Organisation profile
Organisation profile
Aquatic environments cover more than 70% of our planet’s surface and the value of the global oceans is estimated to be US$24 trillion.
The scale and importance of aquatic systems impacts biodiversity and ecosystem services and is critical to addressing crucial challenges in climate change, biodiversity loss, and safeguarding human health and well-being. However, despite the fundamental importance of these systems, there are large gaps in our conceptual knowledge and practice on how to best govern aquatic environments for the common good. New holistic solutions are urgently needed.
The Centre for Blue Governance at the University of Portsmouth aims to meet the holistic and multi-disciplinary research needed to inform blue governance mechanisms. The CBG takes a more expansive view of Blue Economy to encompass marine and freshwater systems and conceptualises them as development spaces.
The overall objective of the Centre is multidisciplinary collaboration to contribute to the design, setting-up and implementation of blue growth in countries, regions and political entities. It will develop and provide inter-disciplinary research expertise at both sectoral (various economic branches) and overall levels (coordination, planning) with a strong emphasis on the challenge synergising nature conservation and economic development.
The Centre for Blue Governance will also serve as a nexus to facilitate collaboration across stakeholders in blue governance. It provides multi-discipline expertise to the multi-sector and multi-user landscape of aquatic governance. The Centre's activities encompass research, development policies, social justice and education.
The CBG tackles new and current research themes but also elaborates on new research areas. Our work encompasses numerous sub-topics and four central themes:
- Blue policies, planning and security
- Blue energy, technologies and transport solutions
- Biodiversity, blue carbon and climate change
- Aquatic resources management
UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Our work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 1 No Poverty -
SDG 2 Zero Hunger -
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being -
SDG 4 Quality Education -
SDG 5 Gender Equality -
SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation -
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy -
SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth -
SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure -
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities -
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities -
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production -
SDG 13 Climate Action -
SDG 14 Life Below Water -
SDG 15 Life on Land -
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions -
SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals
Fingerprint
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Profiles
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Matthew Anderson
- Faculty of Business & Law, School of Organisations, Systems and People - Senior Lecturer
- Faculty of Business & Law, Revolution Plastics Institute
- Centre for the Advancement of Equality, Gender and Inclusion Studies
- Agile Centre For Equitable Sustainability
- Centre for Blue Governance
Person: Associate, Academic
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Cressida Bowyer
- Faculty of Business & Law, Revolution Plastics Institute - Professor of Arts and Science for Sustainability
- Faculty of Creative & Cultural Industries, School of Film, Media and Creative Technologies - Professor of Arts and Science for Sustainability
- Centre for the Advancement of Equality, Gender and Inclusion Studies
- Agile Centre For Equitable Sustainability
- Centre for Blue Governance
Person: Associate, Academic
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A call to action: engaging with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution
Diamond, M. L., Sigmund, G., Ågerstrand, M., Bertram, M. G., Ford, A. T., Lohmann, R., Schäffer, A., Starling, M. C. V. M., Soehl, A., Suzuki, N., Vlahos, P., Venier, M. & Scheringer, M., 10 Feb 2026, In: Environmental Science & Technology. 60, 5, p. 3716-3719Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Amphipoda and the Riboviria: viral diversity on a global scale
Burgess, A. L., Behringer, D. C., Wood, L. E., Park, E., Rotjan, R., Scavo-Lord, K., Branconi, R. & Bojko, J., 1 Jul 2026, In: Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 217, 18 p., 108601.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile514 Downloads (Pure) -
Anticipatory governance? Capacity for unintended policy outcomes
Johnston, K., 1 Jan 2026, In: Public Money & Management. 46, 1, p. 1-2 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review
Student theses
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Tyre-Derived Pollutants in Aquatic Ecosystems: Chemistry, Toxicology, and Potential for Mitigation
Obanya, H. E. (Author), Ford, A. (Supervisor), Couceiro, F. (Supervisor) & Cabada-Blanco, F. (Supervisor), 8 Sept 2025Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis
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Assessing the Capacity of Seagrass Meadows in the Solent (UK) for Blue Carbon Sequestration
Ward, E. A. (Author), Preston, J. (Supervisor), Reynolds, S. (Supervisor) & Cerasuolo, M. (Supervisor), 20 Jun 2024Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis
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Contemporary and Future Perspectives on the Marine Microbial Community and Nutrient Resources
Marx, L. (Author), Reynolds, S. (Supervisor), Ragazzola, F. (Supervisor) & Hale, M. (Supervisor), 8 Nov 2023Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis
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Datasets
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Dataset for 'Calculating the relative importance of condition attributes based on the characteristics of decision rules and attribute reducts: application to crowdfunding'
Chakhar, S. (Creator), Ishizaka, A. (Creator), Thorpe, A. (Creator), Cox, J. (Creator), Nguyen, T. (Creator) & Ford, L. (Creator), University of Portsmouth, 2020
DOI: 10.17029/818c8061-9f7f-454d-8a9e-5d31d6a6426b
Dataset
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Dataset for 'Effect of acute passive heating on glucose tolerance and cardiovascular function in people with Type 2 diabetes: A randomised, balanced crossover, control trial.'
Shepherd, A. (Creator) & James, T. (Creator), University of Portsmouth, 20 Aug 2020
DOI: 10.17029/fbdc9fdd-6ecc-40ef-b318-0f49aa33ce1d
Dataset
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Southern England sediment elemental concentration data
Richir, J. (Creator), Bray, S. (Contributor), McAleese, T. (Contributor) & Watson, G. J. (Contributor), Mendeley Data, 21 Mar 2021
DOI: 10.17632/m68k63nnk3.3, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/m68k63nnk3
Dataset
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3D Sound Propagation Modelling in Complex Underwater Environments
Wu, L. (CoI), Currie, H. (PI), White, P. R. (CoI) & Wood, M. (CoI)
1/05/26 → 1/11/26
Project: Research
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Safety Management of Offshore Critical Infrastructure
Jones, D. (PI), Labib, A. (CoI), Khosravi, B. (CoI) & Akbari, N. (CoI)
1/09/25 → 31/08/29
Project: Research
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KTP Revolutionising Data Capture and Machine Learning for ReThink
Ma, H. (PI), Smart, E. (CoI) & Simms, C. (CoI)
30/04/25 → 30/10/27
Project: Research
Activities
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UoP Screening: People's Emergency Briefing
Preston, J. (Keynote/plenary speaker), Currie, H. (Organiser) & Yuan, H. (Organiser)
30 Apr 2026Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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Invited speaker at Acoustics workshop, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton
Currie, H. (Speaker)
3 Mar 2026Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Winter ASAB 2025
Currie, H. (Presented paper)
15 Dec 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
Prizes
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Defence/Maritime Innovation of the Year
Smart, E. (Recipient), 31 Oct 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Press/Media
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What’s Missing in Cities’ Climate Resilience Interventions? Three New Studies Assess
6/05/26 → 8/05/26
2 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research cited
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IUCN Red List: extinction risk of Pillar coral and other marine taxa inccreases
9/12/22 → 21/02/23
9 items of Media coverage, 1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research cited