Meet our 2025 Project Grant recipients!
We launched our Youth Ocean Action Fund in Spring 2025, offering young people aged 16-25 a unique opportunity to support their marine advocacy journeys. Our Project Grant offered up to £500 to kickstart youth-led ocean action projects and remove barriers to ocean advocacy.
Read on to find out about our 2025 recipients and their inspiring projects!
Youth Ocean Action Fund logo
YSCS Podcast
Jamie Connolly and YSCS Podcast group
The YSCS Podcast will invite members of ocean-orientated organisations to speak on subjects that relate to modern marine issues and the role of young people. The episodes will be themed, with multiple YSCS members taking part in both speaking and behind the scenes production.
“Receiving the funding from the YOAF is enabling this once distant idea of mine to come to life, fulfil a dream, and hopefully grow to become a colourful chapter in YSCS's legacy. I am beyond excited to see how we as a team can weave connections and ideas together with this podcast. “
~ Jamie
Image of a podcast studio
Arran Wildlife Code
Megan Hamill
At the beginning of 2025, Megan developed and launched the Arran Wildlife Code in collaboration with a number of community organisations. The code highlights the island’s most vulnerable species and offering practical advice on how to minimise their disturbance. It covers species like otters, seals, basking sharks, whales, dolphins, and nesting seabirds, all of which rely on the island’s coastal habitats for feeding, breeding, and resting.
“I’m grateful to the opportunity given to me through the Youth Ocean Action Fund to expand the impact of the Arran Wildlife Code project. The fund will be used to further engage the community through the printing of leaflets and hosting community events, raising awareness of the effects of disturbance on local wildlife.”
~ Megan
Close your eyes to sea
Julia Rowlandson
Julia’s new project is a short film exploring how people living with sight loss experience the Scottish coast—through sound, sensation, emotion and memory. It’s a story that brings awareness to accessibility in nature and reimagines our shared blue spaces. Julia is excited to create something that asks us to expand how we connect to the ocean and notice how much beauty exists beyond what we see.
“Being by the sea reminds me to slow down and really listen. This project is about making that kind of presence possible for everyone.”
~ Julia