Jack Smith

I graduated with a degree in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh before completing a Masters of Resource Management (Coastal and Marine Resources) at the University Centre of the Westfjords in Isafjodur, Iceland. My Masters thesis was an examination of the relationship between owner-skippers and their fishing capital in the Scottish demersal fishery. I used semi-structured interviews to explore questions surrounding the national and privatised ownership of fishing quota and the socio-economic effects of the quota system in Scotland. 

I am now working on my PhD at UEA, entitled: The Future Governance of ‘Blue’ Common Pool Resources: What do Fisheries and ‘Blue’ Carbon have in Common? An International Framework.

I am in my 2nd year at the time of enviroSPRINT. The project is embedded within the ARIES doctoral training programme and is in partnership with CEFAS (The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science).

My PhD project: aims to bring the emerging natural resource of marine carbon to life. The ecosystem service provided by natural carbon sequestration and storage in shelf seas has the potential to be utilised in climate change mitigation strategies in ways similar to other natural stores of carbon such as rain forests and coastal Blue Carbon. By researching the hypothetical governance and management of this potential marine carbon resource, I hope to inform policymakers on whether and how the resource can be utilised and governed to help combat climate change.

As such, my research interests centre on the following fields: environmental governance (especially marine and fisheries), blue carbon, carbon economics, political ecology, theoretical geography, commons studies, environmental philosophy, and natural resource management.

The chosen project research methods focus on social and qualitative methods, including expert consultation (Interviewing, Q-Methodology), Stakeholder Mapping and Scenarios Analysis.

Alongside my project, I am the co-editor of the DTP’s student-led blog – SciEnvy – to which I am a regular contributor. This involves managing the blog’s social media (@scienvy), encouraging other students to write for the blog, copy-editing, running the website, and writing.

Twitter: @JackMontSmith