{"id":22250,"date":"2026-09-10T11:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=22250"},"modified":"2026-09-10T11:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:51:18","slug":"delia-fuller-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/news\/delia-fuller-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Ocean Equity at URI: Q&A with Delia Fuller"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Through the CELS Summer Fellowship Program<\/a>, Delia Fuller, a senior studying marine affair<\/a>s at the University of Rhode Island, has been exploring what ocean equity means and how it can be incorporated into the URI community. Under the mentorship of Dr. Yoshitaka Ota<\/a>, professor of marine affairs, she has been researching ocean equity, reviewing academic literature and documentaries, and laying the groundwork for an Ocean Equity Club at URI. Her work aims to create a space where students can engage with the social, cultural, and environmental dimensions of ocean governance and consider whose voices are included in decisions about the ocean.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What have you been<\/strong> working on this summer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. Ocean Equity is the recognition, meaningful participation, and fair treatment of all people within ocean initiatives and governance. It is the idea that all people, regardless of religion, class, gender, income, etc. are entitled to their voices to be heard in making ocean related decisions and access to ocean uses. There are countless groups of people that are often not heard in the governance setting, such as but not limited to Indigenous peoples, small-scale fishers, coastal communities, and other marginalized groups. By understanding other forms of knowledge, other ways of being, and other systems, we can identify gaps between policymaking and human life. Only through education, communication, and collaboration can we approach ocean governance at a more equitable lens. By understanding this issue, we can start to establish a club at URI that engages students with meaningful conversations and thus encourage real world change and awareness. Our research consists of mostly reading articles and watching documentaries. Each day looks different depending on what our goal was for the week and what our mentor wanted us to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you become interested in ocean equity?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I became interested in this topic through my studies of marine affairs and the passion I have for helping connect humans to the ocean, and how we can make a difference in how we approach ocean policy making and human uses of the ocean. I come from a lucky family of several homeowners by the sea. Growing up, the ocean was my favorite place to be, and it became something deeply rooted in my spirituality and drove me to my academic and career pursuits. I believe that every person has the right to access to the sea, its uses and resources, and the unfairness and biases that exist in ocean governance restrict countless groups of marginalized and often overlooked groups such as Indigenous peoples, lower income groups, island states, and small-scale fishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s the coolest thing you’ve experienced so far in your fellowship?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far the coolest thing I\u2019ve experienced is the support and resources of Ocean Nexus<\/a>, the global research institute centered around ocean equity in ocean governance which was founded by my mentor, Dr. Ota. His research foundation spans worldwide, with countless connections to researchers, fellows, and professionals in the field all working toward the same goal, despite all covering vastly different areas of ocean uses. Dr. Ota introduced us to Dr. Eliana Ritts, a Post Doctoral Research Fellow with Ocean Nexus who is researching and teaching in Taiwan, and who organized the Driftlines Ocean Film Festival. After sharing with us her work on ocean films, she asked if we would be interested in helping her with research and got to be featured in the credits of a published article on the Ocean Nexus blog!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s been one of your favorite moments this summer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favorite moment this summer was honestly a small moment during a conversation with my mentor when we were discussing one of the ocean films I had been researching. I asked him something that was a bit more personal relating to ocean governance, and my fears as a young individual going into the real world taking on real issues that seem to be so deeply rooted in society that it seems impossible to work toward something that may be often pushed aside. I shared with him that I am often worried about myself in the field and if I can actually make a difference, and he reassured me that I am already making a difference. The first step of making change is acknowledgement and understanding, and by creating a plan to make a club at URI that would look at these ocean films and discuss ocean equity issues I can feel good that I made a meaningful difference. I hope that the club continues to grow after I graduate and that it becomes an important part of other students’ lives as well!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has working with your mentor influenced your experience? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with Dr. Ota has really influenced my experience as not just a student, but as a human being. I felt that every conversation was thoughtful and that no matter what I said I was listened to and respected at the same level, I never felt that I was out of my depth because if I didn\u2019t understand something or needed clarification I could easily ask and it would turn into a thorough conversation. The support I felt made it easier for me to want to do my own work and expand my knowledge; it didn\u2019t feel scary.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your biggest takeaway from your fellowship experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The creation of a club at URI represents a change that can occur in the real world, even if it starts with a group of 3 people. URI is such a large community and so much of that community cares deeply for the environment and for the betterment of society, and as a generation we are often told that we are responsible for all of these scary big issues in the world, but the drive of students going into the real world should not be out of fear but out of hope for a better future!\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through the CELS Summer Fellowship Program, Delia Fuller, a senior studying marine affairs at the University of Rhode Island, has been exploring what ocean equity means and how it can be incorporated into the URI community. Under the mentorship of Dr. Yoshitaka Ota, professor of marine affairs, she has been researching ocean equity, reviewing academic literature and documentaries, and laying the groundwork for an Ocean Equity Club at URI. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":22251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[54,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fellowships","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1089"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22252,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22250\/revisions\/22252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}