Dr Claire Kelly

Research interests

Research Interests

Claire holds a Master of Research Degree (MRes) in Sustainable Environmental Management and a Doctorate (PhD) in Geography, focusing on the effectiveness of public/private sector partnerships within the complex and fragmented policy environment of the coastal zone.

Claire is a Senior Research Fellow, leading and collaborating on a range of interdisciplinary research projects in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, where she is also a member of the Centre for Research in Environment and Society (CeRES). As a social scientist and a geographer, Claire’s research interests focus on people and their relationships to place across a range of contexts. Specifically, her interests span social capital, resilience, stakeholder engagement and partnership working, governance and participation, and qualitative research method development. Claire has taught on a range of modules at undergraduate and Masters levels, including research skills and methods, environmental management and field work.  

Outside of academia, Claire has extensive experience of engagement at community level; working with Beaford Arts to design and support the delivery of the oral history component of the Hidden Histories project; as a Project Officer for an EU-funded LEADER II rural development programme, and as a long-term volunteer in her own rural community. 

Grants and Contracts

• 2020 - GCRF with Plymouth University (Co-I): Water security in the agricultural landscapes of Turkey: towards improving the resilience of communities and socio-ecological systems. £59,242.
• 2020 - GCRF with Plymouth University (Co-I): Nuestro Rio (our river): Local perspectives on water quality in the Rio Santa, Peru.
• £55,526.
• 2020 - BBSRC GCRF Translation Awards (Res-I): Integrated community-driven engagement for sustainable enhancement of food production in East Africa: the Jali Ardhi [Care for the Land] project. £252,581.15
• 2020 - RGS Environment and Society Scheme (Co-I): Improving socio-ecological resilience to wildfire in the UK via community engagement and integration of deep-time ecological data into landscape management. £14,943
• 2019 - BBSRC Citizen Science Exploration Grant call (Co-I): SoilSCAN: Soils, Science and Community ActioN. £19,248.02
• 2018 - GCRF with Plymouth University (PI): 'Ardhi na Kujifunza (Land and Learning): Building a sustainable future on the Jali Ardhi legacy. £73,765.
• 2018 - RCUK Newton-CONICYT (Res-I): 'Making soil erosion understandable and governable at the basin scale for food, water and hydropower sustainability in Latin America'. £405,509.
• 2017 - NERC GCRF (RF): Jali Ardhi II: Realising land management change in degraded Maasai grazing lands. £101,243
• 2016 - NERC GCRF (RF): Jali Ardhi: Socio-ecological resilience to soil erosion driven by extreme climatic events: past, present and future challenges in East Africa. £168,640.