CfP RGS-IBG 2022: New and critical geographies of innovation

3S members Helen Pallett and Martin Mahony have put out a call for papers for the forthcoming RGS-IBG conference in Newcastle 30th August-2nd September. These sessions aim to establish and explore an incipient research agenda around new and critical geographies of innovation, bringing together diverse geographical research and practice which challenges conventional narratives of and…

New article on Theoretical Theatre teaching innovation

  We’re proud to announce that our first pedagogical paper on 3S’s award-winning teaching method Theoretical Theatre, has been published in the Journal of Contemporary European Research, Vol 13 (3) 2017. Our teaching team in 3S has pioneered this exciting and effective teaching innovation, which is catching on across the country and the world. This…

3S Working Paper 2017-30: Theoretical Theatre: harnessing comedy to teach social science

Role playing is increasingly used in European Studies and political science more generally to foster students understanding of social science theories. Yet in most cases, role playing is only done by students. Not so in Theoretical Theatre, a teaching innovation which puts the onus on teachers to act. In our performances, teachers embody competing theories…

3S Working Paper 2016-29 Seyfang & Gilbert-Squires – Sustainable Banking Transitions

This paper presents and tests a new conceptual framework for understanding sustainable transitions in sociotechnical systems. We apply this in the first ever study of sustainable transitions in the UK retail banking system which has suffered recently from banking crises, and links to environmentally-sensitive industries such as fossil fuels. Sustainability-focused values-based banks are a potential…

3S Working Paper 2015-27 Chilvers & Longhurst – A Relational Co-productionist Approach to Sociotechnical Transitions

In this paper we develop an approach to sociotechnical change that is grounded in relational and co-productionist theories from science and technology studies (STS) and wider social theory. This is a constructive project to further develop and advance understandings and explanations of actor dynamics and sociotechnical change. In doing so we propose a new relational…

3S leads new Comedy in the Classroom teaching innovation

Award-winning teaching led by 3S members in ENV is the centrepiece of a new website ComedyInTheClassroom.org which raises UEA’s profile as an exemplar of creative and innovative teaching. Dr Gill Seyfang created the website to showcase an exciting new teaching method which has the potential to transform teaching in higher education. Comedy in the Classroom…

3S WP 2012-03 Hargreaves et al – Understanding Sustainability Innovations: Points of Intersection between the Multi-Level Perspective and Social Practice Theory

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.…

Science, Trust and Public Engagement – exploring future pathways to good governance

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…