Dr Clare Fitzsimmons
Teaching Fellow

Background

I completed my PhD in Atmospheric Chemistry at Manchester University in 1999, subsequently post-doc-ing in Ocean-Atmosphere interchange, before joining a marine conservation expedition to Tanzania and Madagascar.

Returning in need of cash, I then spent five years working within the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (Dstl), developing S&T strategy, supporting research programmes and managing research projects and programmes; mainly in support of future Naval Systems, Command and Control areas and Joint Systems Analysis. I organised an international working group to develop allied ‘Joint Systems Analysis and Capability Management’ methods, requiring regular liaison with international partners, other UK government departments and agencies, industry and academia at both strategic and operational levels. I also piloted an organisational capability analysis model, mapping internal scientific capabilities to defence strategic requirements; identifying capabilities to fill gaps discovered using the skills of external partners, ensured that proposed programmes could be successfully delivered through collaborations between MoD, UK industry and academia.

Recent experience and education has seen me moving back to my home town and working within MAST. Firstly, completing the Tropical Coastal Management M.Sc., before conducting a strategic marketing exercise for the programme, and working with a local Marine Mapping consultancy on a significant European Research project (MESH).

I have extensive practical experience of the use of a variety of S&T intelligence tools to analyse concept, patent, business, intellectual and bibliographic information. I'm currently using this to develop research that explores interdisciplinarity, and aims to identify where ID behaviour is occuring in the literature, and where it is not; identifying and highlighting gaps and strategic opportunities for interdisciplinary research.

Roles and Responsibilities

Acting Degree Programme Director for a new interdisciplinary MSc programme in 'International Marine Environmental Consultancy'

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/about/news/item/new-msc-in-international-marine-environmental-consultancy-imec

Lecture on Tropical Coastal Management MSc Degree

Qualifications

BSc Chemistry (Environmental Chemistry), First Class Honours
and PhD Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Manchester
APMP and PRINCE2 project manager
MSc Tropical Coastal Management, Newcastle University

Previous Positions

SAgE Research Funding Development Manager

Informal Interests

Loves diving, being out on boats, underwater hockey (octopush) and most things water related.

Research Interests

Governance, multi-scale decision making, trade-off analysis.
Human-Environment interactions.
e.g.
Resource use and conflict.
Tourism-livelihood trade-offs.

Bibliometrics, science indicators and research metrics; currently applied to the study of interdisciplinarity.

Other Expertise

Governance (curently applied to coastal and marine), environmental decision making at multiple scales, marine tourism and island development, mechanisms of interdisciplinarity in environmental science. Maritime Oral Histories.

Current Work

HLF funded 'Sustaining our coastal heritage: value of local knowledge' www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/research/project/2103.

'Sustaining our coastal heritage: the value of local knowledge'
www.maritimeblyth.co.uk

Current interests include scenario based planning, environment-development trade-off analysis, and ecosystem services for tourism; with associated ethics.

Future Research

Underwater Heritage Assets

Postgraduate Supervision

Student: James Catlin
Title: Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Underwater Visual Census (UVC): Comparison of methods for researching the abundance of Bolbometopon muricatum in the Solomon Islands
Student: Madeline Hodge
Title: Improving MPA management through intergenerational support and education
Student: Allison Mione
Title: Motivations and Barriers of Expatriate Entrepreneurs in Praia do Tofo, Mozambique
Student: Vanessa Smith
Title: What do fishers think of scuba divers? Socio-economic impacts of the scuba diving industry in the Solomon Islands

Funding

ONE - development of a NE consultancy network to support IMEC MSc Catherine Cookson Foundation - dissemination of results of the 'Maritime Heritage' Project in Blyth
NESTA Crucible 2008
HLF funded 'Sustaining our coastal heritage: value of local knowledge' www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/research/project/2103.

Postgraduate Teaching

MST8004 Coastal Governance
MST8002 Principles and Practice of Integrated Coastal Management
MST8010 Project Management
MST8009 Marine Consultancy

New MSc in International Marine Environmental Consultancy Starting September 22nd 2008 E-mail me for info!
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/about/news/item/new-msc-in-international-marine-environmental-consultancy-imec

MSc Tropical Coastal Management 2008-09
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/postgrad/taught/tropical.htm