The joint response draws on research and lessons from international case studies, including Irish grid operator EirGrid’s pilot community fund. The authors welcome the government’s proposal to provide those affected by new transmission network infrastructure with a range of community benefits, including direct bill discounts and community funds. In order to help ensure the scheme […]
Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE (Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), University of Bath) has been appointed Lead Author to Chapter 8 of Working Group III. Working Group III focuses on climate change mitigation, assessing methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, and Chapter 8 looks […]
Professor Benjamin Sovacool (ACCESS Leadership Team & University of Sussex), Professor Nicholas Pidgeon (ACCESS Co-Investigator & Cardiff University), and Professor Sara Walker (Co-Director of the Energy Demand Research Centre (EDRC) & University of Birmingham) have been appointed to the new DESNZ Science and Technology Advisory Council. The Science and Technology Advisory Council comprises 16 highly […]
ACCESS Director Patrick Devine-Wright (University of Exeter) was one of five social science experts invited to attend a roundtable discussion on Public Engagement with Grid Transformation in December 2024. Also invited were Catherine Queen (University of Liverpool), Melanie Rohse (Angela Ruskin University), Matthew Cotton (Teeside University), and Jason Chilvers (University of East Anglia). The summary note from that roundtable was published […]
As an ACCESS Knowledge Exchange Fellow, I contributed to the design, execution, and analysis of a survey and interviews on interdisciplinary working and the benefits of environmental social science, as well as supporting key project outputs like the annotated bibliography, literature review, and the Environmental Social Science kNowledge Exchange Map of Opportunities (ESS NEMO). Being […]
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has drawn on evidence from ACCESS Leadership College Fellow Dr Pamela Buchan (University of Exeter) in a new report urging the government to introduce a national framework for stakeholder participation in marine planning by January 2026. The report warns that current systems allow limited opportunities for public input into marine […]
Perhaps evolving out of an early research focus on the culture of estuarine landscapes, I have always had an interest in liminal places and in-between spaces. In my current role as an ACCESS KEIF (Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fellow), I spend much of my time trying to make sense of the critical space in-between [social] […]
It was a response specifically to Clause 22 of the bill: ‘Benefits for homes near electricity transmission projects’, which suggests provision for a financial benefit scheme based on individuals living within a fixed distance (500m) of transmission infrastructure. Patrick and Rebecca argued that using a set distance to determine community benefits is inequitable and risks […]
In its 2024 Progress Report to Parliament, the UK Climate Change Committee makes clear that the government “will have to act fast” to hit the country’s 2030 target of a reduction in carbon emissions to less than 32% of 1990 levels. Given the scale and speed of change inherent in decarbonisation, social scientists might expect a […]
Launching in February 2025, the JUST Centre will work closely with communities in five regions of the North of England (West Yorkshire, West Cumbria, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, and Tyneside) while also generating comparative research in other regions of the UK. It will collaborate with partners across local, regional, and national government, business, and civil society to […]
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