International researcher-practitioner collaboration to co-produce conceptualisation of marine identities & put marine citizenship theory into practice

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The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development identifies ten challenges for humanity to address to secure a sustainable future for the ocean and humanity. This proposal responds to Challenge 10: "Change humanity's relationship with the ocean". Marine citizenship is exercising the right to participate in the transformation of the human-ocean relationship and includes activities ranging from choosing ocean-friendly products to leading campaigns aimed at reducing harmful human impacts upon the ocean. My PhD research suggests there may be a marine identity, through which people are directly dependent on a healthy marine environment, which motivates people to go from caring about the ocean, to taking action to protect it.The project will convene a workshop and network of international researchers and practitioners to: develop a conceptualisation of marine identities through diverse perspectives, knowledge, research and practice in global communities; interrogate relationships with marine citizenship and ocean literacy; publish the findings, targeted at Global Environmental Change, to reach leading environmental researchers. This workshop is anticipated to include representatives from the Samoan Voyaging Society (SVS), which works to reconnect Pacific Islanderchildren to their traditional seafaring heritage, through nurturing cultural identity, ocean literacy, and traditional skills; and the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition (COLC), a project promoting ocean literacy across Canada, pioneering new techniques and participatory approaches.This project will lay the groundwork for conceptualising marine identities and their connection to marine citizenship and ocean literacy, and develop effective measurement tools for interdisciplinary research. To facilitate these aims, the project includes collaboration with the UK's first National Marine Park in Plymouth Sound (PSNMP). PSNMP and the linked Lottery Heritage Horizons project are centred on the connection Plymouth residents and visitors have with the ocean. Both aim to promote marine citizenship through positive experience and interaction with the marine environment. Through this collaboration, applied interdisciplinary activities will be co-produced to pilot methods of developing marine citizenship and marine identity through participation and impact. This will enable a range of organisations, businesses and communities in the city to learn about and promote marine citizenship. Learning will reach beyond Plymouth, through the PSNMP's role as a blueprint for other NMPs. This will provide foundations for the development of future research into marine citizenship and marine identities.A core component will be the development of an ESRC New Investigators Grant funding application, aiming to more fully characterise marine identities and their relationship with marine citizenship and ocean literacy across international communities. Using case studies (e.g., PSNMP, SVS and COLC), the project will cross Western and non-Western, indigenous and non-indigenous, and urban and non-urban communities to enable identification of commonalities and differences within marine identity. The research design will build on outcomes of the workshop, the PSNMP collaboration, and the theoretical marine identity framework proposed in my PhD research. The project will use interdisciplinary and mixed methods approaches to understand marine identity holistically and will be designed to provide cross-cultural research tools and lay the foundations to support research and practice that will promote active marine citizenship and the transformation of the human-ocean relationship.Throughout this fellowship, I will increase my publication outputs whilst continuing to build my exemplary record of impact and public engagement. Findings will be shared with researchers and practitioners in the marine sector, and communities of all kinds.