Degree program: Ph.D.

Year accepted: 2025

Advisor: Dr. Mateja Nenadovic

Research: Ocean Governance, Natural Resource Economics, Fisheries Livelihoods, Coastal Development

Profile:

My name is Osoko Oluwatimilehin ‘Timi’. I am a 2nd year Ph.D. student of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island, originally from Nigeria. My research interests sit at the intersection of ocean governance, natural resource economics, fisheries livelihoods, and coastal development. My academic background is in forestry science, wildlife management, forest economics, and environmental governance, which led me to questions about how people gain access to natural resources and how development decisions affect the livelihoods that depend on them.

Growing up and studying in Nigeria also shaped my interest in Marine Affairs. I saw how fisheries, offshore oil and gas activities, coastal development, and other ocean uses can exist side by side, while depending on the same marine space. That made me interested in how these uses are managed, whose access is protected, and how coastal communities are affected when new development takes place.

Before beginning my Ph.D., I worked as an environmental economist at the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, where I became more interested in resource-dependent communities and the connection between livelihoods, policy, and natural resource use.

My dissertation, “Testing the Promise of Integrated Ocean Governance: Maritime Access, Fisheries Livelihoods, and the Future of Blue Economy Planning in Rhode Island,” examines how offshore development reshapes fishers’ maritime access through regulatory, spatial, and market and operational conditions, and how these changes affect income stability and livelihood diversification.

What I enjoy most about Marine Affairs is connecting policy with what happens to people in practice. My major advisor is Dr. Mateja Nenadovic. Looking ahead, I plan to work in industry, particularly in oil and gas and the broader offshore development sector, applying my research and policy training to offshore development and its interactions with ocean users and coastal communities.