Society, responsibility and regulation

Pillar Leader: Nicky Beaumont, Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Professor Nicola Beaumont leads the Sea and Society team at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and is an internationally established expert in the assessment and valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Her research spans scales from local to global, including international development and a variety of environmental challenges, for example: renewable energy, plastics, flood and erosion management, climate change, ocean acidification, and marine planning and policy. She has extensive people and project management experience, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary projects.

Barbara Bokor, University of Bergen

I’m a Ph.D. Research Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Bergen and my project deals with marine plastic pollution from a corporate sector perspective. The active participation of the businesses is essential to reduce the sources, impacts and costs of plastics on the environment. My aim is to explore which regulatory instruments could be the most efficient to influence the decision-making process and behavior of the private sector. The research has an interdisciplinary methodology by considering the economic and corporate governance aspects, too. NAMC is a unique opportunity to use my knowledge in an international scientific environment and I’m grateful to be a member of it.

Frans de Vries

Frans de Vries is professor of Environmental and Resource Economics at the Department of Economics, University of Aberdeen Business School, Scotland. His research focuses on the design and functioning of market-based environmental policy mechanisms for pollution control and biodiversity conservation. Another focal point of his research relates to environmental policy and technological innovation. He has consulted for the OECD (Environment Directorate), the UK and Irish Environment Agencies, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Katarina Elofsson, University of Aarhus

Marte Haave, NORCE

Dr. Haave is Senior Researcher at NORCE and an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Bergen. Since 2015, Haave has been focusing on plastic pollution, mapping the occurrence and levels of micro and macroplastics in biota, the marine and urban environment. She is cofounder of NAMC and was center leader in 2020-2021. Marte has taken part in microplastic expert groups on the risks posed by microplastics. Her background is in human toxicology, persistent organic pollutants, endocrine disruptors, and marine monitoring. She is also a dedicated scientific communicator aiming to increase public understanding and engagement in the plastic pollution issue, and has brought attention to the cause through frequent participation in TV and radio, documentary series, educational TV-series, and citizen science projects. As former NAMC center leader she is taking part in all five pillars, with main involvement in Pillar Three, Four and Five.

Piotr Grazyk, NORCE

Tenaw Gedefaw Abate, University of Aarhus

Dr. Tenaw G. Abate obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Copenhagen. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University. Dr. Abate was part of a project called ‘MARine Plastic pollution in the Arctic: origin, status, costs and incentives for Prevention (MARP)’. In the MARP project, Dr. Abate was the lead investigator of the valuation of ecosystem services affected by marine plastic pollution in the Arctic. Dr. Abate had undertaken research works in the broad field of environmental economics. Particular topics include the evaluation of existing environmental policies, designing new and efficient market-based regulations, non-market valuation, and cost-benefit analysis. His research works are published in top-tier peer-reviewed field journals. Dr. Abate was also part of a team of recognized UK and international scientists who aimed to provide a science overview relating to plastic pollution, in the policy areas of the marine environment and fisheries.

Margrethe Aanesen, Centre for Applied Research at NHH

Margrethe Aanesen holds a PhD in natural resource and environmental economics. Up to 2020 she worked as a professor at UiT Arctic University of Norway, and after that she has been affiliated with Center for applied research (SNF) at Norwegian school of Economics and Business administration (NHH). Main interest is the work with various ecosystem services and how to value such services monetarily. Previous and ongoing work includes valuation of coral reefs off the Norwegian coast, valuation of efforts to reduce marine plastic waste off the coast of Svalbard, the trade-off between commercial and private use of coastal areas in Arctic Norway. Earlier work includes game theoretic analyses of transboundary environmental issues and fisheries management. Aanesen is a typical applied researcher, whose main motivation for doing research is to contribute to solve societal challenges by providing knowledge to decision makers.

Alex Rogers, REV Ocean

Alex is a marine ecologist who is interested in how biodiversity is distributed in the ocean, especially in the deep sea and on tropical coral reefs. He is also interested in human impacts on the ocean and how to manage human activities to mitigate or reduce degradation of marine ecosystems. His work has taken him to the Atlantic, Indian and Southern Oceans and to the Caribbean investigating coral reef ecosystems, seamounts and deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Alex has worked with governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations in publicising human impacts, especially those from deep-sea fishing and climate change, and on the development of policy solutions to such problems. He is Scientific Director of REV Ocean a foundation aimed at finding solutions to problems affecting the ocean.

Hauke Kite-Powell, WHOI

Helge Marius Flick, NORCE

Jülide Ceren Ahi, NORCE

Jülide Ceren Ahi holds a Ph.D in environmental and resource economics from UiT The Arctic University of Norway. She is currently a researcher at NORCE Society. Her main research interest lies in bioeconomic modelling, ecosystem service valuation, and marine ecosystem service management.