Researchers at the UHI Archaeology Institute are part of the four-year TRANSitions in Energy for Coastal communities over Time and Space (TRANSECTS) project.
Starting in June 2024 it runs until April 2028 and is a collaboration with Heriot-Watt University, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Strathclyde and the University of Hull.
The TRANSECTS project takes an interdisciplinary place and time-based approach, which allows learning from the experiences of different coastal communities during past energy transitions, to support and inform future decision-making. TRANSECTS is led by Dr Karen Alexander at Heriot-Watt University and will work with partners including, in Orkney, the Pier Arts Centre and Orkney Islands Council.
The UHI team will collaborate with artists, scientists and cultural organisations including museums, industry and government, and with coastal communities in Scotland and England to explore Marine Energy Transitions (METs). The project’s geographical focus is on three areas: the Humber Estuary in England, the Orkney Islands and the east coast of Scotland, focusing on the City of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
Dr Antonia Thomas, Dr Jen Harland, and Anne Bevan of the UHI Archaeology Institute are Project Co-Investigators, with Dan Lee of the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology as Research and Innovation Associate.
Applying their expertise in archaeology, heritage, community engagement and creative practice in this interdisciplinary project, they will use creative and participatory research methodologies alongside historical and archival research to explore the impacts of past and present marine energy transitions on present-day communities. The aim is to ensure that transitions from oil and gas are fair, and that offshore wind and tidal energy develops in a way that benefits coastal communities.
The UHI team will primarily be responsible for a work package exploring how present-day communities understand, are impacted by, and respond to energy transitions. Re-peopling past, present and future Marine Energy Transitions will use creative and participatory research methodologies (participatory mapping, contemporary archaeology “walkshops”, visual arts practice, exhibitions and storying) to explore how and where the human consequences of transitions occur.
In another work package, Dr Jen Harland will investigate long-term implications of whale oil extraction in relation to natural capital stocks, flows and values past and present, and how they have affected coastal community resilience.
The UHI team will be bringing their interdisciplinary expertise in archaeology, heritage and creative practice to the TRANSECTS project.
- Dr Antonia Thomas leads research and teaching in art and archaeology, with a unique masters course at UHI and has been developing a contemporary archaeology research framework for Scotland through INCAScot.
- Dr Jen Harland specialises in marine zooarchaeology, with recent international research project Seachange investigating ocean conservation past and present and Looking in From the Edge (LIFTE) researching Hanseatic trade.
- Artist Anne Bevan specialises in community-based and participatory arts practice related to environmental change, marine energy and ecologies. Recent projects include Beside the Ocean of Time and Creative Landscape Futures (Co-I).
- Dan Lee has been researching Orkney’s energy story with Orkney Energy Landscapes and is currently working on an Energy Heritage Strategy for Orkney.
The UHI team are joined by Prof David Atkinson University of Hull, who researches Historical-Cultural geographies of place and the past in the present, and Hull’s histories and identities.
