News, Jobs, Events, Opportunities and lots more...
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A quick round up of the latest news, jobs and opportunities
News
ACCESS Newsletter Survey
We would love to hear what you think about the ACCESS Newsletter.
Your feedback will help us plan future newsletters and ACCESS communications.
Please take 4 minutes to fill in this survey. It will close at 5pm on Monday 17 November.
Thanks to everyone who has sent in news, events and opportunities to share in today's newsletter.
If you have anything you'd like to share with the ACCESS Network, I'd love to hear from you. You can reply to this email or reach me (Suzy) at: s.p.a.darke@exeter.ac.uk
Events
Webinar: Trust, Flexibility, and Mobility – Social Impacts of Grid Electrification
Thursday 6 November, 1pm, online
As the UK moves toward a highly electrified and flexible energy system, understanding the social and environmental dimensions of this transition is critical.
This joint UKERC–EDRC webinar brings together two perspectives: one focusing on how to build public trust and enable domestic participation in flexibility services, and the other examining the impact of electrification on urban air quality and human exposure to pollution.
The session will explore how trust, transparency, and co-benefits like cleaner air can support a just and inclusive energy transition.
Speakers and their research include:
Helen Poulter, University of Sussex and EDRC
Trust and Flexibility: Enabling Domestic Participation in the Future Grid
Caitlin Hope, University of Strathclude and UKERC
Mobility Pathways to Net-Zero: How Electrification, Fleet Composition, and Modal Shift Could Shape Energy Demand, Air Quality, Equity, and Human Health
Online event: From Relief to Resistance – Sustaining Collective Action for Structural Change
Thursday 6 November, 2-4pm, online
The second in a three-part event series from the Social Psychology Section, this seminar explores the critical early moments of collective mobilisation during times of emergency.
From natural disasters to political violence and global pandemics, you will explore how communities and individuals come together, often spontaneously, to provide support, express resistance, and build solidarity.
By examining the triggers and motivations behind these actions, as well as the interplay between organised and grassroots responses, this event aims to shed light on the powerful role of collective action in shaping immediate and long-term outcomes in crises.
Speakers will draw on diverse global cases, including mutual aid during COVID-19, community-led disaster relief, and mobilisations in the wake of political shocks.
Online workshop: Inclusive Energy Transitions –Transdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches to Climate Justice
Friday 14 November, 10am-12pm, online
This C-DICE (Centre for postdoctoral Development in Infrastructure, Cities and Energy) session will explore how transdisciplinary frameworks can address inequalities and advance climate justice through the development of an intersectional framework.
Led by Yesmeen Khalifa (Loughborough University), it will look at how researchers can apply intersectional methods in climate research and examine how the framework can be adapted to other sectors, research domains, and geographical contexts.
The session will include a case study from the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, which introduces a framework that was developed to assess and monitor gender equity and social inclusion in modern energy cooking services.
Webinar: The Climate-Mind Connection – From Awareness to Action
Saturday 29 November, 11am-1pm, online
This free webinar from the Open University Psychological Society examines how global environmental changes such as rising temperatures, air pollution, and ecological disruption interact with mental health, behaviour, and wellbeing across communities.
Drawing on perspectives from research, policy, and community practice, our speakers will discuss how environmental and psychological systems are interconnected, and how understanding these links can guide resilience, adaptation, and action.
RCS Traditional Music Showcase and Mhairi Hall: Of The Land
Saturday 17 January, 1pm, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, New Auditorium
How do communities care for their people, nature and place? Of The Land is a musical exploration of community experiences and practices in Badenoch and Strathspey as they respond to climate and nature crises.
Performed by the students of the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton, Mhairi Hall’s compositions build on a long tradition in the Scottish Highlands of music that expresses stories of place, relationships, conflict and care.
Through her deep engagement with a University of Edinburgh social science research project, Of the Land offers a powerful musical reflection on the giving and receiving of care that accompany efforts to repair both social and natural environments.
Of the Land is part of the Building Sustainability on a Foundation of Care project, led by Sarah Parry (University of Edinburgh), which received an ACCESS Flex Fund award.
Building Capability in Behavioural Research Conference 2026
Tuesday 30 June, University of Birmingham
Registration is now open for this joint conference is co-hosted by Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) and the Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (Centre-UB).
The Building Capability in Behavioural Research 2026 Conference will convene an interdisciplinary community of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers for a dynamic programme of discussion, exchange, and collaboration to build new networks and strengthen existing ones. The conference will include interactive sessions, keynote talks, and networking forums.
The themes for the conference are:
- Digital and AI
- Environment and sustainability
- Health
Jobs
Senior Research Fellow in Circular Economy/Material and Energy Use, University of Sussex
The Sussex Energy Group, within the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex Business School, are seeking to appoint a Senior Research Fellow in Circular Economy/Material and Energy Use to work with Professor Matthew Lockwood as part of the new Production and Consumption Transformation (PACT) research centre jointly funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
This role involves leading research on the institutional, political economy, policy and regulatory challenges and opportunities for reducing material throughput and energy use in production through circular economy or other strategies in selected industries (e.g., automotive manufacturing and construction).
Deadline: Sunday 16 November
Professor in Behaviour Change and Sustainability Transformation, Leuphana University Lüneburg, German
Situated within the School of Sustainability, the Institute of Sustainability Psychology offers a unique and inspiring research environment that integrates psychological science with urgent questions of sustainability and societal transformation.
For this position, the Institute of Sustainability Psychology is seeking a committed researcher with an outstanding international research profile in combination with a track record of unique ideas put into action, impacting their field as well as society. You will have a strong publication record in international, peer-reviewed scientific journals, experience in initiating and conducting third-party funded research projects and proven experience in the supervision of students.
Deadline: Sunday 30 November
PhD studentships
PhD Studentship, Loughborough University
Storyline Approaches to Regional Flood Risk: Making Climate Change Relatable
This project aims to bring together evidence from climate projections, risk assessment and observations to develop and evaluate event-based storylines based on recent flooding in Leicestershire, UK, both as tools to understand such high-impact, low-likelihood events, and as means to communicate climate risk memorably and relatably for awareness and decision-making.
Deadline: Thursday 8 January
ESRC PhD Studentships in the Social Sciences in the Midlands Graduate School
The Midlands Graduate School is a collaboration between Aston University, University of Birmingham, De Montfort University, University of Leicester, Loughborough University, University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and University of Warwick.
The Midlands Graduate School is looking to recruit top quality social science PhD students to commence study in October 2026 across a range of subjects and interdisciplinary training pathways.
These ESRC studentships cover a maintenance stipend, payment of tuition fees at the home fee rate. Studentships are open to both home and international applicants.
Deadline: Tuesday 13 January, 12pm
Info
New version of Minecraft teaches children about coastal erosion, flood resilience and climate adaptation
Set in the seaside town of Bude, Cornwall, the aim of CoastCraft is to protect the coastal landscape from the effects of sea-level rise and climate change.
Players have to make decisions based on the needs of the area, exploring a range of coastal management strategies, such as relocating key infrastructure, using nature-based solutions or doing nothing at all.
The game was developed in conjunction with the UK Environment Agency and Cornwall Council as part of a £200 million flood and coastal erosion innovation programme.
Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda (University of East Anglia) writing in The Conversation, describes how games like CoastCraft can be used to convey complex environmental problems and immerse students in situations they may not otherwise have access to:
"In CoastCraft, the experience of getting students to actively engage with decisions and trade-offs, deciding what forms of expertise to listen to or base decisions on, and then getting to witness how decisions affect the future can also be important in helping students understand the politics and challenges of local climate change adaptation."
Why Transparency Matters for Sustainable Data Centers and Carbon-Neutral Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The energy consumption of artificial intelligence (AI) applications is rising at an alarming rate and data centres could consume 9% of global electricity demand by 2030, write Benjamin Sovacool (ACCESS Leadership Team, University of Sussex, Boston University), Ayse Coskun and Can Hankendi (Boston University) in iScience.
The authors find that the path toward more sustainable AI and carbon-neutral data centres is hindered by the lack of transparency in data sharing and suggest a 10-year roadmap to steer academia, industry, and policymakers toward a more transparent and sustainable AI ecosystem.
The article explores how greater clarity and openness would benefit centre stakeholders (including researchers, operators and users), and global energy, climate, and sustainability goals at large.
Picturing life with a heat pump: new Climate Visuals photo collection
Climate Outreach have launched the first images from their new Climate Visuals resource of engaging, accessible and real-life images of heat pumps across the UK.
The images highlight engaging, real stories of heat pumps in peoples’ lives and are available free for non-profit, editorial and educational use now.
Large, multi-national, open dataset on public trust in scientists and science-related populism
TISP (Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism) is a consortium of 241 researchers at 179 institutions studying public opinion about science around the world.
TISP provides the largest dataset on public trust in scientists and science-related populism post COVID-19 pandemic.
It provides data on correlates of trust and populism, such as science communication behaviour, public perceptions of the role of science in politics, and climate change emotions, and enable comparative analysis across 67 countries worldwide, relevant for policy-makers, journalists, science communication professionals, and follow-up research.
How nature and community can ease student climate anxiety
Connecting with nature and building supportive communities nurtures resilience, purpose and well-being among climate-anxious students, write Mireia Bes and Vivienne Kuh (University of Bristol) for the Times Higher Education blog.
Bes and Kuh describe how, together with nature-based facilitator Roy Kareem, they developed a programme for PhD students incorporating nature-based and creative experiences called Resilience Through Nature.
The Resilience Through Nature programme supported PhD students to explore personal and collective questions and anxieties about climate change and ecological collapse. Together, the students developed "a sense of purpose and agency to help them navigate the uncertainty of the environmental crisis and feel more connected to nature and each other".
The authors share their tips on how to establish a nature-connectedness programme that is flexible, intersectional and accessible.
Walking lightly through the world: What Amazonian indigenous praxis can teach us
"If sustainability is to be more than a buzzword, we must move beyond consumer fixes and towards ancestral futures—futures grounded in reciprocity, belonging, and the courage to unlearn."
So write Patrick Elf (Middlesex University), James Ferreira Moura Junior (University of the International Integration of the Afro-Brazilian Lusophony) and Amanda Kumaruara (an activist from the Kumaruara people in the Tapajós region of Pará, Brazil) in this blogpost on Sage Perspectives.
Referring to their recent article in Journal of Tropical Futures, the authors argue that to have a future, we must both learn from Indigenous peoples who have long practiced sustainable ways of living and unlearn the harmful habits of overconsumption and disconnection that modernity has embedded into everyday life.
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.
