ACCESS Assembly, Flex Fund, News, Jobs, Events and lots more...
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Quick round up of this week's news, jobs and events
News
Download the ACCESS Assembly Keynote & Session recordings
This year’s annual ACCESS Assembly was about getting together, discussing key challenges and sparking new networks.
From 14 to 16 June, Exeter University welcomed social scientists from across academia, public and private sectors from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.
One of the key themes was – How can we improve the impact social science research has on policy and practice? The keynote speakers were:
- Mari Martiskainen (University of Sussex)
- Beth Brockett (Forest Research) & Carol Morris (University of Nottingham)
- Rosie Hails (National Trust)
- Beth Brockett & Clive Mitchell (NatureScot)
- Nigel Gilbert (University of Surrey)
Over the two days, we also heard about ACCESS’s Guiding Principles and how these might be applied and further developed to make them more useable and accessible. Towards the end of the Assembly we had an update about the ACCESS Data Exchange and Climate & Environment Media Monitor and how to we can get involved.
We know that not everyone could make the event so we have recorded many of the Keynote and Session presentations. Please feel free to share these with others in your institutions and organisations.
ACCESS Flexible Fund reflections
ACCESS Director, Patrick Devine-Wright reflects back on setting up the ACCESS Flex Fund. He shares a number of key lessons learnt that could be of benefit to other flex funds. These reflections will be added to as we go into the next phases of the funding.
ACCESS YouTube channel
Check out our new ACCESS Youtube channel @ACCESSNetworkproject.
The value and impact of environmental psychology in policy and practice
Some of the ACCESS network were at the International Conference on Environmental Psychology (ICEP) in Aarhus, Denmark last week (20-23 June). ACCESS led a panel discussion on the value and impact of Environmental Psychology research.
Funding and jobs
The ESRC/AHRC SHAPE Catalyst has now been launched
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have launched the Social science, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy (SHAPE) Catalyst programme with delivery partners the ARC Accelerator.
This is a commercialisation catalyst for anyone interested in delivering sustainable, scalable economic or social impact from their research. It is designed so that researchers can join at any stage – there are open workshops to explore how commercialisation could help with impact; interactive sessions to help people develop ideas and a proposal; and the tailored programme of support that comes with the award.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Environment and Health
The University of Exeter is looking for a 50% FTE Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join the RESONATE (Building individual and community resilience through nature-based therapies) project. This is an interdisciplinary project led by the University of Vienna in collaboration with 13 other European partners.
RESONATE is a four-year Research and Innovation project funded by Horizon Europe examining the health, environmental, economic and social impacts of so-called ‘green care’, ‘nature-based social prescribing’ or ‘nature-based therapy’ interventions.
Closing date Thursday 13 July
Join the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Systems Research Team
The team at Defra are recruiting three senior scientific officers to work on cross-cutting areas of interest to Defra. The role offers extensive training opportunities to learn and apply systems thinking in practice.
Ideal candidates will either be systems practitioners with formal training/ experience in systems thinking or scientists and analysts from other disciplines with strong motivation to learn systems thinking.
Closing date Monday 17th July
Expansion of Swansea University's School of Psychology
Swansea Psychology department has multiple new permanent Lecturer and Senior Lecturer posts available.
They are looking for applicants with research expertise in any area that aligns with their current portfolio, which includes sustainable behaviour and climate psychology.
Lecturers and Senior Lecturers
Closing date Wednesday 19 July
PhD opportunity: Improving air quality through enhancing air quality literacy at Swansea University
The successful PhD candidate will come from a discipline like Psychology, Sociology or Human Geography and will use their subject expertise to conduct a series of studies that will fill important gaps in our understanding of how the public understand air quality, and how behaviour can be changed to improve Air Quality.
Closing date Wednesday 12 July
A Research Fellow opportunity with the University of Surrey on the FEVER project.
The School of Economics is seeking to appoint a Research Fellow to investigate the demand for renewable EV (electric vehicle) fast charging stations, and how to help with the uptake of the fast-charging technology from a consumer perspective. The successful candidate will contribute to a wider programme of research within the FEVER project (Future Electric Vehicle Energy Networks supporting Renewables).
Closing date Friday 7 July
Training
Introduction to News Media session hosted by the Science Media Centre
Wednesday 20 September 1 - 5pm, University College London, Institute of Child Health
This is a free session specifically geared towards research scientists and engineers with little or no media experience. It is particularly relevant to those who work in newsworthy or controversial areas.
Anyone wishing to attend should register interest at https://forms.office.com/e/1g9x1k7RFT. The SMC will then email you to confirm your place.
Events
Webinar: From crises to net-zero
Tuesday 4 July 10 - 11.30am online
Join the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) to learn how the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crises have impacted energy use and what the implications are for net-zero.
Webinar: Using social influence modelling to plot a pathway out of marine-based conflict
Wednesday 12 July 1 - 2pm online
Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR) are excited to host Corrine Condie and Scott Condie from the Australian Council, Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). They will be talking about ‘Using social influence modelling to plot a pathway out of marine-based conflict (a case study of Tasmanian salmon aquaculture)’.
Calls for information
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Civic Society unit manages the PERSPECTIVES publication series which provides an opportunity for major groups and stakeholders to present their views (and not necessarily UNEP's views) on issues they find important.
They are inviting people to suggest topics / titles and authors for the PERSPECTIVES publications for the 2023-2024 cycle.
Topics could be related but not limited to:
- The triple planetary crisis (climate, pollution, loss of biodiversity)
- Environmental impact of conflicts,
- Renewable energy,
- UNEA 6,
- The role of certain stakeholders in the environmental agenda,
- Environmental governance,
- Principle 10,
- The Plastic Treaty,
- Mobility, migration and environment,
- And another other emerging topics
Applications should send
- Suggested Topic / Title
- Name of author(s)
- Name of organisation
- A 200-word summary of the article
to UNEP-civil society unep-civilsociety@un.org by 31 August 2023.
Info
Empowering coastal communities - a new partnership project
Engaging people in decision-making in coastal communities is key to successful marine development
This is the thinking at the heart of a new partnership project between ACCESS Leadership College Fellow, Pamela Buchan from the University of Exeter and Aisling Lannin from the Marine Management Organisation ‘Marine planning reform for better governance’.
Together their project ‘Marine planning reform for better governance’ will help support local Councils who, through their Ocean Recovery Declarations, are calling out for advice and support to involve local people in how coasts are developed.
Read maccessnetwork.ukore
Meet the academic building public trust around new energy infrastructure
ACCESS Director Patrick Devine-Wright was interviewed by Connected Places Catapult and 3Ci (Cities Commission for Climate Investment). In the interview he reflects on his own experiences and explores how places can be changed for the better if local people remain fully involved.
Building Community Resilience to flooding on Clyde
As the climate emergency intensifies, one of the major challenges facing communities in Scotland is flooding in river, coastal, and estuarine environments - which will have secondary effects on community resilience for those based in these regions. Sarah Gambell, Post-doctoral researcher with Glasgow as a Living Lab Accelerating Novel Transformation (GALLANT) and the National Centre of Resilience, applied a multimethodology approach.
PLOS Climate article: Harnessing the mental imprints of climate change for collective climate action
Authors Jyoti Mishra and Veerabhadran Ramanathan found within communities exposed to climate change accelerated wildfires has evidenced nearly 2-3X greater prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.
Following up with recent mechanistic research, they found that the mental health effects of climate change are not just restricted to subjective clinical symptoms, but that chronic cognitive and brain functioning impacts are also observed.
PLOS Climate article: Core competencies to prepare health professionals to respond to the climate crisis
Researchers from the USA, France and UK have co-authored an opinion piece on climate change education in the health profession.
The now well-described climate change impacts on human health and disease present an urgent challenge to health professionals and health care systems, calling for a focus on efforts to mitigate harm. Yet, with a few exceptions, such as the United Kingdom, climate change education is generally absent in the mainstream health professional education curriculum, creating a situation in which health care professionals lack the knowledge and skills to recognize, prepare for, and respond to current and future climate change-related health and health system threats in a meaningful way.
