Profile

Overview

Diana is Project Manager and Business Fellow for the UK Sustainable King Prawn Project. 

This ambition of this pioneering new research project is to establish the UK as a world leader in sustainable, environmentally-friendly king prawn farming, using renewable energy technology. Led by experts from the University of Exeter, in partnership with the University of Reading and Rothamstead Research, the project aims to: 

• assess the economic viability of terrestrial king prawn production in the UK and quantify and economically value the public goods generated by this transformation; 
• maximise the efficiency of king prawn growth, health and nutritional quality in UK Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) facilities, through the optimisation of water chemistry management and prawn diets;
• field-test the use of transportable RAS units co-located with terrestrial farm-based Anaerobic Digestors (ADs), and ensure the utility, sustainability and circularity of all inputs and outputs; 
• scope out the necessary conditions and develop and assess business cases for supporting infrastructure, such as a UK-based king prawn hatchery, innovation, education and public outreach facility.    

This project has 11 industrial partners including Sainsbury's, Lyons Seafood and Ixora Energy Ltd. It received £2 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), as part of its Transforming UK Food Systems (TUKFS) Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF) Programme, and runs from Sep 2022 to Sep 2025. 

The project is led by Prof. Rod Wilson from Exeter's Biosciences department with Co-Investigators including Prof. Ian Bateman (OBE) from Exeter's Land, Environment, Economics and Policy (LEEP) Institute and Dr. Rob Ellis also in Biosciences.   

Prior to this role, Diana worked as Impact Development and Evaluation Manager for the South West Partnership for Environment and Economic Prosperity (SWEEP), a five-year programme (2017-2022) funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to apply research to benefit our environment and economy. 

SWEEP’s mission is to place the environment’s ‘natural capital’ at the heart of business and policy decision-making through partnership working between academics, businesses and policymakers and through providing access to the best environmental science. It is led by the University of Exeter in partnership with Plymouth University and Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

SWEEP's legacy website and impact information can be found at - www.sweep.ac.uk

Diana studied Economics (MA; Edinburgh University), and has an MSc and PhD in Fisheries Economics (from Portsmouth University's Centre for the Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources (CEMARE)). She also has an FdA in Fine Art.

She worked as a Senior Research Fellow (Portsmouth University, 10 years) and in consultancy (UK and overseas, 5 years), including secondments to government (Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office, 10 months; and Northern Ireland Fisheries Department, 3 months). She has created and exhibited contemporary art work influenced by photography, printmaking and ceramics, as well as teaching ceramics. 

Qualifications

• MA Economics (1989-1993), Edinburgh University
• MSc Fisheries Economics (1995-1996), Portsmouth University (Distinction)
• PhD Fisheries Economics (2000-2006, part-time), Portsmouth University
• FdA Fine Art (2012-2014, part-time), Somerset College, Plymouth University (Distinction)  

Back to top

Research

Research interests

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8540-1943

Diana has published academic papers in: Marine Policy, Operations Research in Natural Resources, Marine Resource Economics and Fisheries Research. She also co-authored: 

• Fisherman's incentives and policy.
  2004. Cabinet Office. Prime Minister's Strategy Unit. Analytical paper produced to support the report 'Net Benefits - a sustainable and programable future for UK fishing'. Vaze P & Tingley D.

• Fisheries management in the United Kingdom. 
  2010. Handbook of Marine Fisheries Conservation and Management. ISBN 978-0-19-537028-7. Oxford University Press. 370-381. Pascoe S. & Tingley D.

Back to top