As a UNESCO Ocean Decade Implementing Partner, NEMO (New Economic Models for the Ocean) is a research initiative by the Royal College of Art and the National Oceanography Centre. It seeks to rethink our relationship with the ocean through co-design, community engagement, and design-led innovation. At its core, NEMO explores how creative practice can help shape new systems of care, economy, and understanding for marine environments under threat.
NEMO CAPSULE_UNITED NATIONS
A design intervention at sea, NEMO brings together scientists, designers, and communities to create tools that make the invisible visible , connecting human activity to oceanic change.
I was invited to contribute industrial design expertise to support a pioneering data capture mission: delivering design resolution, 3D modelling, and high-fidelity prototyping for a marine camera system. The device was installed aboard the St Helena and deployed on a voyage from Nuuk, Greenland to Reykjavik, Iceland, crossing two critical ocean current tipping points.
Over 6,000 nautical miles, the system recorded thousands of objects both on and below the water surface, generating high-resolution data to support new modes of sensing, storytelling, and research. A tool for witnessing, documenting, and ultimately protecting, the project opens new pathways for design to serve planetary-scale challenges.
NEMO Team: Dr. Ashley Hall, Dr. Carla Amaral
Photo Credit: Ashley Hall
I was invited to contribute industrial design expertise to support a pioneering data capture mission: delivering design resolution, 3D modelling, and high-fidelity prototyping for a marine camera system. The device was installed aboard the St Helena and deployed on a voyage from Nuuk, Greenland to Reykjavik, Iceland, crossing two critical ocean current tipping points.
Over 6,000 nautical miles, the system recorded thousands of objects both on and below the water surface, generating high-resolution data to support new modes of sensing, storytelling, and research. A tool for witnessing, documenting, and ultimately protecting, the project opens new pathways for design to serve planetary-scale challenges.
NEMO Team: Dr. Ashley Hall, Dr. Carla Amaral
Photo Credit: Ashley Hall
