The sun shone and the conversation flowed, as 100 environmental social scientists from across academia, policy and the third sector came together for two days of thinking, connecting and network building. After a Welcome Address from ACCESS Director Patrick Devine-Wright, Day 1 began with a thematic session on ‘Place-sensitive Just Transitions’ with Najma Mohamed of […]
The global climate imperative of reaching net zero emissions has prompted many countries to set up net zero ‘cluster’ or ‘hubs’ aiming at decarbonising carbon-intensive industry (e.g. steel and petrochemicals) while rejuvenating declining industrial regions. This approach reflects the ‘place turn’ in regional industrial policymaking and research, especially in the UK and Europe, that is […]
The interlinked crises of biodiversity and ecosystem loss, climate change and deepening poverty and inequality have created a window of opportunity for radical policy transformations to deliver both social justice and environmental sustainability. Just transition has gained prominence as a climate policy and investment framework that seeks to create a fair and sustainable future for […]
Howlett et al. (2009: 92) argue; “The manner and form in which problems are recognized, if they are recognized at all, are important determinants of whether, and how, they will ultimately be addressed by policy-makers”. Policy-makers tend to be organised around the formal institutional scales (national, regional, local) which reflect their democratic or institutional mandates. […]
York 5am. Alarm clock. I’m not good early mornings, but after taking a combo of LNER and GWR via London (rather than Cross Country – if you know, you know), I had come round by 11am where I strolled down the train to meet Jaya. And then Helen jumped on at Exeter. Whereupon, after annual […]
One of the key aims of ACCESS is to bring diverse individuals and organisations together to support connections and spark new conversations in environmental social science. Our Annual Assembly plays a key role in this relationship building. Every June, we bring together some 80-plus environmental social scientists from across academia, the public sector and […]
Steve: Stewart, can you tell us why people are so concerned about air travel? Stewart: From a climate perspective, the way we travel has a significant impact. For example, the well-known travel website seat61 estimates that travelling by train rather than flying can reduce the carbon impact of travel by 80-90%. The figures can be […]
The ACCESS Guiding Principles team (Stewart Barr, Kate Burningham, Sarah Golding, Steve Guilbert and Sarah Hartley) compiled and published our Guiding Principles in March 2023. We’ve recently developed our own ACCESS Travel Guidance document as an extension to these. In this blog, we outline the context for developing this guidance. Our Guiding Principles focus […]
Clare Twigger-Ross, who works as a consultant social researcher at Eunomia, highlighted two challenges for social scientists in consultancy roles: “When working in research as a consultant, we aim to work collaboratively with our clients as far as possible. However, a key area of knowledge that can be underestimated is that of the institutional, governance […]
What the evidence tells us about nature, and human health and well-being Evidence for the complex links between nature and health and well-being cuts-across sectors and research disciplines. There is a lot of useful evidence out there, but its breadth has made it difficult to draw together and use to inform decision making. This was […]