PhD Human Geography University of Reading
I am passionate about how people engage with climate change and energy issues. My research has built on my experience working with UK community action groups and networks, and has focused on social learning about domestic energy; engagement with climate change mitigation and net zero; how local action is scaled up to achieve wider impact; and the emotional dynamics of climate change engagement.
I am currently a lecturer in Human Geography and an ACCESS research impact fellow where I contribute to internal evaluation, knowledge exchange and the data exchange.
My social science research focuses on climate change engagement and energy transitions, the role of community-scale approaches to sustainability and energy transitions, and the psycho-social and emotional dimensions of energy and climate justice.
My doctoral research explored the relationship between involvement in methods and practices which enabled acknowledgement and expression of emotions connected to climate change, and becoming/remaining actively engaged with climate mitigation actions in the UK.
Recent research has focused on justice and engagement with industrial decarbonisation through the Net Zero Sense of Place and Delivering a place-based just transition in industrial clusters projects.
Turning towards the tears of the world: practices and processes of grief and never-endings, book chapter in J. Anderson, T. Staunton, J. O’Gorman and C. Hickman (Eds) Being a Therapist in a Time of Climate Breakdown https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003436096-38/turning-towards-tears-world-practices-processes-grief-never-endings-jo-hamilton
Alchemizing sorrow into deep determination: emotional reflexivity and climate change engagement. Frontiers in Climate: Climate Risk Management. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.786631
Emotions, reflexivity and the long haul: what we do about how we feel about climate change. In Paul Hoggett (Ed) Climate Psychology: on indifference to disaster. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11741-2_8.
Conversations about conservation? Using social network analysis to understand energy practices. Energy Research & Social Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.10.030
Scaling up local carbon action: the role of partnerships, networks and policy. Carbon Management. https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2015.1035515
Network approach for local governance of energy: the case of Oxfordshire. Energy Policy (62) pp.1064-1077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.06.027
Net zero sense of place | IDRIC https://idric.org/project/mip-3-4/
Delivering a place-based just transition in industrial clusters | IDRIC https://idric.org/project/ia-3-1-delivering-a-place-based-just-transition-in-industrial-clusters/
Local Net Zero Community: A method for developing local net zero scenarios without leaving people behind https://www.wren.uk.com/images/documents/NZCom/NZCom_WP2_-_Scenarios_methodology_FINAL.pdf
Climate Psychology Handbook (contributor and editorial) https://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/index.php/component/content/article/climate-psychology-handbook?catid=15&Itemid=101