In September 2023 we announced the winners of ACCESS Flex Fund Round 1. We had over 60 applications from universities and research networks from all over the UK. Projects shared a £250,000 fund and ran from September 2023 for 9 to 12 months.
Buzzing about Bees: Exploring Active Storytelling for transforming Children’s Environmental Agency
Rosamund Portus (University of West England Bristol)
Can a novel knowledge co-production approach advance community organisations’ ability to harness the social sciences in urban bio-diversity renewal?
Bethan Stagg (formerly University of Exeter)
Challenging the unsustainability of the UK fashion and textile sector from the perspective of key suppliers in Bangladesh and India
Patrick Elf (Middlesex University)
Dismantling the Legacy: Decolonising the conservation and environmental sectors using a social science framework
Jaya Gajparia (Independent scholar)
Green(ing) British Muslims: Towards an interdisciplinary, intersectoral, co-produced framework
Davide Pettinato (University of Cambridge)
Growing the social sciences within environmental organisations
Ruth Lamont (Natural England)
Including the More-Than-Human World in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): Developing a conceptual framework
Catherine Price, (University of Nottingham)
REPAIR: Research on Energy through Participatory Insights from Community Representatives,
Sarah Higginson (University of Oxford) & Uttara Narayan (University of Manchester)
“Taps Aff!” Voicing experiences of water scarcity in rural Scotland
Elizabeth Lawson (Newcastle University)
Patrick Devine-Wright, ACCESS Director, said:
“The nine projects are all very varied and demonstrate how widely social sciences can be applied to different areas of work, but all with a single goal to improve environmental decision making and practice.
We were very impressed with the high calibre of applications. It was great to see some important collaborations between universities and public sector organisations as well as thought given to making projects inclusive and environmentally sustainable.
We are pleased to be funding projects that give more visibility to minority groups in the UK; understanding how British Muslims engage in environmental action and their experience; and funding for engaging Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) in designing a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable approach to conservation.
Other successful awardees will be looking at other marginalised communities; water scarcity in rural Scotland, energy demand in racialised communities in cities, and engaging under-privileged groups in nature renewal.”
Birgitta Gatersleben, Co-Director of ACCESS, continued:
“We were particularly excited to see that over 95% of the applications came from Early Career Researchers.
ACCESS is about giving opportunities to the future generation of social scientists who we hope will go on to work with decision-makers across society to better inform UK policy and practice.
It was great to read about the links they’ve already established with non-academic partners. In most cases, the work will be co-produced; meaning the outputs will be of immediate use and value. Some of these partner stakeholders include government Nature Agencies (e.g., Natural England), the Children’s Environmental Agency, the Citizens Advice Bureau, British Muslim organisations, schools and community leaders.
I’m excited to see more people joining the ACCESS network and recognising the importance of social science expertise and methodology to start to solve some of today’s most pressing environmental issues.”
Discover what lessons we learned from administering Round 1 of the Flex Fund:
We hope these insights will be useful to other organisations administering funds and also to future Flexible funds applicants. For more information please contact us.
Visit our Flex Fund page for an overview of the fund and links to Rounds 2 and 3 of the ACCESS Flex Fund.