News, Jobs, Events, Opportunities and lots more...
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A quick round up of this week's news, jobs and opportunities
News
ACCESS Summer School Partnering with CIFAL Surrey and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
The ACCESS 2025 Summer School is currently open for applications.
It takes place from Monday 22 to Wednesday 24 September, at the beautiful Cumberland Lodge, Windsor.
This year, we are delighted to partner with CIFAL Surrey for this event and, in conjunction with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), to provide participants with a UNITAR / CIFAL Surrey certificate on completion.
Join a small group of environmental social scientists from diverse sectors at our relaxed and friendly retreat-style event. We'll be addressing three main themes; nature and biodiversity, circular economies, and liveable cities. And you'll have the opportunity to:
- Build relationships across sectors
- Develop and practice skills for collaboration
- Scope collaborative research ideas
Delegates can be working in any sector, but must be working in the UK and can be at any career stage, but we especially encourage those at an early career or mid career stage to register.
Deadline for applications: Friday 13 June
Events
Academy of Social Sciences' Annual Lecture 2025: Taking "Mission-Oriented" Growth Seriously: Advice for the UK Government
Tuesday 3 June, 5 – 6pm, online
Professor Mariana Mazzucato FAcSS (University College London) will be delivering this year’s Academy of Social Sciences' Annual Lecture:
Taking “mission-oriented” growth seriously: advice for the UK Government
This event is open to all and a short Q&A, chaired by the Academy’s President, Will Hutton FAcSS, will take place following Mariana’s lecture.
Showcasing Net Zero Capabilities: Societal Transformation
Tuesday 10 June, 10am – 2pm, Bristol
This Cabot Institute for the Environment workshop (including a one hour lunch) will provide a platform to explore this pressing research area and form new partnerships.
We will also be discussing how to fund potential projects that emerge from this workshop.
Designed for academics, policymakers, businesses, third sector organizations, and other stakeholders.
Read more
Nature Connections Conference 2025
Monday 16 – Tuesday 17 June, Derby
Nature Connections will include two days of talks, workshops and networking with researchers, practitioners and professionals exploring and growing Nature Connection.
The Nature Connections brings together researchers and practitioners interested in nature connection to share and discuss the latest research, ideas, and applications.
This conference is hosted by the University of Derby’s Nature Connectedness Research Group (NCRG), which aims to advance understanding of human-nature relationships and ways of improving them, for the well-being of humans and the rest of nature.
Jobs
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UK Energy Research Centre, Edinburgh
You will conduct research into the development and delivery of neighbourhood-based energy retrofit and heat decarbonisation programmes, with a focus on relational and place-based aspects.
This will involve working with communities and delivery agencies to review interventions, delivery mechanisms, outcomes and the role of socio-cultural relations in one, or more, UK case study location.
This position offers an experienced researcher the opportunity to join the internationally-leading, multi-disciplinary UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).
In its fifth phase (2024-2029) UKERC will focus on the multifaceted challenge of delivering the energy transition; conducting a programme of interdisciplinary research on how to transition to a sustainable and inclusive net zero energy system whilst enhancing security and affordability, and working with key stakeholders to provide analysis and insights relevant to the challenges facing decision-makers in government, industry and civil society, helping accelerate an equitable transition.
Deadline: Monday 2 June
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Exeter
Part-time (0.6 FTE) researcher position working on a social science, impact-facing project funded by an ESRC Impact Accelerator Account (IAA) entitled:
Travel Towards Net Zero: co-creating low-carbon tourist travel mobility practices
The successful applicant will work with the co-investigators and the research partner (Hotel Plan UK) to co-design consumer-focused co-creation workshops with clients of Hotel Plan UK.
These will explore current holiday travel practices (dominated by air travel), the factors that influence use of air travel for holidays, and the changes that are needed to successfully promote no-fly travel for international tourism in Europe.
The project will be informed by Social Practice Theory and use a practice-oriented design framework to examine how changes in tourist travel practices could be promoted.
The successful applicant will work on the analysis of workshop data and the writing of an industry-facing low-carbon tourist travel toolkit and two insight reports. They will also have the opportunity to co-author an academic publication from the project.
Deadline: Wednesday 4 June
Fully-funded PhD Opportunity, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, The University of Manchester
Carbon Dioxide Removal & Net Zero Pathways
The project at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester will explore how carbon dioxide removal (CDR) can be responsibly and equitably integrated into national and global Net Zero strategies.
It will investigate:
• The evolving role of CDR under different climate futures
• Fairness and equity in the timing and distribution of CDR
• How near-term infrastructure choices shape long-term CDR options
• The use of IAMs to inform real-world policy decisions
Deadline: Friday 6 June
2 Senior Research Associates: PEATSENSE Project, University of Bristol
Roles:
Diverse Knowledge Ecologies and Sensing Practices in Latin American Peatlands
- Environmental Histories and Inclusive Climate Futures in European Wetlands
Join the forefront of interdisciplinary research on climate
governance, knowledge politics, and environmental justice in peatlands as part of the pioneering ERC-funded PEATSENSE project team.
They are seeking two dynamic Senior Research Associates who are driven by intellectual curiosity and committed to shaping inclusive climate futures through transformative research in the social sciences and environmental humanities.
Role 1 (Latin America) – Investigate the emerging recognition of peatlands as critical sites of climate mitigation in specific regions in Latin America. Employ qualitative methodologies to explore the political ecology and sociocultural impacts of new governance models in regions such as the high Andean páramos [high moorlands] or Amazonian aguajales. You'll examine how global technologies, local knowledges, and climate policy intersect, critically analysing power dynamics and developing pathways toward inclusive governance.
Role 2 (Europe) – Reframe the cultural and environmental histories of peatlands in Europe, particularly Scotland and Ireland, through archival research, oral histories, and ethnographic studies. Challenge dominant carbon-centric narratives by tracing the complex interactions between communities, ecosystems, and policy frameworks, uncovering alternative models that emphasise biodiversity, cultural heritage, and ecological restoration.
Deadline: Monday 23 June
Opportunities
Biophilia Award in Environmental Humanities and Social Sciences (Fundación BBVA)
One award will be given comprising 100,000 euros, a diploma and a commemorative artwork.
The purpose of the award is to recognise contributions from the humanities, communication and social sciences, informed by or compatible with environmental science knowledge, that have helped shape the perspectives, conceptual frameworks
and values of society with regard to the environment.
Submitted contributions can be in multiple formats, including essays, articles, monographs, legislative initiatives, multimedia materials and popular science books; the preparation, editing and presentation of reports and documentaries; the design and curatorship of exhibitions; and activities in any media channel (scientific journals, press, radio, television, film, documentary and the internet).
Preference will be given to contributions of broad impact that have marked a milestone in our understanding of the relationship between human beings and nature.
All entries must refer to contributions completed before December 31, 2024.
Deadline: Friday 30 May, 11am
Share Your Views: Unlocking the Subsurface Research Opportunity (NERC)
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is scoping a potential research and innovation opportunity aimed at ‘Unlocking the subsurface’. There is currently no funding associated with this activity however, if secured, the programme would aim to deliver the understanding, evidence and tools needed to:
- sustainably balance the increased demands on the subsurface for storage (e.g. carbon, energy, water), resources (e.g. minerals, water, energy) and infrastructure, without compromising the physical, structural and environmental integrity of the subsurface;
- responsibly optimise utilisation of the subsurface to its full potential for UK communities at local, regional and national scales to deliver UK growth and security in the context of climate change and the clean energy transition
They are seeking views from the research and innovation community to identify the critical knowledge gaps that a potential future research and innovation activity should address to deliver these aims.
Deadline: Thursday 12 June, 5pm
Call for Submissions: British Environmental Psychology Society (BrEPS) Conference
Thursday 4 – Friday 5 September, University of Nottingham
The theme of the conference will be "Maximising Environmental Psychology’s impact for sustainability, equity, and social transformation".
It focuses especially on the increasing awareness, application, and impact of environmental psychology research in our research, practice, policy, and everyday life.
BrEPS are inviting reflections on the application and impact of your important research for the benefit of society and the environment. They request that your submission addresses this, to create an engaging platform to reflect on the vitality of environmental psychology research.
Early career environmental psychologists: MSc and PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and anyone else getting familiar with the field and/or academic work are welcome. Those more established in their career who are looking to connect with and support those in earlier stages of career development are also very welcome.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words are invited for the following formats:
- Oral presentations (approx.10-12 min, with 5 min questions)
- Lightning round oral presentations (approx. 3-5 min, application/impact-focused, 2 min questions)
- Poster presentations
- Workshops and Symposia (1-hour session with 4 – 5 speakers)
Deadline: Friday 13 June
For more information, contact: info@breps.co.uk
Call for Papers: Symposium on Energy Infrastructures and Their Communities
Tuesday 9 – Wednesday 10 September, University of Exeter
The University of Exeter’s Nuclear Societies Research Group is organising a two-day in-person symposium on the theme of “Energy Infrastructures and their Communities”. The event is aimed primarily at early career scholars and PhD students from any university or disciplinary background, although we also welcome more senior academics to participate as discussants.
The symposium takes as its central provocation the changing relations between various forms of energy infrastructures and the communities that depend on, form around, and evolve with them.
They invite papers that either reimagine the theoretical perspectives and methodological tools we have to study infrastructures and communities, or empirical studies that trace these changing relations in the world. This might include, but is not limited to, engagement with the following questions:
• What are the historical and contemporary challenges that shape existing relations between energy infrastructures and communities? What can we learn from these historical and global precedents?
• Are existing models for the relations between large-scale, centralised energy infrastructures and their communities sufficient? Can new models of decentralised energy communities help us rethink the changing relations between energy infrastructures and communities?
• How do energy infrastructures change and evolve? How might a biographical approach to the temporalities of infrastructure help us attend to their life cycles, and their co-evolution with the communities that form around them?
• How might we rethink the concept of ‘community’ and its cognates: community benefit, community engagement, community consent and approval? What would such a reconceptualisation do to our understanding of infrastructure-community relations? How might these ideas inform policy and practice?
• How might we attend to more-than-human communities in infrastructural evolution?
• How might infrastructural operators and developers evolve to meet the moment, and how might communities have a say in such transformations? What new social contracts or new forms of public engagement are necessary for the job?
• What new or existing methodologies can help academics, communities, and institutions engage in just energy transitions?
Interdisciplinary work, and collaborations with institutional or industry partners are particularly welcome.
Apply with a title and abstract of up to 250 words, along with your current institutional affiliation and email addresses (as a single Word file) to: l.a.dawney@exeter.ac.uk (Dr Leila Dawney), sk902@exeter.ac.uk (Sebastian Koa) and cam272@exeter.ac.uk (Caitlin Mullin).
Deadline: Monday 30 June
Royal Society Survey: Factors Affecting Public Engagement by UK Researchers 2025
The Royal Society wants to understand:
- What public engagement means and entails in 2025
- The value and significance of public engagement
- Enablers and barriers, and opportunities and risks of public engagement
- Effective implementation and support strategies
- How these elements have changed over time
Whether you’re actively involved in public engagement or not, your input is incredibly valuable. This will be an important piece of advocacy and evidence-gathering for both the public engagement community and the wider research sector.
Deadline: Monday 30 June
Complete the survey
Book Proposals Wanted: Energy Social Science
The editors of the Palgrave Studies in Environmental Transformation, Transition and Accountability series are seeking book proposals featuring excellent energy social science.
The monographs and edited collections published in this series boast cutting-edge, interdisciplinary energy and environmental social science, offering compelling insights on the accountable governance of low-carbon transitions.
The series features books that combine conceptual rigour and empirical robustness to address urgent yet timeless questions of how to bring about socioecologically equitable and just energy futures. Publications span diverse spatial scales and governance levels, examining the evolution of energy system across increasingly electrifying and digitalising sectors.
Contact Prof. Siddharth Sareen (University of Bergen) for more information
Info
Climate Anxiety in the United Kingdom: Associations with Environmentally Relevant Behavioural Intentions, and the Moderating Role of Efficacy
This study by Alice Roberts (Cardiff University) et al. in the Journal of Environmental Psychology explores the structure of the shortened Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS), how it relates to pro-environmental behaviour, and the crucial role of efficacy beliefs therein.
Key findings:
• Climate anxiety is positively linked with intentions to act, especially in the public sphere.
• But at very high levels, this link weakens, suggesting that intense anxiety may become less adaptive.
• Feelings of powerlessness further reduce the motivation to act, even among those highly anxious about climate change.
Involving the Public in Achieving Net Zero: Demos Recording
This recent event recording from cross-party, independent think tank, Demos, presents views from Climate Outreach’s CEO Rachael Orr, UK Climate Minister Kerry McCarthy, BAFTA Albert MD Matt Scarff, public engagement specialist Sarah Allan, and Demos Director of Participatory Programmes Miriam Levin.
The panel discuss creative ways to bring people into the net zero policymaking process.
Science Communication - Opportunities and Challenges: A Toolkit for Scientists
Mindful of the impact that misinformation can have on individuals, earlier this year the Met Office and the Royal Meteorological Society published a toolkit the help equip scientists with the knowledge and strategies needed to effectively navigate the opportunities and challenges of public engagement while sharing their research confidently.
While aimed at natural scientists, the toolkit has much to offer environmental social scientists too.
It includes:
- Practical strategies for managing harassment and maintaining online safety.
- Best practices for engaging with the media and using social media platforms effectively.
- Tips for countering misinformation and disinformation.
- Mental health resources to cope with the stress and anxiety associated with public engagement.
New Climate Comic Activity Book
Climate Comic have launched the Climate Comic Activity Book, a bilingual (Welsh/English) resource to spark meaningful conversations about climate change across generations.
Co-created with schools, care homes, and community partners across South Wales, the activity book is the culmination of the OPTIC project (Understanding Older and Younger People’s PerspecTives and Imaginaries of Climate Change) and builds on the Climate Comic, which captured the voices of 65 younger and older individuals through creative intergenerational workshops.
The activity book includes creative, hands-on activities — from drawing and storytelling to games and discussion prompts — with free downloadable templates, including large-format versions.
Are you on the ACCESS Environmental Social Science expert database?
Join our searchable database of social scientists and experts working in the fields of climate and environment. The database includes both academics in universities as well as those working in the public sector, charities and businesses. It's quickly becoming one of our most visited web pages. A useful resource for people looking to collaborate and connect with environmental social scientists.
It only takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete the online form.
Share your news
Thank you to all the contributors who sent items in for this week's newsletter.
Do get in touch if you have any events, job or funding opportunities or new research that you would like to share with the ACCESS Network.
And if you have any feedback on the newsletter, we'd love to hear it.
Email me (Suzy) at: s.p.a.darke@exeter.ac.uk
