Current members

Dr. Marie Fujitani

Marie Fujitani believes that interdisciplinary thinking and transdisciplinary science are necessary to understand and support decision-making processes regarding our shared natural resources. With a background in environmental economics and quantitative conservation biology, she is interested in the incorporation of stakeholder participation into resource management and decision making, and how these processes shape and are shaped by values and information. She is committed to co-development of research with partners in practice, and has worked at the science-policy interface at many levels, including for the US government as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow at the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Her research interests are sustainable coastal livelihoods, deliberative processes, tourism and recreation, fisheries, and aquaculture. She is currently the head of the working group Deliberation, Valuation & Sustainability, as well as the project TransTourism.

Click here for Marie’s full CV.

 

Dr. Yim Ming (Connie) Kwong

Connie is a cultural geographer who has worked on tourism, development, and geographies of responsibility particularly in Asia. Her research interests lie in three interdisciplinary areas: 1) cultures, identities and practices; 2) moral geographies, responsibility, tourism and development; 3) host-guest relationship and community building for sustainable development. With a background in qualitative research, Connie has also had previous experiences in using mixed methods. She is highly motivated to work with non-academic partners with a participatory approach. She is a Network Member of the UKRI-GCRF Silk Route Cultural Heritage Network (Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher of the project TransTourism in the working group Deliberation, Valuation & Sustainability.

Click here for Connie’s full CV.

Sarah Zwicker

Sarah is an allrounder when it comes to marine sciences. She started her education with undergraduate studies in maritime technology, continued with graduate studies in water and coastal management and finally graduated in marine environmental science at the University of Oldenburg. She has a strong interest in ecosystem services, environmental monitoring and innovative ecological engineering. During her previous work at the Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Sarah applied cell biological markers of marine pollution to detect e.g. marine microplastics and dumped munitions and their effects on marine life. She now works within the TransTourism project of ZMT’s working group Deliberation, Valuation, where she aims to identify biological indicators for the input of untreated wastewater into tropical marine ecosystems. Sarah is looking forward to evaluating the bioindicator approach with different coastal stakeholders and wants to contribute to the development of low-threshold and integrative monitoring concepts.
Sarah-for TransTourism

Ramón Alejandro Plazas Gómez

Ramón is a marine biologist holding an undergraduate degree from Colombia’s Jorge Tadeo Lozano University. He has experience with fish ecology, fisheries and environmental consulting. During his time in Colombia, Ramòn participated in marine cleanup campaigns and mangrove reforestation activities, while experiencing first-hand the damage humans inflict on the environment. For this reason, he came to Germany to attend the  master’s program in Aquatic Tropical Ecology (ISATEC) at the University Bremen and ZMT. There, Ramón extended his natural and social science education which stirred his interest in transdisciplinary projects. Currently, he is a PhD candidate at ZMT’s working group Deliberation, Valuation & Sustainability. Within the TransTourism project, Ramòn’s goal is to acquire and provide useful ecological knowledge that enhances the sustainable development of coastal populations. To achieve this, he will focus on the functional ecology of the coral reefs communities, identifying the effects of the tourism-generated wastewater on the marine organisms.

ROALD LEEUWERIK

Roald specialized in marine governance and over the past years has been involved in diverse projects focussed on sustainable fisheries, aquaculture and seabed mining. In the course of his studies, he gained professional experience at different institutions, such as the Council of the European Union and Wageningen Marine Research. He was also fortunate to visit places in the tropics, conducting fisheries research on Bonaire (Dutch Caribbean) and interviewing local actors involved in the offshore tin mining industry on the island of Bangka (Indonesia). Roald sees the great potential the marine environment offers for different stakeholders, and is very interested in finding the right balance between different economic uses and an adequate conservation of the marine environment for generations to come. He is a PhD student in ZMT’s working group Deliberation, Valuation & Sustainability now and will focus on stakeholder perceptions, priorities and power relationships and their influence on the decision-making process for tourism-generated wastewater management within the TransTourism project.

Jack Pumpuni Frimpong-Manso

Jack has focused his research on water quality issues and gained a lot of experience in this field. He holds a B.Sc. degree in Aquaculture and Water Resources Management (First Class Honours) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana where he also worked as a Research Assistant at the Department of Fisheries and Watershed Management. Jack has been awarded a German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship to pursue his master’s degree in International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology at the University of Bremen, Germany. Therefore, Jack is currently a guest scientist at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Bremen where he is part of the working group Deliberation, Valuation & Sustainability. At the moment, he is based in Indonesia doing research on the impacts of wastewater on socio-ecological systems of Gili Trawangan for his thesis. 

 

Sarah Nalukwago

Sarah holds a B.Sc. degree in Agriculture and Aquaculture from Uganda Martyrs University and a Diploma in Fisheries Management and Technology from the Fisheries Training Institute Entebbe, Uganda. She has focused her research on water quality related issues and gained substantial experience in this field, working as field assistant with a USAID fish project, as assistant production manager of S.O.N. fish farm and as aquaculture consultant. Currently, Sarah works with the Ugandan Government as an aquaculture fisheries officer while at the same time pursuing her master’s degree in International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology at the University of Bremen, Germany through a German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship. At the moment, Sarah is a guest scientist at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research and based in Zanzibar, Tanzania working on her thesis on the impacts of wastewater on socio-ecological systems.

Emma Hanrahan

Emma has her B.Sc. in Marine Biology from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia and previous field experience working with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Annapolis, Maryland working with water quality and oyster restoration projects. Emma is currently enrolled in the International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology program at the University of Bremen and is a guest scientist at the ZMT. She is part of the work group Deliberation, Valuation & Sustainability and is currently based in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, where she is researching collective action among the community when addressing natural resource challenges. 
 

Alice Pohle

Alice completed her B.Sc. in Geography and international forestry in Freiburg, Germany, before turning her focus to the marine realm within the M.Sc. Ecology at University Bremen. She is interested in interdisciplinary science, coastal management, maritime studies, marine pollution and environmental impact assessment. Currently Alice supports the working group as a student worker (e.g. database maintenance, translations etc.) while also conducting a student research project on legislation and challenges of waste water management in San Andres y Providencia Santa Catalina, Colombia. The TransTourism project will also be the frame for her master thesis about the impact of waste water on marine water quality and benthic community structure in shallow reefs.