Welcoming Dr Maurice Beseng to Global Sustainable Development

We are delighted to announce that Dr Maurice Beseng has joined the Global Sustainable Development (GSD) department at the University of Warwick as a Teaching Fellow.

Dr Beseng brings with him an impressive and truly interdisciplinary background in development studies, environmental governance, and maritime security. Before joining Warwick, he served as an Assistant Professor in the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham. He previously held two postdoctoral positions: one at the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), where he investigated the global trade in donkey skins and its links to wildlife trafficking in Africa; and the second at the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Global Sustainable Development, where he contributed to the AfriCultuReS project, exploring the use of remote sensing for enhancing food security and climate resilience in several African nations.

His research interests span marine environmental governance, maritime security, environmental justice, and the ways in which coastal communities and civil society organisations respond to global environmental change. Dr Beseng’s work highlights how issues such as plastic pollution, illegal fishing, and the politics of the blue economy affect both local livelihoods and broader sustainability goals. He is particularly interested in the role of indigenous knowledge systems and grassroots activism in promoting more equitable and inclusive approaches to sustainable development.

In his teaching, Dr Beseng is dedicated to fostering critical thinking, interdisciplinary inquiry, and socially engaged scholarship. He encourages his students to interrogate dominant paradigms, reflect on their positionality, and apply theoretical knowledge to real-world maritime challenges. His arrival at Warwick will further strengthen the GSD department’s mission to equip students with the tools, perspectives, and confidence to think critically about the pressing questions of our time and develop practical strategies to global issues.

Dr Beseng’s expertise will also enhance the department’s research profile and contribute to new collaborations across Warwick. His extensive field experience, especially in Africa, and his record of high-impact research on wildlife trade, fisheries crime, and governance, promise to enrich both teaching and scholarship within the GSD community.

We warmly welcome Dr Maurice Beseng to GSD and look forward to the global perspective he will bring to both the department and wider Warwick community.