Liz Morris-Webb

• Climate, nature and energy transition

• Oceans and coastal communities

• Public safety and emergency preparedness

Elisabeth (Liz) Morris-Webb, PhD, is an interdisciplinary marine scientist with research interests in human-nature connections, ocean literacy, and environmentally friendly behavior change.

Liz’s work aims to improve understanding of how we make informed decisions about the ocean: from individuals and communities, to business, industry and government. She draws inspiration from marine ecology, human geography, environmental psychology and health sciences (particularly related to well-being), and regularly uses principles of co-creation in her participatory methods.

Liz has a strong ecological background, with 19 years of experience as a marine ecologist and scientific diver. She is also the founder and director of the small UK marine consultancy Marine EcoSol. She also coordinated the regional branch of a national citizen science initiative, Seasearch, where she also trained local recreational divers to survey the seabed for over 11 years.

Since 2009, Liz has increasingly worked with people, initially as a contracted advisor to authorities on coastal conservation and recreational use. She later developed her social science portfolio through an interdisciplinary PhD and postdoctoral positions at Bangor University in Wales, where she worked with the public, coastal users and marine practitioners and authorities to ensure that the relationship between people and nature is taken into account in future planning and policy. She has held several postdoctoral positions as a marine social scientist and knowledge broker at the university, including work on the Ecostructure, Tidal Cut Off and Sustainable Fisheries Wales projects, and holds an honorary research position in the School of Ocean Sciences.

Liz is now a Researcher II at NRI, where she works to integrate ocean understanding research as a way to engage participation in ocean-related issues across Norwegian and European projects, with everything from children and the public to Researchers , fishermen, planners and governments. Her work contributes strongly to Sustainable Development Goal 14 Life Underwater and the UN Decade of Ocean Science, especially Challenge 10: Restoring Society's relation to the ocean.

Education

PhD in the human dimensions of the marine environment, School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, UK. Thesis title: “An interdisciplinary understanding of coastal resource collection in Wales”.

MSc. In Marine Environmental Protection. School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, UK.

BSc. Marine Biology (Hons). School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, UK.