Connecting with the sea: digital marine citizenship

AHRC Impact Acceleration Account Fellowship
Person taking photo of the sea

Connecting with the sea: digital marine citizenship

AHRC Impact Acceleration Account Fellowship
Project title: Connecting to the sea – the role of digital engagement for marine citizenship
Funding body: AHRC Impact Acceleration Account - Fellowship
Project duration: May 2025– October 2025
sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ researchers: Professor Katharine Willis, Kizzy Beaumont 
Project partners: ,
 
Digital technologies offer a promising approach for addressing some of the challenges of engaging people in place. They can help create new connections with place and foster a sense of connectedness to nature, as well as provide tools to empower communities to actively participate in shaping their physical environments. 
The use of digital technologies can be particularly valuable in coastal and marine contexts. By fostering marine stewardship, influencing policy and management, and building community capacity for addressing environmental concerns, it can create a broader impact on marine engagement conservation
This project aims to explore and share ways digital technologies can foster stronger connections with our coastal and marine environments.
In collaboration with the Sea for Yourself project and the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, it will develop and showcase innovative approaches to digital engagement. 
More broadly, the project seeks to deepen understanding of how such engagement can promote marine citizenship in coastal and marine cities across the UK and around the world. 
Five postgraduate students walking by the sea on Plymouth Hoe (full bleed)
 
Digital Marine Citizenship Toolkit

Digital Marine Citizenship: A Toolkit

This toolkit has been created to inspire and support practitioners, community groups, and organisations who want to explore digital and creative engagement in marine and coastal settings. 
Whether you work in a council, charity, or school, this guide offers ideas and frameworks to help design experiences that are inclusive, imaginative, and grounded in place. 
The Digital Marine Citizenship Toolkit includes a training module with slides and a guide for a 1-hour training session.

 

Project partners

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Plymouth’s heritage and connection to the ocean are at the heart of an inspiring new cultural and artistic programme, through which we invite Plymouth residents to reconnect with the sea. Creating opportunities for artists and audiences, sparking curiosity, and celebrating , Sea for Yourself is a once-in-a-generation initiative that will blend creativity, technology and community engagement to create meaningful experiences that highlight our connection to the natural world. 

The UK’s first National Marine Park is about forging a new relationship between the city and the sea. Encouraging people to become ‘Marine Citizens’, developing closer connections with the ocean, learning to care about our coastal environment and changing the way we behave to protect it.
 

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People

 

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