In category: Interdisciplinarity

This new ACCESS paper in the journal Environmental Science and Policy explores what exactly environmental social science (ESS) is and why defining ESS is so important: “Environmental social sciences are often perceived to have less impact than other scientific perspectives. To help make a case for its value and importance it is essential that those […]

This practical toolkit will help environmental and social scientists, practitioners and policymakers to build stronger relationships and collaborate more effectively on urgent environmental problems. Collaborative working across environmental disciplines and sectors is vital. Alongside technical improvements and breakthroughs, profound societal change will be necessary to meet our climate and environment goals. There is growing recognition […]

The project, led by Jaya Gajparia and Richard Bridge, tested and explored what effective leadership development could look like within Environmental Social Science, creating space for new ideas, approaches, and practices to emerge through collaboration and reflection. ​ Aims The project aimed to: Develop collaborative leadership skills through practical engagement with real-world challenges. Build capacity to create and […]

Over the past year, ACCESS and the Institution for Environmental Sciences (IES) have been working together on the Environmental Social Science in Interdisciplinary Working project to strengthen interdisciplinary working between environmental and social scientists, equipping both communities with the tools and insights needed to work more effectively together on urgent environmental issues. They have developed […]

    Richard Bridge, Head of Monitoring and Evaluation on Defra’s Nature for Climate Tree Programme describes the conversations, field trips and reflections that this year’s retreat brought: The last few days have been memorable. The final year of the ACCESS Leadership College, with an extra topping of work on Tuesday and Wednesday with a […]

Last month, ACCESS and project partners the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) hosted the second in a series of roundtables for the Environmental Social Science in Interdisciplinary Working project. Whereas the first roundtable focused on sharing experiences and identifying enablers and barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration which includes environmental social sciences, this latest session moved from […]

This initial roundtable is the first of three roundtables, which will help inform the project in its overall aim to develop an understanding of the key enablers and barriers to collaboration across the environmental and social sciences, and then to co-produce tailored resources to support practical approaches to bridging disciplines. This roundtable, held in central […]

I gave a seminar a few weeks ago at the invitation of Prof. Tim Mays, a hydrogen engineer from the University of Bath. The audience was public and varied, with a large smattering of natural science students. Putting my slides together, I asked myself, what have I, as a social scientist interested in sustainable energy […]

The project aims to strengthen interdisciplinary working between environmental and social scientists, equipping both communities with the tools and insights needed to work more effectively together on urgent environmental issues. The project is led by Birgitta Gatersleben (ACCESS Co-Director, University of Surrey), who said: “I am excited to work on this project with IES. The […]

  Melissa Marselle, Sarah Golding and Valentine Seymour ran a knowledge exchange workshop at last year’s British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2024, on behalf of ACCESS, entitled: Breaking Boundaries: Why Knowledge Exchange is the Missing Link for Impact in the Ecology Sector     They have subsequently developed this workshop into a recent blog on […]