Maritime insecurity and sustainable development
Coventry University has been awarded a grant to organise a research seminar series titled – ‘Fostering Sustainable Development: Examining the challenges posed by maritime insecurity’.
‘Coventry University Research Centre awarded Economic and Social Research Council funding to investigate the relationship between maritime insecurity and sustainable development’
The Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies (CPRS), Coventry University, has been awarded a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to organise a research seminar series titled – ‘Fostering Sustainable Development: Examining the challenges posed by maritime insecurity’. The two year project will be managed by Principal Investigator Professor Alpaslan Ozerdem and Co-Investigator Dr James A. Malcolm and will encapsulate six seminars delivered across 2014 and 2015.
With a successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals currently being discussed, the seminar series will bring academic and non-academic actors together to shed further light on the connections between insecurity in the maritime domain and efforts to foster sustainable development. It is hoped that such a process will ensure that emerging development strategies, particularly though not exclusively those associated with UK actors, have increased maritime domain awareness.
Initial plans will see three of the six seminars focusing on examining specific cases of maritime insecurity in waters off African countries, a continent where development efforts have long been concentrated. More specifically, the challenges posed by environmental degradation, transnational crime and piracy are likely focal points for further investigation. A period of detailed planning will now take place before details of the first seminar, initially scheduled for the first quarter of 2014, are publicly announced. Any questions about or declarations of interest in the seminar series should be directed to Dr James A. Malcolm at james.malcolm@coventry.ac.uk.
Dr Malcolm commented, “We are absolutely delighted that CPRS has been successful with this grant application and are extremely grateful to the ESRC for their support. As a research centre we strongly believe that greater attention on, and understanding of, the maritime domain is essential if more sustainable development is to be achieved. We very much hope that this seminar series will serve as a launch pad from which a variety of actors can come together to discuss the implications for development efforts of a range of maritime security challenges, sharing their knowledge and best practice.”
Maritime Security is a core work stream of CPRS. Alongside research and consultancy work, the centre offers an online MA programme in Maritime Security providing a higher education opportunity to middle and senior managers in a wide range of fields related to maritime security such as shipping, the security sector, law, insurance, development, international relations and diplomacy, giving them the chance to acquire an MA qualification in one year. The next intake for the MA is January 2014 with applications currently being accepted. Further information can be located at: www.coventry.ac.uk/ma-marsec.
