Lol Dahlet

Report of GLOMAR PhD student Lol Dahlet about her participation in the "MARE 2023 People & the Sea XII Conference - Blue Fear" in Amsterdam, Netherlands from 26 to 30 June 2023

The People and the Sea Conference is a bi-annual conference known to bring together the international marine social science community. It always takes place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and is organized by the Centre for Maritime Research, MARE, and usually hosted by the University of Amsterdam (UvA). This was the third time I participated at this conference, and the second time in person (last edition was virtual). This year, the 12^th People and the Sea Conference spanned during four days between 26-30 June 2023.

Six parallel sessions ran where work was presented that focused on social aspects of coastal and oceans sustainability. The conference disclosed seven streams:

STREAM 1: Identifying Blue Fear– what are the trends;
STREAM 2: Protecting and adjusting blue livelihoods for well-being in the light of blue fear;
STREAM 3: Claiming and producing new knowledges and diverse epistemologies to address blue fear;
STREAM 4: Governing in the face of blue fear;
STREAM 5: Pursuing blue justice in the face of blue fear and dispossession;
STREAM 6: Maritime heritage between a fading past and uncertain future; and
STREAM 7: interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary marine sciences: Stepping together into unknown territory

Lol standing next to a screen in a conference room givng a presentation — In my presentation, I shared insights on the method I used to collect marine social science empirical data on fisheries conflicts in North Brazil between November 2022-March 2023

My oral contribution fit into Stream 7, and it was part of a panel that my supervisor, PD Dr. Marion Glaser chaired, entitled “Methods for equity and inclusiveness in ocean conflict studies and management: Lessons from the field”. I shared insights on the participatory data collection approach I used during my fieldwork in North Brazil (November 2022-March 2023) and discussed perceived benefits and challenges faced.

a group of people standing in front of a building — A few of us from the Social Science department of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) attended the MARE 2023 Conference

In-between the sessions, the coffee break in the main hall allowed for a lot of networking. I have reached out to different researchers whose work is relevant to my research, and also could meet again with people I know or have already worked with, including from other universities in Brazil and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). There were also many of us from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) attending the conference!

a canal lined with trees — One of Amsterdam's countless canals

At the end of the day, of course, we were able to stroll along Amsterdam's picture-postcard canals, discovering a lively and beautiful city. The conference dinner, held on Thursday in the magnificent Dominicus Church, was a special experience.

people sitting in a church — The conference dinner was held at the magnificent Dominicus church

All in all, the four-day conference was a great opportunity to update and exchange on current marine social science research, make contacts and have fun in the Amsterdam atmosphere. I am very grateful to GLOMAR for providing me with the necessary funding as to allow my participation to this conference and to the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD / Forschungsstipendien - Promotionen in Deutschland, 2021/22 (57552340)) for the Full-PhD scholarship granted.

I'm already looking forward to presenting the final results of my PhD at the 13th "People and the Sea" conference in two years' time!