Funder: UKRI, Coastal Resilience programme 
Status: 2024-2028
Project partners: Heriot-Watt University, University of Highlands and Islands, University of Hull, University of Strathclyde, Daryl Burdon Ltd,
Project team: Kate Gormley, Tavis Potts, Daria Shapovalova
Project summary: The transition to marine renewable energies, as dominant future drivers of the UK energy mix, has potential to transform the sustainability and resilience of coastal communities and seas. To date, research on such transitions has focused primarily on technological development and economic growth, usually via new employment opportunities. This technical and economic optimism may however not play out in the reality of coastal communities as beneficiaries of change. History tells us that previous energy transitions have brought profound environmental and socio-cultural changes to coastal areas. As such, TRANSECTS will take a spatio-temporal approach, identifying lessons learned from contrasting coastal communities during past energy transitions and exploring how they can support future decision-making.
TRANSECTS will consider the shifts from whale oil (1800s) to oil and gas (mid-1900s), to marine renewable energies (early-mid 2000s). The current transition to marine renewable energies offers the opportunity to start to redress the effects of change in-place whilst also providing a broader opportunity to learn from past experience for those undergoing similar natural asset-based transitions.
The project will focus on three case study areas of Orkney, east coast Scotland and the Humber and is involves ecologists, social scientists, economics, geographers, historians, lawyers, archaeologists and creative arts. We are hoping that the research undertaken in this project will be of interest, relevance and use to offshore wind energy developers and to government and policy-makers.
Project website: https://transects.org.uk/