by modelling
• Eradication of lice using fresh-water farming and laser technology
• Automatic oxygen monitoring systems to support seaweed farming
• Reviewing the conditions needed for seaweed production
• Linking up with other industries to exploit any available waste heat
• Recognition of the benefits of circular ecosystems for kelp, shellfish, fish and farmers

Although we will certainly do more next time to increase 'hands on' opportunities (e.g. site visits or settling on a smaller range of challenges that have straightforward practical possibilities), students felt positive about how much they had achieved together with a range of scientific disciplines to hand, and our judges asked all groups if their reports and slides could be shared with representatives from the aquaculture industry.

Next year will see us embark on our first Collaborative Sciences Project. I'm optimistic, because we have piloted involving almost all 102 students in the cohort in one go (and not just those studying Biology, Chemistry and Physics). I'd advise any school that has yet to conclude their final Group 4 Project to think ahead and trial something for everyone.