News, Jobs, Events, Opportunities and lots more...
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A quick round up of this week's news, jobs and opportunities
News
Hello and I hope you have had a lovely summer. The ACCESS Newsletter is back this week with a bumper edition following the August break.
I will have more ACCESS news to share with you over the next few weeks, but here's a glimpse of what is to come:
There will be reports from our Summer School, which takes place at Cumberland Lodge on 22-24 September and from the first in-person meeting of our Nature Recovery Task Force at the Clinton Devon Estates in October.
Our third Task Force on Adaptation and resilience to climate change and natural hazards is underway, while two new ACCESS research projects are in their early stages, one of which is outlined below.
And, behind the scenes, we are working to refresh the ACCESS website and make it as user-friendly and environmentally sustainable as possible.
Please do continue to send in your own news, opportunities and events for the ACCESS newsletter. You can reply to this email or reach me (Suzy) at: s.p.a.darke@exeter.ac.uk
Social Science in the Natural Environment (SSINE) project begins
SSINE, funded by the ESRC Knowledge Exchange Uplift Fund, and led by Forest Research social scientists, is a new project that aims to help natural environment policy and practice organisations benefit from improved integration of environmental social sciences.
The project will further the impact and use of ACCESS learning and resources through working with the UK cross-governmental Natural Environment Social Research Network (NESRN)* and third-sector partners, delivering measurable improvements to the mainstreaming of the social sciences and improving the ability of natural environment policy and practice organisations to address complex environmental challenges.
SSINE is funded by the ESRC Knowledge Exchange Uplift Fund.
* NESRN comprises environmental social scientists and those who commission environmental social sciences from across government departments and agencies in Great Britain. The Environment Agency, Forest Research, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and NatureScot are NESRN members who are also partners on the ACCESS project.
The core project team is led by Beth Brockett (ACCESS Co-Investigator, Forest Research) alongside Birgitta Gatersleben (ACCESS Co-Director, University of Surrey), Jordan Rydlewski (Forest Research) and Carol Morris (University of Nottingham).
This team is working alongside case-study partners in the British Geological Survey, Met Office, Marine Management Organisation, and Natural England, and will be supported by a wider network comprising the Environment Agency, NatureScot, RSPB, Natural Resources Wales, Defra, the Office for Environmental Protection and Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
The SSINE project will run from June 2025 to December 2026.
Events
Net Zero All-Party Parliamentary Group, Delivering a Net Zero NHS: How Successful Frontline Initiatives Are Improving Care and Cutting Carbon
Tuesday 9 September, 2-3.30pm, online
This special one-off meeting of the Net Zero APPG, will focus on how sustainability is already improving care quality, patient outcomes, and staff wellbeing across the NHS while also reducing costs and carbon emissions.
This session will highlight real-world projects from the NHS frontline, including:
- Quality improvement in general practice – redesigning services to improve care, cut carbon, and save money.
- Medicines efficiency – reducing waste and improving prescribing to tackle one of the NHS’s biggest sources of emissions.
- Hospital-based initiatives – improving patient experience while saving energy, resources, and costs.
- Community care pathways – creating flexible, sustainable models that reduce waiting lists and support staff wellbeing.
- Strategic sustainable leadership training – equipping NHS senior leaders and NEDs with the skills, mindset and knowledge to embed sustainability into every decision.
- Shaping the narrative – building a positive, solutions-focused story of how low carbon care benefits patients, staff, and the environment.
This event will bring together Parliamentarians and healthcare leaders to explore how these initiatives can be replicated and scaled, what policy levers are needed to accelerate adoption, and how Parliament can support the NHS in meeting its Net Zero target while strengthening the quality of care.
The Environmental Impact of AI and Grassroots Resistance in Chile
Wednesday 10 September, 4.30-7.30pm, Reed Hall, University of Exeter
This event explores the environmental pressures created by AI infrastructure – from hyperscale data centers to lithium extraction – focusing on Chile as a site where these tensions are playing out in real time.
In this public lecture, Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé (Lecturer in Ethics, AI and Society, Kings College London) presents research from Chile that explores how local resistance to AI-related development is reshaping debates around sustainability and responsibility. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews, he introduces the concept of elemental ethics, offering a perspective on technology that attends to place, ecology, and lived experience. Two discussants will reflect on Dr. Lehuedé’s talk and the audience will have lots of time to ask questions and add their own reflections.
Networking Reception: 16:30–17:30
Enjoy drinks and canapés before the lecture. A chance to meet other attendees and share ideas.
Public Lecture & Q&A: 17:30–19:00
Including reflections from guest discussants and audience Q&A.
Britain Talks Climate & Nature launch webinar
Thursday 11 September, 11am-12.15pm, online
What do British people think and feel about climate change and nature in 2025? And how do we involve and engage everyone when we talk about it? Climate Outreach and More in Common have carried out new research exploring people’s feelings and sentiments about climate change and nature – this follows More in Common’s update of their segmentation – the British seven segments.
This webinar will provide insights into how people are thinking and feeling about climate change in 2025 – designed to support communicators and leaders to engage across British society – thinking practically about how Britain Talks Climate & Nature can be used and put into practice. It will also touch on practical comms advice for engaging across audience segments.
What does the livestock sector say about ruminants and climate change?
Thursday 11 September, 1.15-2.15pm, online
In this presentation, Philippa Simmons (Countryside and Community Research Institute) will discuss findings from her PhD, which investigated how the UK livestock sector was responding to public debates about methane emissions from ruminant livestock in the early 2020s.
Her findings showed strong presence of “discourses of climate delay” and a livestock sector-specific form of climate scepticism. However, practices with the side effect of reducing methane (such as efficiency gains) and sequestering carbon (such as regenerative agriculture) were often embraced, and did not trouble sectoral norms around the position of livestock in the UK’s food system.
The research identifies a role for improved communication strategies and delivery of processes that facilitate connection between diverse groups: to reduce perceived polarisation and advance societal action on climate change.
Climate Change and Health Seminar - Interlinked: Temperature, species, health
Wednesday 17 September, 1.30-2.30 pm, Cabot Institute (University of Bristol) & online
Dr Alan Kennedy-Asser and Sofia Samoylova will speak about the effects of rising temperatures on the health of humans and other species in this hybrid seminar, open to all.
Funding
UKERC Calls for Expressions of Interest on Range of Research Projects
The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) is inviting Expressions of Interest (EoIs) on a number of potential research projects with budgets ranging between £312,500 and £375,000 at 100% Full Economic Cost.
The authors of the successful EoI will be invited to co-create, along with UKERC’s Director and research Theme Leaders, the details of a research proposal that would form part of UKERC’s research programme for the 2024-29 Phase.
Successful applicants will become full members of the UKERC consortium, with access to a national network of energy researchers and opportunities to contribute to UKERC events, outputs, and policy engagement.
Projects include:
Research on Public Acceptance of Electricity Network Infrastructure
This major new research project focuses on public acceptance of electricity network infrastructure, and how infrastructure development processes respond to societal preferences.
Deadline: 12 September 2025
Regional Energy Planning and Heat Decarbonisation
This research project should develop new understanding about how emerging Regional Energy Strategic Planning processes engage with heat decarbonisation.
Deadline: 19 September 2025
Clean Energy Policy, Outcomes and Public Support for Net Zero
This project will work on conducting research on UK clean energy policy, stated outcomes, and public support for net zero energy.
Deadline: 26 September 2025
Wildfire and Peatland: Studies to Support Delivery of the Third National Adaptation Programme, Defra Funding Opportunity
This commission seeks to support evidence development around:
Effectiveness of peatland land management systems and practices in creating wildfire resilience to meet adaptation needs
- The impact of peat restoration on building wildfire resilience into the landscape (deeper dive)
- The cost of wildfire on peat in England and Wales (economic assessment)
- Scoping a peat wildfire risk map for England (scoping study)
- Scoping a portal for land managers to report fires on peat they have dealt with (scoping study)
- Recovery of peat habitats post-wildfire.
The work will contribute to addressing Risk N5 from the Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3), which highlights threats to natural carbon stores.
Total value of the project is £360,000 (including VAT)
Deadline: Tuesday 30 September, 12pm
Churchill Fellowships
The Churchill Fellowship funds UK adult citizens from all areas of society to develop new solutions for UK issues, based on successful innovations and best practice from overseas.
The fellowship will fund you to spend 4-8 weeks discovering new ideas and best practice among leading practitioners across the world. You can do this in person or online. You will then be supported to turn your ideas into action in the UK.
The grant covers living costs and travel costs incurred while you are learning and can also cover the costs of interpreters, visas and vaccinations, as well as support workers if needed.
Deadline: Tuesday 4 November, 12 noon
The Horizon Europe New European Bauhaus Work Programme 2025
The New European Bauhaus (NEB) is a cross-cutting initiative within Horizon Europe. It aims to accelerate the transformation of neighbourhoods through sustainable and inclusive design, realising the three core values of sustainability, beauty and inclusion.
The Horizon Europe NEB Work Programme for 2025 sets out specific funding calls under three destinations spanning Technology Readiness Levels.
The three destinations for the 2025 call topics are:
- Connecting the green transformation, social inclusion and local democracy
- Circular and regenerative approaches for the built environment
- Innovative funding and new business models for the transformation of neighbourhoods
Deadline: Wednesday 12 November, 3pm
Jobs & Fellowships
Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Fellowships, Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge
Gonville & Caius College invites applications for stipendiary Research Fellowships in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The Fellowships will be tenable for four years, normally from 1 October 2026.
These fellowships are open to graduate students in the later stages of their PhD research and research students or post-doctoral researchers who have recently submitted their PhD thesis (no earlier than 30 September 2024)
Deadline: Tuesday 30 September, 5pm
Santa Fe Institute Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships, Santa Fe, New Mexico
These fellowships offer early-career scholars the opportunity to undertake their own independent research within a collaborative research community that nurtures creative, transdisciplinary thought in pursuit of key insights about the complex systems that matter most for science and society.
The Institute rejects compartmentalised thought common in academia. Instead, SFI scientists transcend boundaries between fields, freely synthesizing ideas spanning many disciplines – from math, physics, computer science and biology to the social sciences and the humanities – in pursuit of creative insights that advance our scientific frontiers.
Postdoctoral Fellows spend up to three years in residence at SFI, where they contribute to SFI’s research in the sciences of complexity and are trained to become leaders in interdisciplinary science.
Deadline: Thursday 2 October, 5.59am
The Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fellowship, Newnham College University of Cambridge
These fellowships offer an opportunity to carry out independent research in a stimulating and supportive academic community, to meet established researchers across a range of disciplines, and to take part in the life of Newnham College.
Applications will be accepted from any female graduate of a university within or outside the United Kingdom. Candidates should note that these Research Fellowships are extremely competitive.
The stipend is Point 42 on the University Scale - £38,784 for 2025-26.
Deadline: Friday 3 October, 11.59pm
Turing AI Pioneer Interdisciplinary Fellowships
This opportunity is for established researchers from across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) remit, without a background in core artificial intelligence (AI) research, who want to build domain relevant AI capability and develop advanced AI approaches to tackle a specific research challenge in their chosen field.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2,187,500. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC. The funding is subject to final budget approvals.
Projects can be up to three years in duration and must start on 1 October 2026.
Deadline: Tuesday 14 October, 4pm
Max Weber Fellowships, European University Institute, Badia Fiesolana (Florence)
The Max Weber Programme (MWP) at the European University Institute (EUI) is a unique postdoctoral programme in the historical, humanities and social sciences. It is open to applicants who are within 5 years from the completion of their PhD, from anywhere in the world, regardless of nationality.
Preference is given to applicants who have only just completed their doctorate and have not had a postdoctoral fellowship before. Selected Fellows will benefit from the stimulating combination of a global programme located in the heart of Europe offering a broad menu of multidisciplinary and disciplinary activities.
Fellowships are for one or two years, with a grant of 2,500 EUR per month plus - when appropriate – family allowances. Further benefits include health insurance and mission and research funds.
Deadline: Wednesday 15 October, 12 noon
Opportunities
UKERC Inclusive Writing Retreat
Wednesday 12 - Thursday 13 November, Ilkley
UKERC (The UK Energy Research Centre) are hosting a writing retreat to provide early career researchers with the time and space to work on publications. This event aims to help develop the writing skills and confidence of attendees, so that they make the most of writing opportunities within the sector.
This fully-funded opportunity is open to all UK-based, energy focused ECRs, but they particularly encourage applications from groups underrepresented in energy research. This includes (but is not limited to) people from ethnic and racial minority backgrounds, women, those who identify as LGBTQ+, and those living with a disability or long-term health condition. They are also keen to receive applications from researchers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, including first generation scholars, as well as those with caring responsibilities who usually find it difficult to attend events and networking opportunities.
The agenda will consist of a mix of group sessions, networking activities and writing time. Researchers will be able to network with like-minded peers, give and receive feedback on work, gain new perspectives and receive advice on career advancement.
Deadline: Friday 26 September
Join The Energy Justice Lab's Disconnections Community of Scholars
Do you research utility disconnections or plan to do so in the future? Consider joining a Disconnections Community of Scholars, an initiative led by the Energy Justice Lab and generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Their goal is to encourage new innovative research on utility disconnections and related subjects, foster new collaborations among scholars and between scholars and practitioners, and generate new findings that can advance basic research and evidence-based policy.
Participating scholars will agree to draft and present a research paper in early summer of 2026 at the University of Pennsylvania that focuses on utility disconnections, and to further engage with other members of the community. Early-career researchers are especially encouraged to apply.
Honoraria will be provided to all those selected to participate.
Deadline: Monday 22 September
Training
Knowledge Exchange Live Lab: Co-Creation in Action
Thursday 11 September, 09am - 5pm, Loughborough University
This immersive, hands-on training session – delivered by Code Switch Consultants – lets you experience knowledge exchange (KE) by doing it. You’ll co-create the agenda, collaborate with peers and an industry partner on a live net zero challenge, and leave with practical tools to embed KE into your research and career.
This dynamic, co-created experience grounded in the UKRI KE Framework (KEF) structured around four pillars:
- KE readiness and co-creation
- Understanding stakeholders
- Designing KE in practice
- Embedding KE in research and careers
3-Day CPD in Nature Allied Facilitation
Friday 17 - Sunday 19 October, Downe Activity Centre, Orpington (Greater London)
Develop your skills working in and with nature to expand your professional practice.
This course provides training in developing relationships in and with nature. It makes available the pioneering model used to train psychotherapists in working in allegiance with nature, to associated professionals without psychotherapy training, allowing a wider community of practitioners to benefit from this approach within their work supporting the wellbeing of individuals, communities and teams.
Info
Public perceptions of net zero technologies: social science research and evidence
This report from the Environment Agency and authored by ACCESS Partner Katie Dow (Environment Agency) aims to increase understanding of how people in the UK think and feel about net zero technologies through three very different case studies: lithium batteries (throughout their life cycle);
heat networks (using heat pumps); and ocean alkalinity enhancement.
The technologies were selected because they are associated with significant behavioural change, controversy or potential social impacts and are likely to come within the Environment Agency’s remit as a regulator and advisor to government.
Links between climate change and health in Scotland
This briefing, also by Katie Dow (Environment Agency), summarises evidence about the impacts of climate change on health, gathered during her academic fellowship at the Scottish Parliament.
The briefing focuses on 4 key topics which represent some of the main risks to health over a range of timescales in Scotland: flooding, extreme temperatures, mental health, and vector-borne diseases.
Katie also discusses the role of health inequalities in these risks, the effects of climate change on healthcare systems, and how emissions from healthcare are implicated in climate change.
Higher education could make space for many types of leader and ways of leading
ACCESS Leadership College Fellow Jaya Gajparia discusses how taking part in the Global Majority Mentoring Programme caused her to reflect on the limitations of current leadership development practice, in this piece for Wonke,:
"Throughout the two days, I found myself reflecting on this. Why is it that I so often see more women than men who feel the need to be “trained up” for leadership? This prompted broader questions about gender, expectations and who is seen as ‘ready’ for leadership roles in our institutions."
Just Climate Futures: Integrating Social Inclusion Into the Net Zero Transition
This new book by Carolyn Snell (University of York) and Lucie Middlemiss (University of Leeds) argues that net zero must work for and recognise the reality of people’s daily lives, especially those living on low incomes and/or in low-income communities.
As the authors explain in a post about the book on the Transforming Society blog:
"... the Net Zero transition will lead to substantial changes to everyday lives. Building Net Zero on top of existing social, economic and environmental inequalities is more likely to exacerbate than address these. But Net Zero policy offers an opportunity for progressive and indeed transformative policy making to tackle inequality, providing it truly sets out to reach a just climate future."
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
