News, Jobs, Events and lots more...
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Quick round up of this week's news, jobs and events
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ACCESS Summer School
We are looking forward to welcoming a new cohort of ACCESS Summer School PhD researchers to Dartington. This year’s Summer School will take place at Dartington Hall near Totnes in Devon from Tuesday 13 to Thursday 14 September. The focus will be on the ACCESS Guiding Principles.
We’ve got a great line up of speakers and workshop leaders from academia and the public sector.
Follow us on Twitter #ACCESS_SummerSchool23
Please note the next newsletter will be circulated on 8 September. Please keep sending any events or job/funding opportunities to Sarah Baker, Communications Officer
Jobs
Knowledge Exchange Manager, Climate Change Scrutiny (University of Edinburgh/Scottish Parliament)
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, this new two-year fixed term post is a collaboration between the Scottish Parliament, University of Edinburgh and the universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Stirling.
It will focus on enhancing academic engagement with and impact on the Scottish Parliament in the area of climate change/net zero scrutiny. The successful candidate will lead the development of activities to support academic engagement in relation to scrutiny of climate change mitigation, adaptation and related policy responses across the Scottish Parliament.
Closing date for applications is Monday 4 September
Senior Analyst: Strategic Behavioural Insights Team, Resources and Waste Social Research & Evaluation Team at Defra
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is looking for two brilliant analysts with expertise in behavioural insights to join two exciting areas of Defra’s analytical community.
One role sits in the Strategic Behavioural Insights team, supporting policy making and delivery across the Defra group. The other role sits in the Resources and Waste directorate, supporting the design and development of impactful policies in this area.
Both roles offer opportunities to work on high profile and challenging behavioural insights projects across Defra’s portfolio, some of which will involve engagement with ministers.
Closing date for applications is Monday 11 September
PhD scholarship at Swansea University: An experimental investigation of 'Alert Fatigue' in public health communication
The PhD post will include a systematic review of existing literature on alert fatigue, followed by analysis of existing qualitative interviews and an experimental study. The experimental study will aim to explore whether the amount, length and complexity of the information received affects people’s ability to remember, understand, and act on public health guidance.
Closing date for applications is Friday 1 September
Research Associate - Green Energy Transitions at the University of Manchester
Applications are invited for a Research Associate to work on a research project focused on the disruptions produced by ‘Green energy transitions’.
The project has two principal aims. First, to examine the distributive dynamics of the Green energy transitions that are central to the global response to climate change, focusing in particular on the disruptive qualities of Green energy transitions, as well as the current geopolitical contexts in which they are unfolding. Second, to develop a global network of researchers working on these as the basis for a much larger examination of the politics and political economy of GETs.
Closing date for applications is Wednesday 13 September
Local Net Zero - Project Manager at Regen
The post will play a key role in developing and working with local authorities and communities to support them to lead the net zero energy transition at a local level. Regen is a not-for-profit company, owned by its membership of over 150 organisations at the forefront of the energy transition.
There is no closing date - they accept rolling applications
Opportunities
UNFCCC Climate Champions Team - Secondment opportunities
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is looking for
- Higher Education Lead
- Africa Food systems and AgriFinance Associate
- Nature Team Lead
Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis.
Events
The nature around us – Research seminar
Thursday 21 September 10am to 12 noon online
Join researchers from Jamk, Tampere University and University of Surrey working on themes related to the well-being effects of nature and pro-environmental behaviour.
Keynotes include:
- Act with Nature: Introduction to intervention to promote planetary well-being: Kirsi Salonen (Post-doctoral Researcher, Tampere University) and Jane-Veera Paakkolanvaara (Researcher, Jamk, Institute of Rehabilitation)
- Experiences of recovering from work in (virtual) nature, Mari Partanen (Researcher, Jamk, School of Business)
- Repeated listening to natural sounds may enhance people’s mental health and well-being, Yasushi Suko (PhD Student, Tampere University)
- Using Gardens to Support Wellbeing, Bethany Harris (Post Graduate Researcher, University of Surrey)
RECLAIM Network Plus Conference 2023
Monday 11 September 10am to 4pm, University of Surrey
RECLAIM (Reclaiming Forgotten Cities – Turning cities from vulnerable spaces to healthy spaces for people) is a £1.2m EPSRC-funded Network Plus grant. It is led by the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) in collaboration with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Universities of Bath, Bangor and Warwick.
The event will provide an opportunity to network with city officials, people from business and industry, NGO’s and academics from right across the globe who have a passion for making communities greener, more resilient and prosperous. It will also showcase research undertaken so far across the network.
ProFSET - Transdisciplinary solutions to meet the UK Food System challenges launch event
Thursday 23 November, 10am to 3.30pm, Institute of Physics, London
Over 10,000 food & drink professionals from 10 UK professional membership organisations and learned societies have come together to provide a single informed voice to influence and support government food initiatives, the media and inform the public. The new group is known as ProFSET (Professional Food Science, Technology and Engineering group) and it aims to provide opportunities for collaboration, knowledge sharing and cooperation across industry and academia.
This event is ProFSET's inaugural launch featuring two exceptional keynote speakers from the Food and Drink Federation and DEFRA, followed by perspectives on Creating a Sustainable UK Food System from the 10 ProFSET groups, closing with what promises to be a lively Panel Discussion, facilitated by Prof Ian Noble, VP R&D Mondelez and Chair KTN Food Sector Group.
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Socio-oceanography: an opportunity to integrate marine social and natural sciences
From Frontiers, a perspective article written by Ekaterina Popova (University of Southampton) and others look at how the social sciences could be better integrated into marine research.
To attempt to address these issues, they introduce the concept of “Socio-oceanography” which they define as an area of research that takes a “whole system” approach to the marine environment. It focuses on the challenges which require advancement of both natural and social science components, especially on those where the feedbacks between social and natural components are beginning to emerge. In this article, they discuss its scope, challenges to its effective application and key steps to catalyse interdisciplinary approaches using this concept.
Climate storylines as a way of bridging the gap between information and decision-making in hydrological risk
Daniel Caviedes-Voullième and Theodore G. Shepherd (University of Reading) write in PLOS Climate that storylines can provide a framework to adapt and prepare for extreme hydrological events, by supporting the understanding of risk causality (explanatory power) including local conditions, and contextualising (into actionable information) the plausible risks triggered by extreme events not well captured by probabilistic representations.
Navigating the continuum between adaptation and maladaptation
In this Nature Climate Change paper, Diana Reckien and others propose using a framework to reduce the risk of maladaptation Navigating the Adaptation–Maladaptation continuum (NAM). The framework is composed of six criteria relating to outcomes of adaptation for ecosystems, the climate (greenhouse gases emissions) and social systems (transformational potential) as well as equity-related outcomes for low-income populations, women/girls and marginalized ethnic groups.
The paper shows how to apply the NAM framework to a set of representative adaptation options and reveals the considerable variation in the potential for adaptation or the risk of maladaptation. The authors suggest that decision-makers assess adaptation interventions against the NAM framework criteria and prioritize responses that reduce the risk of maladaptation.
