TRANSECTS - TRANSitions in Energy for Coastal Communities across Time and Space

UHI team: Dr Antonia Thomas (lead), Anne Bevan, Dr Jennifer Harland, Dan Lee with Prof David Atkinson (University of Hull).
Project website: https://transects.org.uk

The shift to marine renewable energies will transform the sustainability (the balance between economic growth, social well-being, and environmental care) and resilience (adapting to change, adversity and new opportunities) of coastal communities and adjacent seas.

History tells us that previous energy transitions have led to profound environmental and socio-cultural change for local communities due to their often boom-and-bust nature.

TRANSECTS will explore previous and current experiences of these energy transitions. We will examine the shifts from non-renewable marine energy sources:

Whale oil (1800 to 1900s)
Oil and gas (later-1900s to present)
Renewable energy (early-2000s to present)

We will assess the raw energy sources and examine how nearby communities have been affected during transitions. We will investigate the fairness and equity of decisions made.

We will work directly with coastal communities to develop strategies to enable energy transitions that increases resilience for them, and the environment they depend on.

Case study areas

Orkney | East Coast Scotland (Aberdeenshire) | The Humber Estuary

Each area has changed their main marine energy economic activity from whale oil via offshore fossil fuels to marine renewable energies and has experienced changing economic fortunes, marginalisation and (often hidden) hardship caused by these transitions.

Research areas

There are four interlinked research areas in the TRANSECTS project:

Natural Capital Stocks and flows – TRANSECTS will take a natural capital approach to ensure that society’s dependence on natural resources for energy is considered when assessing the impacts of marine energy transitions and how they have affected coastal community resilience.

Re-peopling the past (UHI Team) – Using arts and humanities methods the UHI team will explore how communities understand and interpret the changes caused by energy transitions, using creative, heritage and archaeology-based, contemporary archaeology and place-based approaches.

Just Transition – TRANSECTS will examine the impacts of marine energy transitions on people and places, with an emphasis on just and unjust transitions, and compare indicators of social and political economy change for coastal communities.

Theory of Change – with an ‘Energy Transitions Atlas’ we will assist communities to develop strategies to enable future marine energy transitions that increase the resilience of coastal and marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

What will the UHI team explore?

How can learnings from the experiences of different coastal communities during past energy transitions help present-day communities to develop strategies to enable energy transitions that increase coastal resilience?
How are present-day communities understanding, impacted by, and responding to marine energy transitions?
How can arts and humanities approaches (including creative, heritage, archaeology and geography methods) be used to record how and where the human consequences of transitions occur, including intergenerational dimensions and inequalities?
How can creative methods (integrated with community dialogue and scientific research/expertise) enable coastal communities to explore their roles and responses to energy transitions?

What will we do?

Whale drawings from the logbook of Thomas Bloomfield.

The UHI team will use interdisciplinary place- and time-based approaches to encompass the voices, emotions, memories and identities that are impacted by marine energy transitions – “re-peopling” the past for the present and future.

We will use approaches drawn from arts and humanities – integrating archaeology, historical geography, and cultural heritage (both intangible and intangible) with creative practice – to articulate how communities understand and interpret energy transitions. Heritage values are linked to a sense of place and collective identity, impacting on the health and wellbeing of coastal communities.

Archaeology – fundamentally the study of the relationship between people, places, and things through time – plays a key role in understanding transitions and change. The way in which cultural heritage has been affected by, and has adapted to, past energy transitions contribute to the strengthening of community resilience.

Embedded artists – we will work with creative practitioners in the three case study areas with our Storylines, walkshop and min-residencies. They will to develop workshops, activities and creative responses to marine energy transitions past and present with the Transects team. In Orkney we are working with Kolekto partnership (Storyline workshops and short films) and artist Joanne B. Kaar (walkshop and mini-residency). Embedded artist opportunities for NE Scotland and The Humber will be announced in 2026.

We will explore these aspects through place-based and participatory methods including archaeological and archival research, participatory mapping, walking workshops, and collaborative creative practice. By integrating these different approaches, we will help coastal communities to explore their roles and responses to energy transitions, in the past, present and future.

Community story workshops – used to explore key stories and topics.
Place-based and creative activities – creative walkshops will enable participants to think outside, exploring the topics and gather responses in key transition places.
Contemporary archaeology – used as a tool to explore emerging themes, with workshops in key transition places.
Embedded artists – we will work with creative practitioners in the three case study areas with our Storylines, walkshops and mini-residencies.
Story maps – collation of research, histories and stories into an interactive, online map .
Exhibitions – mini-exhibitions sharing the research, visual and artistic responses to marine energy transitions.

Find out more here: TRANSECTS Research Navigating the Transition to Marine Renewable Energies . The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and runs from April 2024 to April 2028.