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Research group

Ocean Justice

Plastic pollution in the sea by Naja Bertolt Jensenon

We are at the intersections of transdisciplinary ocean studies and concepts of global and environmental justice, exploring how to decolonise our engagements with the ocean and understandings of justice.

About

The Ocean Justice group aims to explore what the ocean brings to the meaning of justice, the presence and representation of the ocean in courts and law, and how we can unlearn and decolonise both our engagement with the ocean and understandings of justice in transdisciplinary manners.  

In 2022-23 we had a launch meeting that focused on how to build the group and on submitting a report to the International Seabed Authority Intersessional (ISA) Working Group on intangible and tangible Underwater Cultural Heritage and the insertion of this concept on their current draft of the ISA Mining Code. The report was co-authored with Mekhala Dave from Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary:

A Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary Submission in Collaboration with Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute Special Interest Group on Ocean Justice (ISA Council’s Intersessional Working Group on Underwater Cultural Heritage, 15 May 2023, pp. 24–34).

For 2023-2024, we plan to hold an international and transdisciplinary hybrid Ocean Justice panel. We hope that the conversations that begin at this panel in early 2024, can be continued during a sandpit and writing retreat with members from the group. This retreat will allow a few members of the group to put together 2 main outputs: a brief publication on ocean justice and a funding bid to spend more time exploring this concept via a larger research project.

We also run a termly reading group, which includes both published work and work-in-progress to support scholars across the University and outside. We hold our discussion on an MS Teams group

To find out more about the Ocean Justice Special Interest Group and what we do, get in touch with group champions Giulia Champion and Dina Lupin.

Join the SMMI Community to sign up to this group, and any others of interest to you. 

(Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensenon)

People, projects and publications

People

Dr Giulia Champion PhD

Research Fellow (Anniversary Fellowship)

Research interests

  • Blue, Energy and Environmental Humanities
  • Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies
  • Marine and Maritime Cultural Productions

Dr Hachem Kassem

Lecturer

Research interests

  • Nearshore hydrodynamics and coastal sediment dynamics
  • Coastal and ocean engineering and flow-structure-seabed-biota interactions
  • Adaptive, nature-inclusive solutions to climate-mediated geohazards, including flooding, erosion and habitat degradation

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: hachem.kassem@soton.ac.uk

Address: National Oceanography Centre, Waterfront Campus European Way, SO14 3ZH

Dr Helen Paul MA(Oxon), MLitt, PhD, FRHistS, FRSA

Lecturer

Research interests

  • Economic History
  • Social History
  • Business History

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: h.j.paul@soton.ac.uk

Address: B58, West Highfield Campus, University Road, SO17 1BJ

Dr Ka-Kin Cheuk

Lecturer in Anthropology

Accepting applications from PhD students

Dr Lareb Dean FHEA

AXA Research Fellow

Email: l.s.n.dean@soton.ac.uk

Address: Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road Shirley, SO16 6YD

Dr Matt Kerr

Lecturer

Research interests

  • Nineteenth-century literature and culture; 
  •  Oceanic humanities; 
  •  Waste and rubbish; 

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: m.p.kerr@soton.ac.uk

Address: B65, Avenue Campus, Highfield Road, SO17 1BF

Professor Paul Kemp

Professor of Ecological Engineering

Email: p.kemp@soton.ac.uk

Address: Boldrewood Campus, Burgess Road, SO16 7QF

Professor Tiina Roose

Professor-Biological&Environmental Model

Related research institutes, centres and groups

Connect with us

Enquiries

If you're interested in joining us or collaborating, get in touch with the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.