Kate Pike
Kate Pike is a Southampton Solent PhD graduate whose research topic looked at the 'social value associated with marine and coastal protected area designations in England and Wales'.
"Social value is something that is underplayed when marine protected areas are set up and is something that has not been looked at in great detail in comparison with other values (such as economic and conservation).
What I found was it’s often the intangible values, things you can’t put a price on that are the main reasons people visit the areas. Being more connected with nature and aesthetic beauty are really important drives of why people visit these places. Even the practitioners, the people that work there, recognise that social value is very important but it is often harder to fit into a management plan because these types of values are hard to measure."
How did you find studying at Southampton Solent?
"I had a brilliant supervision team, they were all quite different in character and this really helped pull my work together. Their professional approach was very helpful and they were people with the right experience.
The team were experienced and very diverse in their approach. They understood what I was doing or what I was attempting to do and we would have some really good discussions. I would listen to three different people’s opinions and have to find my own path through it and that’s essentially what it’s about. Doing independent research and taking into account what the supervision team says. You have to find your own way through.
The University went to a lot of trouble to find the right people for the viva exam. The two external examiners were both very experienced and they were the right people in the field I was working in.
Throughout my PhD I attended several conferences including The 4th Global Oceans and Coasts and Island Conference, 2008 in Vietnam. I presented at the Royal Geographic Society Conference in London, 2007 and in Manchester in 2009 and at the International Marine Conservation Congress in Italy in 2010. The conferences were rewarding and provided a platform for my research and a place to make useful contacts. I also had a paper published just before my viva.
My PhD was fully funded by the Warsash Academy Maritime Fund which helped tremendously and was a positive experience."
How has your research helped in your career?
"Any research always feeds well into teaching, so it keeps the subject fresh and you have real life examples to talk about. I am currently doing some consultancy work for WWF International in environmental shipping; although it’s not protected areas as such it still covers the area of environmental marine issues. The PhD has given me a lot more confidence and experience in researching. Once I had been through the viva process and the work was signed off it was quite a boost."