Biography

Rita São Marcos is a sociologist who has participated in several research and community outreach projects focused on the governance of environmental issues in Azores. Specialized in the field of public involvement and participation, her main research interests are in democracy, policy making and fisheries governance. Currently a Ph.D. fellow at the Centre for Social Studies-CES from the University of Coimbra, she is analysing the role that small-scale fishing communities play in fisheries governance. In her study, through an inductive approach that follows qualitative methodological and epistemological principles of inquiry, she is looking at small-scale fishers' agency and participation in EU Common Fisheries Policy. Investigating, specifically, how Azorean small-scale fisher's associations participate in stakeholder advisory bodies (both at the regional and European level). In order to promote a greater democratization of fisheries governance systems, she is analysing the relationships between participatory democracy and experts' authority, the power of science and scientific advice and the influence of fishers' knowledges and perspectives.