How many instances of w are there in:
An important part of my research involves engaging with the policy environment which generally operates at a very different rhythm to small coastal communities. International, European and national policy contexts are all relevant to Irish fisheries.* I sit between these many different worlds (no two communities or policy environments are the same), listen to the stories being told, and think about whose voices are being heard, whose voices are not being heard and why. Who has the power to shape the stories that we hear – in communities and in policy environments. Are these stories helping or hindering people imagine and design their own futures?
At the start of a qualitative research project, I spend a lot of time listening rather than arriving somewhere armed with pre-designed questions. This open-ended listening at the start of a project helps me to co-design the research with the people I listen to, which hopefully means that the research focuses on questions that people (including policy makers) are interested in exploring. So, my projects generally begin with a field trip to one of the communities I want to engage with. For the CO-SUSTAIN project, I’ll be writing a blog about each research trip. The aim of this is two-fold. It will help me to record and reflect on what I am observing and (I hope) it will also make this research project more accessible to the communities I am working with, policy makers and the general public.
The findings will provide a better understanding of the stories or narratives being developed by island fishing communities to design their own futures, how these are (re)shaping fishing identities and the kinds of governance approaches that could most effectively meet the needs of fishing communities and policy-makers. Research findings will be presented and published in academic journals, a policy report, at international conferences, seminars and webinars, on social media and through a variety of outreach activities.
*At a national level, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is responsible for Irish fisheries policy. However, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is also relevant to fisheries as they are responsible for planning the marine environment – they recently published a draft National Marine Planning Framework Baseline Report (my response to the report can be found here). They must also comply with the relevant EU Directives such as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (which aims to protect the marine environment through the application of an ecosystem-based approach) and the more recent Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (for effective and sustainable planning and management of marine-related activities).

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In that passage, there are thirty-six occurrences of the letter "w."
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