PhD Research: Energy, Technology, Behaviour, Culture and Regulation; The complex problems and transition engineering solutions for the future of local, sustainable fishing
The aim of the research is to navigate the pathways for change out of the complexity and pressures of unsustainable energy and resource use. The project aims to facilitate the transition to healthy, low carbon local fishing communities and economies strong enough to continue to support the local land activities (e.g. tourism, restaurants, processing).
The objectives are to develop productive ways to capture the local knowledge about sustainable, efficient, and economical fishing practices, codify this knowledge using modern digital technology and develop prototype modern quota and regulation systems. Further objectives are to address the cultural values of local fishing and find new ways to understand and govern the commons of the marine ecosystem and the fishing culture and seaside villages.
The methods of transition engineering, marine science, social science, fisheries management, data science and computer science will be converged in the research to establish the Fishery Transition Lab and Housing Transition Lab which bring together the stakeholders from different perspectives, and applies the Interdisciplinary Transition Innovation, Management and Engineering (InTIME) process to find new ways of achieving local, sustainable fishing, decarbonising fishing activities, preventing the declining of fishing communities, and addressing the housing stock problems, fuel poverty problems and deprivation often faced by island and coastal communities.