PhD position: Mobilising cultural heritage in UK marine fisheries – Deadline 17 January 2023

Lead Supervisor: Ian Baxter (i.baxter@hw.ac.uk)
2nd Supervisor: Ruth Thurstan (r.thurstan@exeter.ac.uk)
Associate Partner: Historic England (https://historicengland.org.uk/research/current/discover-and-understand/coastal-and-marine/)

 

Project Description

Maritime cultural heritage is embedded in the practice of small-scale fishing: traditional ecological knowledge, maritime landscapes, historic landing places, traditional vessels, and all their associated skills and material culture. The fishing sector is going through transitions post-Brexit on top of environmental, generational and technological changes that are likely to further diminish the tangible and intangible heritage of fishing. How can we use this cultural legacy to drive greater sustainability within fisheries management before it is too late?

Aims and objectives

The research questions the project will address include:

• Investigation of the historical and cultural practices and knowledge that continue to exist and be associated with UK fishing communities, as well as practices that no longer take place, but which exist in memory, through associated activities, and embodied in historic artefacts, buildings and landscapes. Approaches will also explore why and how evidence of fishing practices have changed (or remained the same) over time.
• Assessment of the benefits that were or are gained from these practices at the individual and community levels, including economic, cultural, built environment and provisioning benefits.
• Exploration of the values and narratives associated with continuing traditions and/or heritage practices within fishing communities, and to what extent these differ across communities.

To answer these research questions, several complementary approaches will be used including historical, archaeological and ethnographical methods. A case study approach will be taken, whereby 2 to 3 geographically and culturally diverse fishing communities will be selected for detailed interrogation. The exact locations will be determined based upon student interest and ability to travel but will include both Scottish and English locations.

 

Training

This project is impact-oriented and is co-developed with Historic England as a CASE partner. To ensure that the work and outputs are in close alignment with Historic England’s (and other partner) needs, the student will work closely with Dr Antony Firth of Historic England as a co-supervisor on the project. The PhD candidate will initially train in cross-disciplinary approaches (exact training will depend upon their background and existing skill set), including conducting an internship (in person or online) with Historic England to understand the CASE partner’s perspectives, data needs, to generate fishing community contacts and identify existing archival or material sources known to Historic England. Training will also be undertaken as part of the CDT SuMMeR cohort, including access to relevant allied training via Heriot-Watt University (School of Social Science and Lyell Centre) and University of Exeter (Centre for Ecology & Conservation and ExeterMarine) research and doctoral training networks.

 

Project Structure

The initial stage of the project will refine the focus of the research, undertake literature review work and pilot case study fieldwork, as well as beginning to create a network of engagement partners. This will be followed by a period of fieldwork in a small number of case study locations. These will inform not only a final thesis submission but also practical / impact-focussed outputs of use for Historic England and partner organisations and stakeholders to support fishing heritage and historic environment connectivity and opportunities.

The project will be supervised by Dr Antony Firth (Head of Coastal & Marine Strategy, Historic England), Dr Ruth Thurstan (Senior Lecturer in Marine Social-Ecological Systems, University of Exeter) and Professor Ian Baxter (Professor of Historic Environment Management, Heriot-Watt University) (Lead Supervisor).

Information for Applicants

How to apply
Please find below the list of PhD projects which will start from October 2023. Please click on the reference code of the project you are interested in for more information and the contact details of the Lead Supervisor. You are encouraged to contact the Lead Supervisor (stated in the description of the project) prior to the submission of your application to discuss any aspect of the project/s you are interested in. This will be informal and will have no impact on any applications that follow, other than showing your interest and enthusiasm.

To submit your application, please send to cdt-summer@plymouth.ac.uk:

• A two-page curriculum vitae (CV) – please do not include personal information, such as your portrait photograph, age, marital status or nationality on your CV.. Let us know your education history from undergraduate, work experience, employment, research and publications and any other experience you consider relevant for the project. (Do contact the team at CDT SuMMeR if you have queries (CDT-SuMMeR-PGRS@plymouth.ac.uk);
• A personal statement/covering letter (no longer than 1000 words) which explains why you consider yourself to be a suitable candidate for the PhD Project advertised, what qualifications, experience and skills you have that support your application, and what your aspirations are following on completion of this PhD. Our team is strongly committed to upholding equity, diversity, and inclusion. We expect candidates to uphold these same values and contribute to a positive, safe and inclusive environment. We invite candidates to include a statement about their experience of working across disciplines, cultures, countries or groups in their cover letter. Please ensure you state the PhD Project Reference Code for which you are applying for, on your personal statement/covering letter;
• Complete the Diversity survey at the following link: CDT SuMMeR EDI Survey Please note this is for monitoring purposes only and is not linked to your application. The raw data is being collected independently of the CDT SuMMeR Programme Office by SERIO and is being collected because we want to check how well we are improving our recruitment processes year-on-year. We want to make sure we attract the best talent by recruiting candidates from many diverse backgrounds and experiences. Only the anonymised and aggregated data will be made available to the CDT SuMMeR programme office.
• Optional: SuMMeR appreciates and values differences and seeks to attract, develop and retain a diverse mix of talented people that will contribute to and benefit from the CDT. If you wish to do so, please provide any contextual information that is relevant to your prior attainment and/or your educational pathway to this point. For example, if you are returning to the education system after a period of prolonged absence, you may, if you wish, list any relevant professional experience/qualifications that you have gained. Or, if your prior attainment was affected by extenuating circumstances that you wish to share with us, please do so (up to 500 words).

The closing date for applications is 16:00 BST on 17^th January 2023.

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by email and invited for interview, with interviews expected to take place from the week commencing the 6th of February 2023. We regret that we may not be able to respond to every applicant. Applicants who have not received a response by this date should consider their application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Find out more here.