Tania Mendo

Dr. Tania Mendo is a Lecturer at the University of St Andrews, School of Geography and Sustainable Development. She specializes in interdisciplinary approaches to small-scale coastal fisheries management, focusing on policy-informed research, socio-economic indicators, and marine spatial planning. Her work emphasizes equitable representation of fishers in the blue economy and employs statistical methods paired with user-friendly data visualization tools for stakeholder engagement. Current research interests include machine learning applications for decision-making, blue justice frameworks, climate change adaptation in hyper-arid regions, and El Niño impacts on food systems.

Dr. Mendo leads projects such as the Digital Transition of Catch Monitoring in European Fisheries and Conserving Atlantic Biodiversity through Co-management. She collaborates internationally with organizations like Cefas and engages with communities in Peru and Scotland. Her research integrates quantitative methods with participatory approaches to address fisheries governance challenges and environmental sustainability. Grants include funding from UKRI, BBSRC, and EPSRC for initiatives like improving stock assessment technologies and assessing fishing communities' resilience during crises.

Her publications highlight innovations in vessel tracking analysis, spatial distribution modeling, and socio-economic frameworks for fisheries. She advises PhD students Miguel Delos Santos and Tamsin Rigold. Mendo is affiliated with the Bell-Edwards Geographic Data Institute and contributes to UN SDGs related to life below water and sustainable communities.