Early Career Researchers

University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School (England)

"I contribute to PANDORA by developing useful economic models.”

Read more about Negar here.

University of the Highlands and Islands, NAFC Marine Center (Scotland)

I am based at the NAFC Marine Centre in the Shetland Islands and, as part of  PANDORA, work on the Scottish pelagic industry self-sampling scheme, along with those from the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association and Marine Scotland Science. We work with Scottish pelagic fishermen in developing new methods which vessel crews can use to self-sample catches of herring, mackerel and blue whiting; providing data to inform stock assessment and ecological research. The scheme was established in July 2018 and is currently in a trial period, testing the implementation of data collection methods and the potential application of data. In the 1st year, 7 vessels volunteered to participate, with data gathered from 168 hauls and over 18,000 fish.  In the 2nd year, we are aiming to recruit more vessels, refine and develop the processes of data collection and application, and demonstrate the quality of  collected data. The scheme aims to enhance communication and knowledge exchange between science and industry, and recognises fishermen as respected data providers, contributing valuable data to science and management.

"I contribute to PANDORA by developing new data collection methods with the Scottish pelagic fishing industry to provide quality data for science and management."

Read more about Katie here.

Ifremer (Nantes, France)

In Pandora, I am involved in the Blackspot seabream case study (Bay of Biscay). We apply new methods at a local scale involving fishers in an assessment process. By implementing an acoustic survey on small-scale fishing vessels, we acquire a scientific valuable data while relying on the expertise of fishers. Thus, we share with them our scientific knowledges on the stocks for which they are ultimately primarily responsible.

“I contribute to PANDORA by involving fishers in an assessment process applying new methods at a local scale.”

Read more about Pierre here.

Cefas (Lowestoft, England)

My work aims to understand the where’s and when’s of fish stock dynamics and how they might change in the future. I predominantly work with tagging data, both conventional and electronic, using any knowledge gained to explore the distribution and space use of commercially important species. Within Pandora, I contribute to the North Sea case study under WP1. I mainly work on two projects: (1) the stock structure of Atlantic cod and European plaice, and how this information feeds into stock assessment; (2) the match-mismatch of cod maturation and the timing of productivity in the North Sea.

“I contribute to PANDORA by researching the where’s and when’s of fish stocks and species, and how this filters into a multispecies world.”

Read more about Chris here.

University of Hamburg, Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Fisheries Science (Germany)

I am a human geographer by training and entered the world of fisheries social science in mid-2018. In PANDORA, I am leading the Work Package for Stakeholder Engagement, Outreach and Communication. This means that I take care of the external project communication and coordinate our stakeholder engagement activities across all of PANDORA’s European Case Study regions. At the same time, I regularly step on the meta level to research how fisheries scientists perceive working transdisciplinarily and engaging with stakeholders. How can we craft even better stakeholder engagement by reflecting on our own practices, motivations and expextations?

„I contribute to PANDORA by keeping an overview across all Case Studies,  focusing on the people, and stimulating self-reflection.“

Read more about Vera here.

TI Thünen Institute for Sea Fisheries (Bremerhaven, Germany) 

I work at the Thuenen Institute for Sea Fisheries in Bremerhaven, Germany within the PANDORA project. As part of the project I try to incorporate environmental information into explaining variability in stock-recruitment relationships for commercially important fish stocks in the North Sea and gain insights how this can aid stock-assessment. The combination of these findings with available information on trophodynamic processes in the food web of the North Sea will then be used to expand the population dynamic part of the bio-economic model FLBEIA towards a multi-species approach.​ My background is in environmental sciences and modelling, with a strong interest in process understanding of marine and freshwater aquatic systems. Therefore I apply methods of data mining, statistical approaches as well as mechanistic modelling.

"I contribute to PANDORA by trying to understand how the environment drives variability in fish stocks to get better predictions."

Read more about Bernhard here.

Bangor University, School of Biological Sciences (Wales)

I am part of the Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory at Bangor University. The first part of the project I am working on is to understand to what extent genetic data has been used in defining stock units of commercial marine fish species. I am focusing on stocks that are assessed and managed in the North East Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. The overall aim is to evaluate if a mismatch between biological and current management units occurs, and to explore its potential biological and economic impact on commercially important species. The second part of the project deals with developing a portable DNA based an in-situ method to identify and quantify the species composition in mixed fisheries of mesopelagic fish. Our biological knowledge of mesopelagic fish population structure is lacking. Therefore, it is necessary to identify which species are fished and their population structure to better manage this still under studied fishery resource.

“I contribute to PANDORA by integrating genetic data into the general framework of stock assessment to promote the sustainable exploitation of commercial marine fish species.”