just a container for the 5 strands
Changing visions of science and the characterization of scientific expertise have been co-produced with imaginations of ‘the public’ and its proper role in science policy-making. Since the middle of the twentieth century, visions of science as the product of an isolated community devoted to free intellectual inquiry have largely been replaced by the recognition both…
This paper seeks to demonstrate the utility of using two different approaches to sustainability system innovation in parallel, arguing that doing so provides valuable insights that would be lost if only one theoretical lens is used. The Multi-Level Perspective and Social Practice Theory have emerged as competing approaches for understanding the complexity of socio-technical change.…
As a response to the unsustainability of current global financial systems, parallel sustainable monetary systems are being developed by civil society groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), informed by ecological economics perspectives on development, value, economic scale and growth. These parallel systems of exchange (or grassroots complementary currencies) are designed to promote sustainable development, by localising…
This paper examines attempts to reduce household energy consumption through the introduction of real time display monitors (RTDs) that enable householders to ‘see’ their energy use (and its associated carbon emissions) and thus take steps to reduce it. Drawing on repeat semi-structured interviews, conducted 12-months apart, with 10 householders participating in a ‘Visible Energy Trial’…
Students studying Sustainable Consumption in ENV were recently treated to the world premier of Theoretical Theatre: Why Academics Disagree, a groundbreaking performance which brings debates about sustainable consumption vividly to life.
NERC (2014-15) Aims to determine the environmental impacts of the December 2013 North Norfolk storm surge event and understand the social responses.
ESRC (2011-13) Seminars that explore sustainability transitions (projected processes of social change to sustainable patterns of production and consumption) from explicitly social, political and economic perspectives.
EPSRC and ECLEER (2010-13) Studies the diffusion of community energy projects (grassroots innovations) in the UK. It explores the extent of networking between projects, and whether this is assisting in the innovation of community energy.
Leverhulme Trust (2010-13) Aims to understand the factors that support or hinder the diffusion of complementary currencies systems and how they might contribute to wider processes of systemic change for sustainability.
Carbon Connections (dates?) What actually happens when householders are provided with real time feedback on their domestic energy use?
EU FP7 (2010-13) Develops new global low emissions scenarios, placing EU efforts in a global context; builds an approach for assessing EU policies against mitigation and adaptation objectives and for developing alternative policy options.
EU FP7 (2008-11) CONSENSUS (Confronting Social and Environmental Sustainability with Economic Pressure: Balancing Trade-offs by Policy Dismantling?) explores historical patterns of deregulation to investigate conflicts between these objectives are addressed in processes of policy dismantling.
EU FP7 (2009-14) Linking Impact Assessment Instruments to Sustainability Expertise: aims to provide a focus for international research on the use of evidence, science and assessment tools in policy-making.
Leverhulme Trust (2010-13) At a time when natural scientists are anxiously debating the importance of critical ‘tipping points’ in natural systems, this project will in effect explore the scope for ‘tipping’ the multi-level governance systems in large, polluting states to enable significant and enduring policy innovation for climate change governance.
EPSRC and ESRC (2009-11) Promotes interdisciplinary understanding of and research into differentiated landscapes of energy vulnerability and resilience – shaped by complex interactions between technologies, infrastructures, policies, markets and practices.
EU FP7 (2009-13) Aims to provide a reference framework for the development and possible implementation of monitoring activities and associated stakeholder engagement during relevant phases of the radioactive waste disposal process.
Leverhulme Trust (2007-11) This project explored public, scientific and policy understandings, conceptualisations and responses to framings of energy policy.
EU FP7 (2011-14) Aims to generate a better understanding of the complex interplay between the technical and the social in radioactive waste management and, in particular, in the design and implementation of geological disposal.
NERC and ESRC (2012-16) People living in the shadow of six potentially active volcanoes will take part in this major new study exploring better ways to forecast and cope with future eruptions.
E.On and EPSRC (2008-12) Aims to develop and analyse a set of potential transition pathways for the UK energy system to a low carbon future, and undertake integrated assessments of their feasibility and acceptability.
EPSRC (2012-15) How could smart home technologies (sensing and monitoring networks combined with advanced control devices) provide tailored retrofit decision-support to UK householders?
The Science, Trust and Public Engagement project comprised a major review of public concerns about the governance of emerging science and technology through a meta-analysis of 17 UK public dialogues sponsored by Sciencewise on subjects ranging from nanotechnology and synthetic biology, through to low carbon energy and geoengineering of climate change. This analysis identified five…
The past decade has seen a dramatic rise in public engagement and participatory modes of governing science, technology and the environment, promoted by arguments that it enhances trust, acceptance, and the quality and social responsibility of science and decision-making. Most academic and practical effort in this field to date has been channelled into developing engagement…
This report comes from a Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy workshop which took place 21-22 March 2012. The workshop aimed to develop a more comprehensive system-wide exploration of the diverse forms and sites of participation in low carbon energy transitions, and to build on this broader conception of participation to explore actor dynamics, inclusion…
London, Thursday 17 February 2011 This final workshop of the two-year ESRC Seminar Series ‘Critical perspectives on public engagement in science and environmental risk’ drew together insights and themes from across the seminars, which sought to consolidate a new field of critical public engagement research and practice in the context of anticipatory governance of emerging technologies…
Thursday 26 October 2010, SPRU, University of Sussex The fourth workshop in the ESRC seminar series Critical Perspectives on Public Engagement in Science and Environmental Risk explored both formal and informal forms of public engagement and participation in the context of energy systems and transitions to sustainability. The energy system and the need to build more…
Thursday 10 June 2010, University of East Anglia The third workshop of the ESRC seminar series Critical Perspectives on Public Engagement in Science and Environmental Risk explored the topic of emerging forms of public engagement and participation in the context of geologic and flood hazards. The management of natural hazards has traditionally been dominated by…
Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, Durham University Tuesday 15 December 2009 The second workshop of the ESRC seminar series Critical Perspectives on Public Engagement in Science and Environmental Risk explored the incipient institutionalisation of public engagement and deliberation. Contemporary science policy has taken a distinct ‘deliberative turn’. Across a range of domains – biotechnology,…
Friday 24 April 2009, University of Birmingham The opening mini-conference of the ESRC seminar series ‘Critical perspectives on public engagement in science and environmental risk’ explores the theoretical, methodological, empirical and practical dimensions of the emerging critical research agenda on participation in science and the environment. The morning session includes agenda setting presentations from leading…
University of Sussex, May 2012 Drew together thirty-six experts in grassroots innovations to discuss their work studying community-based solutions for sustainable development across a range of sectors including food, energy, housing, finance, governance and consumption.
UEA London, March 2012. A panel discussion provided a timely opportunity to take a step back and reflect on recent developments within UK community energy and on their longer-term implications.
Norwich, March 2012. Draws on insights from a range of social science perspectives to undertake a system wide exploration of the range, modes and sites of participation in low carbon transitions.