About the Project
Overview: Offshore wind developments in the North Sea will require new models of community involvement to facilitate just decision making in complex social-ecological systems. This project examines whether existing consultation and stakeholder engagement processes are fit for purpose to deliver just decision making in offshore energy development.
Up to 11% of the North Sea Basin may be within a wind farm area by 2050 (Waldman et al., 2026). North Sea offshore wind energy expansion is foregrounding old tensions around stakeholder perceptions and involvement in energy decision making (Devine-Wright 2005; Devine-Wright 2013). Existing models of stakeholder engagement in energy industries highlight how influential early consultation is on public perceptions of future developments, but not always to net-positive effect (van der Plank et al., 2016; Walsh et al., 2017).
This PhD questions whether existing stakeholder engagement processes are fit for purpose to deliver just decision making in offshore energy development. This project will explore questions within the Greater North Sea Basin, around:
- The types of responsibilities being expected of coastal community stakeholders in engaging with offshore wind developments;
- The dual challenges of experiencing and engaging with climate mitigation and adaptation processes in coastal contexts;
- Whether and how civic participation, consultation, and stakeholder engagement can deliver just decision making in offshore energy.
- How stakeholder engagement processes and outcomes vary by socio-economic context.
- The extent to which current engagement processes capture both potential offshore but also onshore impacts of offshore energy development.
It is envisaged that there will be opportunity to conduct research in the UK and Europe.
Entry requirements: We are looking for someone with a background in social sciences, human geography, environmental geography, marine social sciences, or policy sciences. This project may draw on methods including discourse analysis (policy, interviews) and stakeholder analysis (both desk-based and new data collection, that is ideally co-produced in nature, including coastal community members in the process). It may also include some use of existing spatial datasets to understand potential socio-economic determinants of participative outcomes across the study region.
How to apply: Please apply via the online portal and select:
- Programme type: Research
- Academic year: 2026/27
- If you will be full time or part time
- Faculty: Environmental and Life Sciences
Search for programme PhD Geography (7137)
Please add the name of the supervisor in section 2 of the application.
Applications should include:
- your CV (resumé)
- 2 academic references
- degree transcripts/ certificates to date
- English language qualification (if applicable)
Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences
If you have a general question, fels-pgr-apply@soton.ac.uk.
Project leader
For an initial conversation, please email the lead supervisor Dr Sien van der Plank: sien.vanderplank@soton.ac.uk
Co-supervisor: Prof. Felix Eigenbrod: F.Eigenbrod@soton.ac.uk
Funding Notes
Additional resources details: PhD is being funded as part of Worktribe Project 15372087: Understanding The Contribution Of Offshore Wind To Cumulative Effects In The North Sea Picture (50%) AND SoGES studentships (50%)
References
Devine-Wright 2005: https://doi.org/10.1002/we.124
Devine-Wright 2013: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.08.003
van der Plank et al., 2016: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.03.005
Waldman et al., 2026: "Offshore Wind and the Spatial Squeeze: A Plausible Future Layout for the North Sea" Energies 19, no. 5: 1339. https://doi.org/10.3390/en19051339
Walsh et al., 2017: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.12.006
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