How We Work
One of the main ways that ACCESS champions environmental social science is through building communities across disciplines and sectors.
Several ACCESS structures and initiatives support this community building:
Policy & Practice Working Group (PPWG)
In 2022 we set up the ACCESS Policy and Practice Working Group (PPWG). Our aim was to provide a regular forum in which social science knowledge on environmental problems could be shared between academics, officials from central and devolved governments, agencies and regulatory bodies, professional bodies and funding institutions. This is a fluid, evolving group which contains UK-wide organisations that provide useful insights and helpful challenges and provocation that guide decision-making.
The PPWG has members and representatives from the following organisations:
Central Government
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
- Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
- Department for Transport
- Cabinet Office
- Government Office for Science
Funder
- Economic & Social Research Council
Devolved Governments
- Welsh Government
- Scottish Government
- Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (Northern Ireland)
Professional Bodies
- British Academy
- Academy of Social Sciences
- British Geological Survey
- Met Office
- Institution of Environmental Sciences
Agencies & Regulators
- NatureScot
- Forest Research
- Natural Resources Wales
- Environment Agency
- Marine Management Organisation
- Natural England
Universities & Research Centres
- University of Exeter
- University of Surrey
- Universities of Bath, Leeds & Sussex
- Partner Universities & Research Centres
If you are interested in finding out more about the PPWG please email info@accessnetwork.uk
Project Advisory Board (PAB)
From the very beginning of ACCESS, our international Project Advisory Board has helped to shape the project, inform our direction of travel and put our work into context.
Our Project Advisory Board comprises:
- Chair: Susan Owens OBE (University of Cambridge)
- Julian Agyeman (Tufts, USA)
- Caroline Booth (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)
- Anna Davies (Trinity College Dublin)
- Rob Doubleday (University of Cambridge)
- Jen Gold (Economic & Social Research Council)
- Julie MacArthur (Royal Roads, Canada)
- Yacob Mulugetta (University College London)
- Andrew Ray (Department of Energy Security & Net Zero)
- Linda Steg (University of Groningen, Netherlands)
- Elke Weber (Princeton University, USA)
- James Wilsdon (University College London)
For more information about the ACCESS PAB, please email: info@accessnetwork.uk
ACCESS Annual Assemblies
Every year, we hold an Annual Assembly at the University of Exeter’s Streatham Campus, bringing together around 150 Environmental Social Scientists across academia, policy, civil society and the voluntary sector.
