ProfKate Barclay

Professor Kate Barclay is a social scientist researching the social aspects of fisheries, at a time when industry and government are increasingly recognising the importance of human dimensions in sustainable fisheries. She is Director of the Climate, Society and Environment Research Centre (C-SERC). She teaches in the Bachelor of Sustainability and Environment and also teaches doctoral students working on the social aspects of fisheries, aquaculture and marine conservation. 

Since the late 1990s, Kate has researched the sustainable development of tuna resources in the island Pacific in the context of changing governance systems and globalisation.

Recent projects include developing social and economic monitoring frameworks for fisheries, multidisciplinary work to evaluate the social and economic contributions fisheries and aquaculture make to coastal communities, and fisheries governance analysis.

She has also worked with the Pacific Community and other organisations to produce Handbooks on gender equity, social inclusion and human rights in coastal fisheries, aquaculture and tuna industries. These Handbooks target Pacific Island government staff working in fisheries and aquaculture, to help them address the social dimensions of their work, focussing on the responsibilities of Pacific Island governments to help promote sustainable development outcomes for people who rely on coastal fisheries and aquaculture.

Kate has also been commissioned to do fisheries research for organisations such as WWF, Greenpeace, the UN Development Program, the European Parliament, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, the World Bank, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Pacific Community.

She was a member of the NSW Government Marine Estate Expert Knowledge Panel from 2017 to 2021. Since 2013, she has been a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the International Pole and Line Foundation, which promotes the development of socially and ecologically responsible tuna fisheries. In 2022 she joined the Advisory Board of the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, which promotes social responsibility in seafood industries.

Kate is also on the editorial boards of journals Conservation and Society, and Journal México y la Cuenca del Pacífico.

She supervises higher degree research students on a wide range of topics, including the international relations of fisheries, globalization and governance in seafood value chains, fisheries and aquaculture in international development and community development, and gender analysis in seafood industries. See the Learning & Teaching tab for further details.