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

Professor William Powrie

Professor of Geotechnical Engineering

Research interests

  • Railway track and trackbed behaviour and performance
  • Geotechnical transportation infrastructure (earthworks, retaining walls, tunnels)
  • Groundwater and groundwater control

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with William

Professor Xize Niu

Professor of Biosensing&Microengineering

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Xize

Professor Yannis Ieropoulos PhD, MIET

Head of Department

Research interests

  • Environmental Engineering;
  • Bioelectrochemistry;
  • Autonomous Bio-Robotics;

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Yannis

Dr Yao Zhang

Lecturer in Maritime Engineering

Research interests

  • Learning-based Control and optimization
  • Renewable energy
  • Control applications to marine systems (wave energy converters, launch and recovery systems, underwaters)

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Yao

Mr Yi Wang

Connect with Yi

Dr Yongqiang Liu

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment 
  • Biofilm 
  • Anaerobic digestion 

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Yongqiang

Dr Yu (Jack) Gong

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Sustainable supply chain management
  • Supply chain innovation
  • Blockchain technology

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Yu (Jack)

Dr Yue Wu

Reader

Research interests

  • Global supply chain and logistics
  • Maritime logistics
  • Container terminal operations

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Yue

Dr Yue Zhang

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Anaerobic digestion (AD) for organic waste management and renewable energy production, especially optimisation of digestion process e.g. via selective trace element supplementation, and manipulation of microbially-mediated pathways methanogenesis
  • Mixed-culture fermentation for bio-based chemical production with integration of downstream recovery processes, especially on selective carboxylic acid production from protein-rich wastes
  • CO2 biomethanisation, especially in-situ hydrogen addition new project to be created
Connect with Yue

Related research institutes, centres and groups

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.