CSI for the Ocean

You're invited to the Summer 2026 Cohort of CSI for the Ocean (and any waterbody) Investigators!

This is the latest phase of CSI for the Ocean. By following the CSI for the Ocean sample collection, processing, analysis and contamination reduction protocols, your results will launch an important local dataset and contribute to the global dataset. You can discover local hotspots and identify if there is a possible local point source that can be addressed or if there are multiple diffuse sources that need upstream solutions, just like our Arctic and Southern Ocean data indicate.

By joining the 2026 Summer Cohort, you get access to guidance from Rachael Zoe Miller as well as the collaborative support of your fellow investigators. You will have an opportunity to help with the design of this global program and, potentially, down the road, to co-present your work with the Rozalia Project team and join us for expeditions on American Promise! This program will run from June 8 to August 15.

Sign up for the Summer 2026 Cohort

Changing the course of microfiber research

Since 2016, Rozalia Project Founder, Rachael Miller, and her team have been using ship-based expeditions to study microplastic and microfiber pollution, refine methods that make this science accessible and use the data to support the development and deployment of solutions.

In 2018, Professor Claire Gwinnett, an award-winning forensic scientist from Staffordshire University who recognized that methods used in forensic science could be brought to marine science, contacted Rachael sparking an incredible partnership and planting the seeds of CSI for the Ocean.

The program born from that collaboration is CSI for the Ocean a global citizen science microplastic mapping and monitoring program using accessible methods inspired by forensic science.

Remote, global expeditions and great partners

CSI for the Ocean includes a spectacular partnership with National Geographic - Lindblad Expeditions that invites Rachael onboard their ships to access some of the most remote and precious places on our planet; from Svalbard and the Arctic pack ice to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica among penguin colonies.

At the same time of Rachael's remote air and water sample collection, the same CSI for the Ocean methods are being implemented by partner schools and organizations to understand and monitor local microplastic and microfiber pollution.

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The next stage of CSI for the Ocean is in development

There is a great need for a lot of microfiber data in the next five years in order to push forward solutions from policy makers, washing machine manufacturers and textile industries. In order to make this possible, National Geographic Society has funded the development of an app that will close the remaining gap: fiber analysis. Once this app has been trained, tested and made available to the public, anyone on the planet will be able to contribute a meaningful and impactful dataset that would be otherwise unobtainable.