Papers & Projects
Adaptation and Resilience in a Changing Climate (ARCC-Water):
Time Period: January 2010 - December 2012
The ARCC-Water project is an interdisciplinary EPSRC funded project focused on the impact of the latest climate change scenarios (UKCP09) on water infrastructures in the south and south east of England. Working with key water companies and stakeholders across SE England the Lancaster component of this project, run by Dr Will Medd and Dr Alison Browne extends everyday practice, cultural and socio-technical perspectives of water in order to develop a new (practice based) conceptualisation of domestic water demand for the UK. For more detail please refer to the ARCC website
Sustainable Practices Research Group 'Patterns of Water Project':
Time Period: June 2010 - May 2013
The SPRG project examines the role of ‘the meter’ as an intervention that shapes patterns of domestic water consumption, focused specifically on understanding patterns of water use practices related to different types of metering, and other types of social, technical and infrastructural change. This project is being led by Dr Will Medd and Dr Alison Browne in collaboration with Dr Ben Anderson from Essex University. For more detail please refer to the SPRG website
Thames Water Water Efficiency Programs
Time Period: June 2011 - March 2012
Funding: £18,816
Dr Alison Browne and Dr Will Medd are working with Thames Water to improve the effectiveness of their water efficiency programs, embedding a stronger scientific and evaluative framework to the programs in order to establish Thames Water as a leader of water efficiency strategies throughout the UK. This program of work also is enabling opportunities for business-linked masters and PhD program development for LEC students.
Understanding and Managing Energy Useage in Future Networks
Principal Investigator: David Hutchison
Co-Investigators: Rebecca Ellis, Andreas Mauthe, Ian Marshall
Researchers: Paul Alcock, Rebecca Whittle
Time Period: 2011-2013
Current is a two year, EPSRC funded research project which is looking to understand – and potentially change – the ways in which energy is managed in an office environment, using Lancaster University campus as a case study. The project incorporates two phases – during the first year of the project we will be using quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the energy consumption that is currently taking place on campus and, in the second year of the project, we will be working with participants and key stakeholders to design and test interventions that may help shape existing resource-intensive practices in more sustainable directions. Current builds on leading research which argues that, rather than focusing solely on behaviour, it is important to understand increasingly resource-intensive patterns of consumption through an analysis of people’s everyday practices and how these are shaped in more or less sustainable ways by social norms, the technical infrastructure and the institutional set-up. In the case of Current, this means that we will be exploring how routine activities that we carry out in the office – such as emailing, photocopying and having lunch – are related to the broader social and technical context of life on campus.
'Disruption: Unlocking Low Carbon Travel'
Time Period: September 2011 - August 2014
Funding: £1.2 million under the Research Council UK’s Energy Programme
LEC Staff: Dr James Faulconbridge and Dave Horton
The project, involving seven universities, seeks to develop new ways to develop and implement lower carbon and more energy efficient travel. The project suggests that businesses and individuals are more able to adapt to new situations than is typically assumed and that this could open new opportunities to change patterns of living such that they are less dependent on carbon intensive travel. The project will explore, through a series of practical studies, the extent to which travel practices that are assumed to be routine are frequently disrupted as part of unplanned life events. Disruptions are considered at a personal, household, familial and community level (and potentially beyond). Disruptions which affect small numbers of people such as loss of a driving license, broken leg, need to take on the role of a carer, bankruptcy, etc. are to be covered through our large scale quantitative survey and longitudinal ethnographic work. Larger scale disruptions will be considered through an in-depth bespoke survey. These include flooding, snow and ice events, extreme heat, terrorism threat, strikes (e.g. air space) and ash clouds.
We contend that when, for whatever reason, an otherwise stable context is disrupted, habits associated with that context are also broken. We therefore suggest that analysis of disruptions presents a window of opportunity to capture the maintenance, substitution, abandonment and protection of work, household or other social practices and how these relate to or are shaped by travel practices. In turn these insights can help reveal the kinds of changes, to transport systems, social systems, individual lifestyles, etc. that are needed to inspire conversions to lower carbon travel.
The project will adopt a deliberative approach throughout, recognising the importance of engagement of citizens, researchers and policy makers in affecting changes in everyday social practices such as travel. From the outset the project will be integrating the methods into the policy formulation process and will have active engagement of a wide range of practitioners as well as members of the public, providing both the opportunities to interpret the findings and to design policy interventions. Our goal is to develop a genuinely novel perspective on lower carbon policy design which is theoretically informed and developed in partnership with citizens and decision-makers.
The project is a three-year collaboration between the University of Leeds, University of Aberdeen, University of Brighton, Glasgow University, University of Lancaster, Open University and the University of West of England. Further information is available from Disruption
The Keeping Cool project
Time Period: July 2010 - May 2012
Funding: £390,000
Part of the larger Sustainable Practices Research Group Project, the Keeping Cool project focuses on how technologies and expectations of thermal comfort are changing in the UK.
In this country air conditioning is already common in cars, hotels and offices and is spreading to other sites and spaces including homes and shops. This is a problem in that increasing reliance on mechanical cooling has immediate implications for energy consumption and CO2 emissions. It also signals potentially irreversible changes in shared conventions of comfort and in the resources “required” to manage and maintain cool conditions and standardised indoor climates whatever the weather outside.
Though the energy costs of heating outweigh those for cooling, increases in demand related to the rise of air-conditioning are estimated to double by 2020. This implies a shift in every day practice and in how people in the UK manage and conceptualise ‘heat’. In terms of climate change policy, it is important to stem increasing reliance on air-conditioning. To identify possible routes and strategies it is necessary to first understand how and where mechanical cooling is taking hold, and to appreciate the processes involved.
This project is designed to investigate the ways in which air conditioning is becoming embedded in everyday practices. It will pursue four lines of enquiry each providing a different but complementary perspective on the processes of social and technical change unfolding around us. Individually these ‘mini – studies’ will focus on particular aspects of the socio-technical system forming around air conditioning in the UK, concentrating mostly on the non-domestic sector. Some of them will be more important to the story of the changing use of air conditioning than others and the available resources will be distributed accordingly. The project’s output will be a series of papers in academic journals and workshops that aim to engage key stakeholders.
Human dimensions of wildfires: Linking research and environmental education to reduce Amazonian wildfires
Principal Investigator: Luke Parry, Jos Barlow
Also involves: Saskia Vermeylen, Alan Blackburn
This three-year project aims to reduce the prevalence of Amazonian wildfires by linking earth observation, biodiversity data, and social and ethnographic research with environmental education, training, and capacity building. It is funded by the Darwin Inititative, with matched finding from the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq) as part of the Institutos Nacionais de ciencia e technologia (INCT) program.
Please visit the Human dimensions of wildfires: Linking research and environmental education to reduce Amazonian wildfires website at your leisure
Exploring linkages between mechanized agriculture, rural out-migration and poverty in the Brazilian Amazon
Principal Investigators: Luke Parry and Jos Barlow
Connections between deforestation and the expansion of mechanized farming of soy and other grain crops in the Brazilian Amazon has attracted increasing global attention in recent years. However, impacts of mechanization and farm-size expansion on livelihoods of the rural poor have been largely ignored, even though most of the expansion has occurred at the expense of existing small-holder farmland rather than intact forests. The proposed study will explore linkages between agricultural mechanization, increases in average farm size, and changes in rural and urban poverty in the Santarem region of Brazilian Amazonia. The research findings will contribute to a more holistic and balanced debate regarding the costs and benefits of agricultural mechanization for conservation and socioeconomic development in tropical landscapes.
This project is supported by Brazil's agricultural research agency, Embrapa.
What does rural-urban migration mean for Amazonian people and forests?
Principal Investigator: Luke Parry
Rural-urban migration has contributed to the rapid growth of urban areas in developing countries. The consequences for conservation and human well-being are highly contested. This study aims to determine the well-being of rural-urban migrants in two "jungle towns" in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. We are also examining the food security of migrants and their reliance on rural areas for sources on income and food.
This project is supported by an Early Career Grant from Lancaster University
Lost in Translation: a cross-disciplinary analysis of knowledge exchange and effectiveness in animal disease management
Dr. Zoe Austin was a member of the research team of this project, a collaboration between Lancaster University (Lancaster Environment Centre, Centre for Science Studies, the School of Health and Medicine and Sociology), experts from The Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology as well as the University of Liverpool’s Faculty of Veterinary Science and the National Centre for Zoonoses Research (NCZR).
Animal diseases are a major environmental, social and economic policy issue not only in the UK but across the globe, with potentially devastating consequences for those communities affected. This project brings together expertise across the natural and social sciences to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of the social, technological and natural dynamics of animal disease management. The analysis focuses on the complexities, risks and uncertainties that are embedded - but rarely exposed - in animal disease containment strategies and examines their impact on land, animal and water resource management. Existing social and natural science databases have been examined during the project, combined with undertaking interviews, focus groups as well as disease-specific and cross-disease workshops.
The project is now finished but current and future outputs can be found on our website
This work was funded by the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme (RELU).
Flood, Vulnerability and Urban Resilience: A real-time study of local recovery following the floods of June 2007 in Hull
Principal Investigator: Will Medd
Co-Investigators: Maggie Mort (Sociology), Clare Twigger-Ross (Collingwood Environmental Planning), Gordon Walker, Nigel Watson
Researcher: Rebecca Whittle
Time Period: 2007-2009
Funding: £252,444
This innovative two-year study used diaries, interviews and group discussions to follow people’s experiences of recovering from the floods of June 2007 in Hull which affected over 8,600 households across the city. The research showed that flood recovery is a long and difficult process with no clear beginning or end point and that the experience of recovery can be worse than that of the original flood event itself. Many of the difficulties experienced by people result from the existence of a ‘recovery gap’ where residents take on a central coordinating role in trying to manage the wide range of actors involved in the recovery process, including builders, insurers and the local authority. By suggesting ways in which residents can be better supported, the research is of direct practical relevance for organizations involved in recovery and the building of resilience. The research, which was funded by the ESRC, the EPSRC and the Environment Agency with additional support from the Cabinet Office, also produced a range of resources for those interested in such issues, including a ‘Flood Snakes and Ladders’ recovery simulation tool.
Children, Flood and Urban Resilience: Understanding children and young people’s experience and agency in the flood recovery process
Principal Investigator: Will Medd
Co-Investigators: Kate Burningham and Jo Moran-Ellis (University of Surrey), Sue Tapsell (Middlesex University), Marion Walker, Rebecca Whittle
Researcher: Marion Walker
Time Period: 2009-2010
Funding: £95,000
Few accounts of flooding have considered the perspectives of children and the role they might play in building resilience in the future. Funded by the ESRC, the Environment Agency and Hull City Council, this project engaged with children (aged 9-19 years) in Hull and identifies key issues in children’s experiences in relation to resilience to flooding, the recovery process and the implications for future resilience. Our research used storyboards (where participants drew pictures or used creative writing to tell their stories), short one-to-one interviews and focus groups with 46 young participants. The research showed that the flood recovery process was stressful for the flood-affected children in a variety of ways, just as it was for the adults who took part in our ‘sister’ research project. The children talked in detail about the disruption (at home and at school); their losses (both tangible e.g. possessions and intangible e.g. family time) and the ensuing stress this caused, leaving some with a pragmatic approach and others fearful about how they would cope if it happened again.
Drought and Demand in 2006: Consumers, Water Companies and Regulators
Dr Will Medd and Dr Heather Chappells (Lancaster)
ESRC, UKWIR, DEFRA, OFWAT, the Environment Agency, Anglian Water, Essex and Suffolk Water, Folkestone and Dover Water, Three Valleys Water and South East Water. £98,000, 1 year from July 2006
The drought conditions announced in many parts of the south east of England in 2006 present a real challenge for water managers and regulators. As media coverage demonstrates only too clearly the drought has reopened questions about current systems of water management, the assumptions of demand forecasting and management, and the possibilities of ‘appropriate’ alternatives and solutions. In particular strategies by the government, regulators and water companies to shape domestic water demand have provoked renewed discussion about water needs, rights, and responsibilities. “Drought and Demand” involves a real-time qualitative sociological analysis of the 2006 drought in the south east of England. The project aims to reveal the assumptions about demand inherent in existing systems of water practice and provision, to discover how far the drought might act as a catalyst for change in definitions of normal and necessary levels of water consumption, and to identify the dynamics of resilience in demand, both in relation to adaptation as well as persistence.
The Globalization of the Advertising Industry: A Case Study of Knowledge Workers in Worldwide Economic Restructuring
Dr James Faulconbridge (Lancaster) with Professor Peter Taylor (Loughborough)
Sloan Foundation Industry Studies Programme, £24,000, 18 Months from June 2006.
The advertising industry is distinctive in its organisational structure. All global advertising firms operate in practice under the umbrella of ‘holding companies/groups’ that constitute a collection of ‘advertising agencies’ with ‘firewalls’ between them so that clients in competition can be serviced within the same group but by different agencies. This organizational form corresponds to a clear division of knowledge work: the holding companies do the strategic managerial work, and the advertising agencies provide the creative design producer services. The purpose of this project is to examine the geographical reach of work done in selected holding groups and agencies and the non-local dimensions to this work, divided into national and transnational. The focus will be on identifying jobs that are necessarily carried out in a given city; we use the term ‘sticky’ to describe this process since these are jobs that cannot be easily relocated and the ways globalization have impacted upon this process over time. The primary methodology of this project is interviews with executives in holding groups and agencies operating in the USA.
Exploratory Use of Mobile Phone Technology to Assess the Impact of Traffic Relation Air Pollution on Children on the Journey to School
Professor Colin Pooley and Dr Duncan Whyatt (Geography) with Dr Paul Coulton (Communication Systems)
ESRC £77,488.80, 1 year from January 2007
This project seeks to exploit the latest developments in mobile phone technology to capture the movements of children in space and time on their journeys to and from school and their perceptions of health through the use of customised blog sites. Individual trajectories of personal mobility will be constructed within a GIS environment and integrated with high resolution estimates of air pollution in order to derive personal levels of exposure to air pollution. A range of qualitative techniques will be employed to gain insight into relationships between perceived levels of health in relation to local environmental factors in space and time (including the interpretation of images and text entries captured en route to and from school by the children). The project is exploratory in nature and aims to assess the degree to which mobile phone technology may be exploited to generate richer forms of information.
Support on Common European Strategy for Sustainable Natural and Induced Technological Hazards Mitigation (Scenario)
Dr Nigel Watson and Professor Gordon Walker (Lancaster)
T6ECO, Politecnico Di Milano, JRC, Universita di Napoli, Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, HR Wallingford, ATOS
Disaster reduction and resilience are key priorities identified by the EC and the Hyogo Framework for Action. A sustainability framework for natural and technological hazards is of critical importance. The main aims of this project are to develop a European roadmap on sustainable mitigation of natural and induced technological hazards and risks which will support future European research priorities for the 7th framework programme, contribute to European policies on natural hazards, sustain the scientific community by providing a strategic picture and support potential end-users / stakeholders.
Beyond Nimbyism: A Multidisciplinary Investigation of Public Engagement With Renewable Energy
Professor Gordon Walker and Dr Noel Cass (Lancaster) with Manchester, Surrey, Northumbria and Loughborough University.
ESRC and EPSRC, £500,300, 3 years from December 2005
The Energy White Paper and recently published Energy Review contain ambitious goals for decarbonising the UK economy, including increasing development of renewable energy technologies to provide 20% of UK electricity supply by 2020. The significance of issues of public acceptability are being increasingly recognised by policy makers, the research community and other stakeholders as a necessary condition of reaching this goal. However, our current level of understanding of public views and how they might be relevant to the way in which RETs are evolving is both limited and restricted. In this light, this project, seeks to significantly extend the current research base by examining public engagement with a range of forms of technology which are expected to figure, to varying degrees, in the UK renewable energy profile - offshore wind, biomass of various forms, small scale HEP, large scale photovoltaics and more speculatively the various ocean technologies currently under development.