The University of Plymouth World Oceans Day Schools' Conference 2021 – Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business

A celebration of the marine research and opportunities available at the University
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Join a host of our academics across the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business in a celebration of the marine research and opportunities available at the University of Plymouth.

Plymouth is a University with a strong profile in environmental sciences and is recognised as the 'Home of Marine Research' in the UK. We at the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business are passionate about our interdisciplinary programmes which enable students to pursue interests in environmental issues through arts, business, humanities and social science perspectives.

We draw on staff expertise and our ties to the Sustainable Earth Institute, the Marine Institute and the Environmental Cultures research group, which connect the environmental sciences to the arts and humanities through a variety of collaborations and events. We want to inspire young minds and encourage your students to cultivate key skills in communication, research and critical and creative thinking. These skills are invaluable for building more environmentally responsible societies of the future through a range of careers in areas such as conservation, heritage, education, journalism, the creative industries and governmental and non-governmental organisations.

The talks are aimed at A level students who are looking to take their next steps into higher education; however, eager GCSE students may also find the talks encouraging. The talks cover three of our schools: the School of Humanities and Performing Arts, the School of Law, Criminology and Government and Plymouth Business School.

These talks were originally held in June 2021.


Global Logistics and the Highways of the Sea

Maritime business academic Dr Sarah Tuck focuses on the use of the oceans for global logistics. The oceans are common property, belonging to no-one and open to abuse by everyone. These commons are criss-crossed by sealanes used by larger and more polluting ships as they carry our cargoes between key geographical chokepoints such as the Suez Canal. Without these ships, half the world will starve and half will freeze and none will have their Primark t-shirts. But there are also secret, hidden ways and meeting points in the ocean that we are just discovering, used by the creatures of the sea. The ocean is not a waste land, it is a rich environment teeming with life and balanced in a delicate ecological harmony. How do we continue to use the highway of the seas to sustain ourselves without destroying the mother ocean that sustains the world?

Why Maritime History Matters!

Join history academic Dr Elaine Murphy to explore why maritime history matters. The sea accounts for approximately 70% of the world’s surface – it connects people, religions and civilisations. As David Abulafia shows in The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans (2019), the role of the sea in making these connections is ‘particularly fascinating’. Yet too often as historians we focus on events on land. This talk focuses on some of the ways in which maritime history matters to our understanding of the past and how we can study maritime history.

 

Maritime Security

Associate Professor of Strategic Studies Dr Fotios Moustakis’ talk explores maritime security. For decades, fishing and global trading have made the maritime realm a backbone of UK prosperity. However, the stability of Europe and the United Kingdom has recently been threatened by old and new challenges such as increased tensions between major powers; piracy in Somalia and West Africa; illegal immigrant problems in the Mediterranean region; increased fears of terrorism and illegal trafficking of drugs, humans and arms. In addition, climate change, pollution and illicit fishing have amplified these direct risks and threats.

Exploring Alien Worlds of the Ocean Through Poetry

Professor of English Literature Dr Mandy Bloomfield explores how poetry attends to 'alien' life forms in ways that might bring us 'closer' to forms of life we might usually view as radically distant from us (and out of sight and out of mind).

 
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Conserving the Oceans – Governance and Law

Law academic Jason Lowther and PhD student Lydia Koehler look at conserving the oceans through governance and law.

 
THE Impact Rankings SDG14 Life Below Water 2021 Top 10 large

World leaders

We are ranked the number one university globally 2021 for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal number 14: life below water.
The award recognises the quality of our marine research and teaching as well as our efforts to reduce the impact of campus activities on the marine environment. The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).