The project will be based in Scotland, a country with a long history of fishing, where small-scale fishers are a cornerstone of the coastal economy, providing employment, supporting local food systems with a lower carbon footprint, and contributing to cultural heritage. Research on climate change and fishing communities has largely focused on ecosystem impacts and adaptation strategies, with few studies on community wellbeing or socio-economic impacts. Research has also focused more on those who work on large fishing vessels in ‘hotspot’ geographies such as Southeast Asia and Africa, overlooking inshore small-scale fishers who are self-employed, depend directly on fisheries for their livelihoods, contribute to the economy and food security in many contexts, with a lower climate impact than many other food production systems.

 Small-scale fishers have also been the most sensitive to climate change, with wide-ranging impacts including disrupted fishing activities, reduced fishing productivity, loss of income, loss of cultural identity and social practices, loss of coastal land and resources, and marginalisation in decision-making. Scholars and policymakers tend to address the climate crisis as a single system, overlooking the interactions, entanglements, and mutually reinforcing dynamics among multiple crises that are faced by fishers, many of which are driven by global-scale stressors and create combined harms that are worse than each crisis in isolation. Hence, this research will employ a polycrisis lens to examine small-scale fishers and the climate crisis by identifying shared stresses, cascading effects, and systemic dynamics at both national and global levels that lead to synchronised crises (Lawrence et al., 2024). By identifying shared stresses, cascading effects, and systemic dynamics at both national and global levels, there can be a better understanding of how the regulatory environment compounds rather than alleviates systemic socio-cultural stresses on small-scale fishers and their communities. It also enhances knowledge of how economic, political, and environmental stressors interconnect and reinforce one another, creating new crises for fishers.

The research methodology will be a state of the art, community-oriented research design to understand how communities are navigating the complex interplay between political, regulatory, environmental and cultural regimes. A ‘social cartography’ (Vaughan, 2018) recognises that coasts are not cartesian ‘lines’ but fluid, spatial and temporal zones through which village livelihoods and customs follow seasonal changes. Fishers from five Scottish regions will be invited to map the changing territories of their working lives through interactive workshops, to identify and illustrate the current and potential stressors on these collectively created maps. This addresses the common exemption of these narratives from decision-making. The approach is further complemented by inviting fishing communities to respond to a series of prompts and, over time, share their experiences and challenges through photos and a photo-voice method. 

Further information

Strathclyde Business School is committed to supporting a diverse and inclusive postgraduate research population. We make decisions on entry by assessing the whole person and not relying solely on academic achievements. On that basis, please ensure that your application (via your CV and covering letter) can evidence your resourcefulness, commitment and resilience as demonstrated by broader professional and life experiences. This evidence should be centred on your ability to undertake and complete a PhD and contribute to a positive PhD community.

If English isn't your first language, you'll need an IELTS score of 6.5 (or an equivalent test) with no individual element below 5.5.