Building the Scottish State Show: Series 1 – Episode 18 – Prof Alf Baird
On this week’s show, Dr Mark McNaught is joined by Prof Alf Baird
Alf Baird was, prior to his retirement in 2016, Professor of Maritime Business and Director of the Maritime Research Group at Edinburgh Napier University. He has a PhD in Strategic Management in Global Shipping. His specialist area of research and teaching is strategic management in maritime transport. His research activities encompass most of the world’s main shipping markets in Europe, Asia, Mid-East and North and Latin America, and Australasia.
He has published more than 200 research articles, plus delivered over 150 conference papers, many as invited speaker at major maritime industry events, also winning several international prizes for his applied research work and development of applied theoretical and analytical frameworks in areas such as port privatisation, strategic management in shipping, container transshipment, and shipping service feasibility studies. He developed his own Masters’ module on ‘Strategic Management in Maritime Transport’ which was taught to postgraduate students at several of the major maritime universities in Europe and further afield. He has advised international ports, shipping lines, governments, and parliamentary committees on a range of maritime matters with emphasis on shipping markets, maritime policy, and seaport planning and development.
Alf began his maritime industry career in the 1970s working as a shipping clerk and ship agent in the port of Leith during what were the formative days of containerisation, ferry, and cruise shipping, after which he joint-owned and managed a transport logistics and freight forwarding business, prior to entering the academic/research sphere where he continued with an emphasis on maritime business research and in particular strategic management in shipping and seaports.
In 2020, Alf published a research-based academic textbook on the subject of Scottish independence: ‘Doun-Hauden: The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence’, available from: Doun-Hauden: The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence: Amazon.co.uk: Baird, Alfred: 9798634652320: Books
