News, Jobs, Events, Opportunities and lots more...
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A quick round up of this week's news, jobs and opportunities
News
What is Environmental Social Science?
Check out our new What is Environmental Social Science? webpage and find...
- Explainers
- Reports & papers
- Slide deck resource to share
- Case studies
- Recorded webinars
Created by the ACCESS team with invaluable input from social scientists all around the UK.
Communicate 2024
Last week, I attended The Natural History Consortium's Communicate24 conference in Bristol. It was great to see our ACCESS Flex Fund Round 1 awardees Jaya Gajparia and Megha Kashyap from London South Bank University talking about their project and advocating for more diverse voices in nature conservation.
I hope everyone who presented and took part in this year's Communicate found the day/s useful, thought-provoking and inspiring. The conference was sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council and it's through this connection that we work with the conference organisers to include insightful and inspiring Environmental Social Science.
More interdisciplinary training for researchers is key to tackling environmental problems
Sarah Golding ACCESS Knowledge Exchange Fellow recently published an article, where she highlights the importance of interdisciplinary training for researchers by reflecting on her own career experiences.
An Early Career Perspective on the Value of Interdisciplinary Training Networks details Sarah’s reflections on the Medical Research Foundation’s National PhD Training Programme in Antimicrobial Resistance Research.
Wishing you all a great Christmas break from everyone at ACCESS
This will be the last ACCESS newsletter until 2025. The next one will be sent out on 9 January 2025. Thank you for all your support. Please keep sending in any jobs/funding/news/events information to ACCESS. You can now find all our past newsletters on our website.
I will be moving into the ACCESS Exeter Project Manager role next week so we have started recruiting for a new Communications Officer to join our friendly team. Please help us spread the word. See the job advert below.
Sarah Baker, ACCESS Project Manager.
Jobs
ACCESS Communications Officer at the University of Exeter
This is an exciting opportunity to make a real impact in the world of climate and environmental policy making.
We are looking for an exceptional communicator to join our team as a Communications Officer. In this role, you will be responsible for amplifying our work, engaging key stakeholders, and building a strong network through clear, persuasive, and strategic communication. You’ll play a crucial role in translating complex environmental and societal issues into accessible messages and driving engagement with our target audiences, in higher education, civil society, third sector and government.
The closing date for applications is Wednesday 1 January 2025
2-4 PhD studentships, fully funded by the University of Stirling
The posts will aim to advance knowledge of the dynamic relations between place and memory at multiple timescales and levels, and how people navigate together in space and time.
There will be two rounds of PhD Studentships. This is the first round, with 2-4 studentships available, with a start date of March or April 2025. The second round of applications, with 4-6 studentships available, will be announced in Spring 2025, with a start date of September 2025.
The closing date for submissions is Friday 20 December
Impact and Engagement Officer, University of Birmingham
This is a full-time Grade 6 post until June 2028 working with two energy research consortia.
Candidates will have experience of impact and engagement, monitoring and communicating impact and organising and running events. Experience working at a university and an interest in/ experience of energy research and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work would be an advantage. Flexible working is possible and diverse candidates are welcomed.
The closing date is Friday 6 January 2025
The call for CENTRE-UB’s Early Career Researcher Fellowship Programme 2025 is now open
The Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (CENTRE-UB) is inviting people to apply for 12-month fellowships. These are focussed on understanding human behaviour and should fit within the ESRC remit. Fellowships should be developed by the potential fellow together with a non-academic partner organisation. Each fellow will have an academic mentor within the University of Birmingham, as well as a mentor within the partner organisation.
- Expression of interest form: Thursday 1 May 2025
- Full Application Form: Thursday 8 May, 2025
An online information session will be held in early February 2025 (exact date TBC) to provide more information about the fellowship process and eight successful Fellowships are expected to start on October 1st 2025.
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships
Are you an ECR or innovator looking to establish or transition to independence or developing their own original and ambitious plans within a commercial setting? UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have announced that round 10 of the Future Leader Fellowships will open on Monday 3 February 2025. With a closing date of Wednesday 18 June, this funding aims to support ambitious research and innovation across the remit of UKRI.
Funding
Funding Call: SEFARI Fellowship on the co-production of guidance to inform an ethical research protocol for the Community Landownership Academic Network (CLAN)
SEFARI are seeking an individual researcher or small team of researchers to help inform the development of practical guidance which can be used by researchers (and those who supervise them), community organisations and other stakeholders to promote and encourage improved robust research practice in this area.
The closing date for applications is Monday 16 December 2024
Community Innovation Practitioner Awards 2025-26
The Arts and Humanities Research Centre's Creative Communities programme is pleased to announce the Community Innovation Practitioner (CIP) Awards 2025-2026.
The awards provide innovative funding for cross-sector research partnerships to host a Community Innovation Practitioner (CIP) from 1 September 2025 to 30 August 2026. Up to 10 CIP awards will be offered at £75k (100% fEC). Each CIP should be embedded in existing collaborative cross-sector research projects in devolved contexts and be committed to capturing knowledge about co-creation and the roles of communities and partnerships in growing new cultural research, development and innovation (RD&I).
The closing date is Monday 6 January 2025
Applications are now open for a new NIHR funding opportunity on decarbonising the health and social care system
The National Institute for Health and Care Research's cross-programme funding is part of their commitment to help the health and social care system to reduce carbon emissions and reach net zero status. There will be £25 million total funding available across the next 5 years, with a new application process opening annually.
The closing date is 26 March 2025
Opportunities
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is seeking new members for their Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC)
The STAC aims to bring together a wide-ranging and balanced group of cross-disciplinary external experts, with diversity of backgrounds and experience, to support across the department’s remit of science, engineering, technology, and analysis (including economics, social and behavioural science, data science, statistics, and modelling). The embedded scientific and analytical expertise within the department will remain of critical importance and work closely with the STAC. This will include regular engagement between the STAC, the Analysis Directorate, the Science & Innovation for Climate & Energy Directorate, and other Directorates, as relevant.
The closing date for applications is Sunday 12 January 2025
ABSW Media Fellowships. Placing scientists in the heart of a media outlet.
The ABSW Media Fellowships provide a unique opportunity for practising scientists, clinicians, and engineers to spend two to six weeks working at the heart of a media outlet such as the Guardian, IFLScience or the BBC Radio Science Unit.
Info
A new International Sustainability Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders is launched at Surrey University
CIFAL Surrey – a United Nations-backed study centre for sustainability – has launched, aiming to tackle major global challenges by empowering local leaders and communities.
Situated within the University’s Institute for Sustainability, CIFAL Surrey will deliver both training and capacity building on a wide range of sustainability challenges.
This includes helping facilitate knowledge exchange among leaders in government, the private sector, and civil society – locally, nationally and internationally, as well as UK-based international organisations.
New £10m centre to tackle the health impacts of climate change
A new Centre focused on delivering research on climate change and its impacts on health that will address climate-environment-health inequalities across each life stage is being created by the University of Exeter.
Together with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the National Trust, Forest Research, the Met Office and other partner organisations, the £10m Centre for Net Positive Health and Climate Solutions is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The centre will focus on finding net positive solutions to the well-established negative impacts of the climate crisis and associated environmental changes in human health.
Beyond Car-Centred Adultism? Exploring Parental Influences on Children’s Mobility
Motorised traffic and car-centric environments restrict children’s commuting patterns and outdoor activities. This has adverse health consequences as it induces physical inactivity and reduces children’s well-being. Understanding parents’ daily routines and reasons to facilitate or restrict their children’s active and independent mobility is essential to improving children’s well-being and encouraging environmentally sustainable mobilities.
This article from Catarina Cadima, Kim von Schönfeld and António Ferreira explores parental decision-making processes regarding how children should travel to and from school and how these constitute barriers or enablers for children’s independent and active mobility in a Portuguese context.
Climate change and sustainability literacy: a mixed-methods study of attitudes to climate education in secondary schools.
Climate change and sustainability are inherently socio-political issues and education plays a key role in mobilising action on climate change and environment. This study from Alison Anderson from the University of Plymouth builds on interdisciplinary work on youth and climate change education including science communication, environmental education, environmental psychology and sociology. It reports on novel mixed-methods research on attitudes to climate change and sustainability education in secondary schools in the UK.
This study adds new insight into young people’s views about climate education through exploring attitudes towards their educational experiences and media literacy. It argues that the education system could enhance climate change literacy by integrating it across all subject areas, with a focus on critical thinking and media literacy skills. The resourcing of experiential immersive learning, utilising arts-based approaches to study prominent local issues and their solutions, could facilitate a step change in the quality of climate education.
Connecting through story skills: an introduction to StoryArcs
In this UKRI blog, Bambo Soyinka, StoryArcs Programme Director, explores how storytelling and story analysis can be used to make a difference in the real world.
"In a world where connections matter more than ever, I increasingly recognise story skills as essential for nurturing shared purpose, belonging and collective action. Through the art of telling, and listening to stories, we shape our emotions, decisions and relationships in subtle yet powerful ways, bridging gaps across diverse sectors – from business to culture and education.
This is where StoryArcs finds its place: an initiative rooted in collaborative, evidence-based research focused on the power of transferable story skills. Our findings reveal that the act of creating and sharing stories can transform organisational dynamics, spark meaningful change and drive lasting impact across communities."
Caring consumption and sustainability: Insights from household provisioning in the first ten years of motherhood
As primary sites of everyday consumption households play a key role in sustainability transitions. Yet neither everyday consumption nor what goes on within households have received much attention within the sustainability transitions literature.
This paper from Kate Burningham and Sue Venn at the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) contributes to this research gap by exploring how everyday practices of mothering intersect with aspects of the sustainability of everyday food provisioning.
The analysis highlighted that provisioning practices are profoundly relational and flexible, prioritising care, thrift and time management. Sustainability transitions need to adopt holistic discourses of sustainable living which embrace the relational character of everyday consumption and support affordable and feasible everyday practices of care.
