With the support of the GSGS Training and Networking Grant and a sponsored early career registration from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), I was able to take part in the People & the Sea Conference 2025 in Amsterdam. The event was hosted by the Centre for Maritime Research (MARE) at the University of Amsterdam and brought together researchers and practitioners from around the world to reflect on what kind of knowledge and action is needed for a more just and sustainable ocean future.
The conference takes place in the middle of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and is officially endorsed as an Ocean Decade activity. It focused on four key themes related to tensions, trade-offs and transformations in ocean governance and coastal life. The conference encouraged reflection on what kinds of social science are needed for the second half of the UN Ocean Decade and how we can co-create the “science we need for the ocean we want”.
I contributed a talk titled "Navigating Tension and Building Resilience in the Ayeyarwady Delta: A Multi-Objective Approach to Integrated Flood Risk Management". In my presentation, I highlighted the need for adaptive disaster risk strategies that are grounded in local realities and based on co-produced, accessible and standardized data. This work builds on key results from both the physical and human components of our delta research. It was meaningful to me to bring Myanmar back into the conversation at a time when it is often overlooked in international fora.
I also had the chance to chair a session on "Climate change and coastal struggles: navigating risk and adaptation", which brought together diverse case studies from Asia and Europe. The presentations sparked thoughtful discussion on the lived realities of climate risk and highlighted the growing recognition that effective adaptation must be socially embedded, locally informed, and attentive to power and governance dynamics.
Taking part in a panel for early career researchers on how to make social science more actionable for policy was an inspiring and valuable networking opportunity. The discussion offered fresh perspectives on how institutions like ICES and the EU are starting to better integrate social dimensions into marine science and management.
As a human geographer working on disaster risk from an interdisciplinary perspective, I’m taking valuable insights from this conference into the final phase of my PhD and into whatever comes next. I'm grateful for the opportunity to connect with such a diverse and forward-looking community.
Anissa Vogel
Research Associate & PhD student
Institute of Geography
PhD project: “Driving factors for and societal effects of sea-level rise and delta flooding in the Ayeyarwady Delta (Myanmar) - Lessons from the past for disaster governance in the future”
Presentation title (Oral): Navigating Tension and Building Resilience in the Ayeyarwady Delta: A Multi-Objective Approach to Integrated Flood Risk Management