Research themes

Research themes represented by the GMC include:

Coastal communities, fisheries and conservation

Applied research on small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, responsible tourism and value-chains for the sustainable development of coastal communities and for the conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems.

For example:

In the Department of History, Politics and Social Sciences, projects (e.g. TourFish, Geography of Inshore Fishing and Sustainability) have explored how responsible tourism can be used as a vehicle for sustainable development of small-scale fishing communities, both in Europe and the Caribbean.

The Natural Resources Institute, particularly the Food and Marketing Department, have conducted projects such as:

• Fish distribution from coastal communities in Bangladesh;
• Improving access to microfinance by poor fishing, processing, and trading communities in Cambodia;
• Sustainability Impact Assessment of Proposed World Trade Organization Negotiations (fisheries sector study);
• Development of Brand Name Strategies by Seafood Producer Groups in Vietnam, and the Development of a National Strategy to Enhance Trade Opportunities for Vietnamese Shrimp

Maritime safety, security and welfare

Providing expertise and tools to improve the safety, security  and welfare of seafarers, passengers and coastal populations, particularly in relation to evacuation procedures.

For example:

The Fire Safety Engineering group have carried out multiple projects including:

• Measuring human performance in ship evacuation conditions of static heel
• FIRE-EXIT: Formulation of immediate response and evacuation strategies through intelligent simulation assessment and large-scale testing
• SAFEGUARD: An ambitious project aiming to collect human performance data in full scale ship trials and use this to provide calibration and validation data for ship based evacuation models and to also propose and investigate additional benchmark scenarios to be used in certification analysis.
• Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers for the Royal Navy: The design of the aircraft carriers to ensure that it would be possible to safely evacuate crew from the aircraft carriers.  This project was supported by BAE Systems under contract to the MoD.
• Evacuation capabilities of HMS Victory in dry dock: This project was funded by the MoD and used to assess the safety of people on-board the Victory, in particular for a proposed banquet to be held on the ship for VIPs.

In addition to the projects listed there are also a range of You Tube videos depicting work that has been carried out as part of this research theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DQD2b08rJk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhJZWSM-G4g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFBAKiFLwgU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtNhhhWY_3Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPzJfgDtQsw

There are also PhD projects in the area of maritime security in the School of Law (in collaboration with other departments) including:

• Maritime frameworks in the East African Community
• Seafarers rights in China
• Maritime security and boundaries in the Gulf of Guinea
• Maritime security arrangements in West and East Africa
• International regulations of private maritime security companies
• The standards of training of ships crews for maritime security

In the Department of History, Politics and Social Sciences projects in the area of maritime welfare include 'Gender and empowerment of women in multinational-crewed environments', and PhD projects include:

• Women's contribution to social cohesion in fishing communities along the English Channel
• Seafarers welfare in Nigeria - looking at on-board and shore-based welfare services
• Impact of cruise shipping to island economy in Madeira

Maritime governance, policy, law

Understanding policy and governance initiatives and legal frameworks for the sea, from both historical and current perspectives.

For example:

Recent book projects on maritime governance from the School of Law include 'The End of the Grotian Era', dealing with the development of ocean governance since the middle of the 17th Century through to the foreseeable future. Professor Steven Haines has published extensively on issues relating to governance, law and the sea.

Maritime history, heritage and the arts

Exploring of the importance of the ocean, seas and estuaries from a heritage and historical perspective, including naval and environmental history, and exploring, supporting and creating representations of the maritime world in literature and art

For example:

In the Department of History, Politics and Social Sciences, projects have explored:

• The governance of the River Thames (1960 to 2010) using oral histories
• An environmental history guide to the River Thames
• Governance of the River Thames from 1900 to present
• Sustaining the Empire: War, the Navy and the Contractor State
• Running the River Thames: London, Stakeholders and the Environmental Governance of the River Thames, 1960-2010
• People, Place and Fish was a creative photo project by the University of Greenwich aimed at revealing the cultural values of inshore fishing (part of the project Geography of Inshore Fishing and Sustainability). See also this book chapter, within Creative Economies, Creative Communities.

The GMC also regularly features maritime artists on our website to support and promote maritime representation in the arts.

Digital technology and mapping

Providing digital technology and mapping solutions to maritime issues, such as in shipping and historical projects.

For example:

The Greenwich GIS Research Group (g3), part of Department of Computing and Information Systems, has been analysing the movement of ships within the Solent, with implications for security and port design.

The Computational Mechanics & Reliability Group (CMRG), a research group within the Department of Mathematics, has been using advanced digital technologies that can predict stress in complex solid structures, to help with the restoration of the Cutty Sark and Medway Queen (Heroine of Dunkirk). They have also been using digital techniques, that are usually used to design racing yachts, for interpreting British and French ship designs from 16th century.