Summary

Helen Currie is a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Business and Law, and Manager for the Centre for Blue Governance. Within this role she is responsible for coordinating the wider CBG management team and supporting the development of associated research activities and strategic direction.

Helen's research focuses on freshwater ecological monitoring and biodiversity, fish physiology, water resilience, environmental policy, and animal behaviour - with a specialism in bioacoustics. She is an active member of "Clean Water South", an initiative to tackle river health and community well-being in the South of England. Helen is also an advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives in research, sitting as the sole Research Fellow representative on the BaL Faculty EDI Committee. 

Bringing over a decade of inter-sector PI and management experience on national and international programmes of work, she has undertaken advisement roles as a fisheries technical specialist on regional specific strategic resource optioneering projects for managing water resources in the UK. She is a Chartered Biologist and a skilled and experienced lead surveyor across a range of aquatic ecology field survey methods, specialising in freshwater and TraC (Transitional and Coastal) fish population monitoring.

Dr Currie has experience of translating research into policy, facilitating multi-sector stakeholder engagements and securing seats at high-profile policy roundtables - including with UK government officials. At UoP, she continues to leverage research expertise to collate impactful responses to major EU-level consultations, coordinating the collective interdisciplinary knowledge of water-aligned researchers from across the University.

Since joining UoP in 2024, she has secured the role of PI on the RPF funded "Sounds Fishy" project, sits as one of the University of Portsmouth's coordinators and Steering Committee member on the EU HORIZON funded BlueGreen Governance project, and supports fisheries monitoring and research activities on the ELSP funded Solent Seascape Project.

Biography

I studied joint honours Biology and Psychology as an undergraduate at Newcastle University (2007-2010), followed by an MSc in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at the Queen's University of Belfast (2013).

I was awarded my PhD in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems in 2021 from the International Centre for Ecohydraulics Research at the University of Southampton where I used an interdisciplinary approach to investigate group responses of fish to underwater sound. Results are applicable to conservation efforts to reduce the impacts of anthropogenic noise, and the development of acoustic deterrent systems for invasive species control or reductions in fish screening impingement.

I am interested in the applications of scientific knowledge transfer for policy, and in 2018, secured a UKRI policy internship scheme position with host organisation, the Royal Society of Biology. My involvement in translating research into actions continues, e.g., Policy Associate role with Public Policy| Southampton in 2021 focusing on the circularity of fishing gear and rope.

Prior to joining the University of Portsmouth in 2024, I worked for two and a half years as a Fisheries Technical Specialist within environmental monitoring and consultancy, working on large-scale multi-disciplinary projects across the UK. Concurrently, I worked part-time on a PDRA project for the Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Lab, focusing on urban planning for freshwater biodiversity.