I’m writing to ask for your help with a research project focused specifically on verification and quality assurance of automated species identification in passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), which I think is very relevant to anyone working in the field of acoustics.

The study is being led by the British Trust for Ornithology in partnership with Natural England and funded by Defra. We’re aiming to understand how automated acoustic species identifications (e.g. for birds, bats, amphibians and other terrestrial taxa) are currently verified in practice, how uncertainty is quantified and communicated, and how these outputs are used in real-world ecological and regulatory decision-making. 

We’re particularly keen to hear from:

-            People involved in developing, training, or validating automated acoustic species classifiers, and

-            End-users of automated species identification outputs (e.g. consultants, regulators, NGOs, or monitoring programme              leads).

The questionnaire takes around 20 minutes, responses are anonymous, and participation is entirely voluntary. There’s also an optional opportunity to take part in a short follow-up interview.

If you’re willing to take part, the survey is available here:

https://forms.gle/Ak3eYgZivUPaMbCM6

Many thanks for considering this — your experience would make a valuable contribution to shaping future guidance and best practice in this area.

Best wishes, Stuart