As another busy year comes to a close, I look back on some of the research, consultancy and teaching work I have been involved in. I have enjoyed working with with a diverse range of research, NGO and public administration partners Germany, Ireland, the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.
In February, I completed my teaching at Leuphana University of Lüneburg with a seminar course on ecosystem-based marine spatial planning for the Dogger Bank with a very engaged group of students. In March, together, with Louis Cellier of Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), I hosted a ‘Global Conversations’ webinar at Lüneburg’s Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI)focussed on integrative policy-making across the land-seas divide. This was followed in April by a successful Marine Spatial Planning Research Network (MSPRN) ‘MSP Futures’ webinar on multi-use in MSP.
In parallel, I advised Ireland’s Northern and Western Regional Assembly on the relevance and implementation of marine spatial planning at the sub-national level.
I worked with Peter Evans of Sea Watch, the ASCOBANS secretariat, Aline Kühl-Stenzel of NABU and Germany’s Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz) on the preparation of international guidelines for cetacean-sensitive marine spatial planning. In September, I presented to a BfN conference in Stralsund on Progress in Marine Conservation on the implementation of ecosystem-based MSP in Germany and internationally.
With colleagues at the International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD) and Monaghan County Council, I have been working over the past months to improve the coherence and effectiveness of coherence of cross-border public safety messaging, through research funded by Ireland’s Shared Island Initiative via the Office for Emergency Planning, Department for Defence. In December, Dermot Brannigan (Chief Fire Officer, Monaghan) and I presented our preliminary findings at the Annual All Island Disaster Risk Reduction Conference.
With partners from across the North Sea region, I am engaged in developing innovative governance solutions for small North Sea islands under the Interreg North Sea FREIIA project.
Finally, since October, I have been working at the University of Oldenburg, Department of Ecological Economics, collaborating with colleagues from across both the natural and social sciences on interdisciplinary research on bird and bat navigation and migration.
I look forward to continuing collaborative work under FREIIA, with University of Oldenburg, ICLRD and MSPRN, as well as new ventures on Emerging Non-Standard Geographies with Spatial Foresight under ESPON and the DFG Network on Conservation Humanities. 2024 will hopefully see more writing outputs with quite a few collaborative writing projects currently on the go!
It continues to be a pleasure and a privilege to work with and learn from both expert researchers and experienced practitioners across diverse fields to progress conceptual and practical understanding and advance interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral solutions. Thank you all and best wishes for 2024!