Research profile

Transition has been an overarching research interest since the beginning of my PhD and carries through to my current projects (e.g., EmpowerUs) and future research directions. A central question in my work is whether coastal communities can fill the void created by diminished fishing opportunities, either by collectively resisting concentration and consolidation or by transitioning to other sectors. Demonstrated through my studies of a variety of marine sectors and policies, I am interested in the changing uses of ocean resources, the multiplicity of management arrangements, and their impact on people and places. The purpose of my work is to illuminate the effects, alterations, and continuities within coastal communities, regions, and nations and their interconnected cultures, marine resources, and seascapes.

In my research on cultural heritage (PERICLES 2018-2021), I concentrated on topics related to intangible cultural heritage, namely the tacit knowledge of techniques connected to commercial activities that have become less practiced. Conflicts, tensions, and differences in perspective often come to light clearly via discussions of intangible cultural heritage and the difficult to quantify changes and challenges facing coastal communities.

The theme of transition is also recognizable in my marine (environmental) governance scholarship and contributions to H2020 and FP7 projects, MERCES, ODEMM, MEFEPO, and MareFrame, and the recently funded Horizon Europe (HE) project, OBAMA Next. This body of work examines policy and governance arrangements on sociotechnical topics, such as marine ecosystem restoration, ecosystem-based management, biodiversity, and oil and gas decommissioning from interdisciplinary perspectives. Transition and adaptation to change are also at the core of my contributions to projects on climate change in Greenlandic fisheries (H2020 ECOTIP) and climate justice (Innovations Fund industrial PhD).

For future research interests, I will build on the theme of transition and investigate change and continuity in coastal communities and regions. I lead an EU HorizonEurope project work package on “just and inclusive transition mechanisms” (EmpowerUs) and am developing a conceptual framework and synthesize the results of six living labs with AAU colleagues and consortium partners.

I am especially interested in doing research on the emerging blue economy, its (dis)connections to coastal and rural contexts and contributing to the literature on periphery and implications of proposed blue growth. I see this work aligning with the faculty’s thematic nexus of sociotechnical problems and solutions and emphasis on sustainability.