Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Science, Society & Sustainability (3S) Research Group @3sresearchgroup.bsky.social · Feb 18

We're thrilled to be offering a brand new MSc in #Sustainability and #Society in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, starting this September!

Full details here:
3sresearch.org/2025/02/13/n...

New Sustainability and Society MSc at UEA will put society at the heart of sustainability

The new MSc in Sustainability and Society created by the 3S Research Group in the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA will explore the social science of sustainability, helping students to deve…

3sresearch.org

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Environmental Politics @environmentalpol.bsky.social · Jan 28

Book review!

Recycling class: The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability by Manisha Anantharaman.

A 'rich and insightful book' which challenges the systems of oppression entangled with sustainability transitions.

Reviewed by Cat Acheson

doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Book cover: a map of Europe, Africa and Asia, made stylistically with the land masses formed from plastic bags, bottles, and other rubbish.

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Charlotte Weatherill @ckweatherill.bsky.social · Jan 24

Blog version of this article is now up.
www.bisa.ac.uk/members/work...

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Mike Fell @mikefsway.bsky.social · Nov 28

Hello Bluesky! I'm seeking research, evaluation, case studies on heat pumps in social/public housing - with focus on solutions (service/engagement/policy/technical/etc.) to accelerate uptake + improve tenant experience. Is there anything you recommend I look at? Suggestions and shares appreciated!

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Sam Hampton @samhampton.bsky.social · Nov 11

New article alert! 📢

Are radical lifestyle changes necessary for mitigating climate change? (Spoiler: yes!)
w/ Lorraine Whitmarsh

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
#ClimateAction #BehaviourChange @cast-centre.bsky.social

Are radical changes to lifestyles necessary for mitigating climate change? - Lorraine Whitmarsh, Sam Hampton, 2024

Many policy-makers and commentators propose that technological change alone will solve climate change. In this commentary, we argue that this techno-optimism is...

journals.sagepub.com

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Dr Dave Hitchcock @davehitchcock.bsky.social · Nov 21

Among a range of others, I spoke at length with the Times Higher journalist about student number controls for this piece, and I'd say it gives a balanced account. It comes on the same day news breaks that we anticipate as many as 10,000 jobs going in HE *this year* alone.

Is it time to reintroduce student number controls in England?

The removal of recruitment caps in 2015 was hailed by ministers as a boon to institutions’ and students’ ambitions. But the tuition fee’s declining value and the Russell Group’s ever-growing market sh...

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Energy Leeds @energyleeds.bsky.social · Nov 15

Join us for our next Fair Energy Futures online lunch and learn on 'Justice in the built environment: indoor air quality and net zero' with @douglasbooker.bsky.social @luciemidd.bsky.social on Wednesday 20 November 1-2pm www.trybooking.com/uk/DQZX

Fair Energy Futures Lunch & Learn Series

Join us every month over lunchtime to hear an academic speaker and expert responder present and discuss a different aspect of fair energy futures....

www.trybooking.com

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Vanessa is the name of the Doctor! @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · Nov 15

Hi friends, can anyone recommend short/long reads on the ecological consequences of AI? I'd like a couple of links in the rotation to share with people who've started using it "to raise awareness" about plastic pollution and other eco issues who don't seem to know about the environmental impact.

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TIBG @tibg.bsky.social · Nov 13

📢Join the TIBG team!📢

We are looking for four new mid-career geographers to join our Editorial Board.

We are seeking expertise in environmental, historical and quantitative geography, sustainable development, geopolitics, Africa & Latin America.

Deadline: 4 December

www.rgs.org/about-us/our...

Editorial opportunities at Society journal - RGS

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, one of the Society’s scholarly journals, is looking for four new Editorial Board members.

www.rgs.org

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Tom Hargreaves @thargreaves.bsky.social · Nov 11

Unfortunately so on this occasion. Fingers crossed there'll be other opportunities with more inclusive t&c's further down the line. Thanks for sharing anyway though!

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Tom Hargreaves @thargreaves.bsky.social · Nov 11

#EnergySky #AcademicSky

Tom Hargreaves @thargreaves.bsky.social · Nov 11

Please share this funded PhD opportunity in 'Mapping public engagement with energy and climate change' in the 3S Research Group at UEA. Deadline: 27 November.

The PhD is linked to the Public Engagement Observatory of the UK Energy Research Centre.

More details here: www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

PhD Mapping public engagement with energy and climate change (CHILVERSJ_U25SCI) 2024/25 | UEA

www.uea.ac.uk

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Tom Hargreaves @thargreaves.bsky.social · Nov 11

Please share this funded PhD opportunity in 'Mapping public engagement with energy and climate change' in the 3S Research Group at UEA. Deadline: 27 November.

The PhD is linked to the Public Engagement Observatory of the UK Energy Research Centre.

More details here: www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

PhD Mapping public engagement with energy and climate change (CHILVERSJ_U25SCI) 2024/25 | UEA

www.uea.ac.uk

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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · Nov 5

Don't pace around nervously! Read this new essay by me and Matt Dowse from the Centre for Sociodigital Futures.

What if innovation were rethought as if people, rather than firms, are the things that matter most?

www.promisingtrouble.net/blog/innovat...

@carefultrouble.bsky.social

Promising
Trouble
5 Nov Written By Rachel Coldicutt OBE
and Dr Matt Dowse
What good is innovation if it doesn't work for
everyone?
An open invitation to a thinking party on community-driven technologies and inclusive growth.

Rather than accruing benefits only to a small, socially elite group of innovators, a truly modern innovation economy must seek to create more plural, more equitable opportunities that are accessible beyond major research institutions and massive tech corporations, that prioritise regeneration over extraction, and that uplift and empower people and communities in their diversity.
"Small" in this case does not mean a lack of ambition; it denotes a lack of concentration - a tendency towards pluralism, and an embrace of many possible, parallel realities and futures that are imagined within limits.
The resource intensive nature of modern technologies at scale make these steps urgent, and it seems likely that a shift to smaller-scale and more distributed approaches to computing will become an imperative over the coming decade. [4]

1. Funding: What needs to shift to make viable technology investment that prioritises long-term social returns rather than short-term profit and status?
2. Measurement: What are the metrics and measurement approaches that will make this attractive to policy makers?
3. Infrastructure: What infrastructures are needed to foster long-term, vision-led investments in technology capabilities that prioritise equitable, regenerative, health societies?

4. Intelligences: What interventions are needed to enable technologies to be created and altered to enable a
"repertoire of intelligences" [5] rather than support returns to a small number of Silicon Valley companies and investors?
5. Organising: What methods of organising are needed? What does organising in this new normal look like? How can communities organise for a new innovation economy?

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Tina Fawcett @tinafawcett.bsky.social · Nov 4

We are recruiting for a new Energy Programme leader at the Environmental Change Institute, @universityofoxford.bsky.social. formal title "Jackson Senior Research Fellow and Energy Programme Leader". Details via: www.jobs.ox.ac.uk
Closing date 25 Nov 2024. It's a great job - please share!

Home

www.jobs.ox.ac.uk

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Area @areajournal.bsky.social · Oct 24

New in Area:

'Opening the notebook: How & why human geographers take fieldnotes' by Russell Hitchings, Alan Latham & Tatiana Thieme

This paper introduces the 'Inside the Notebook' collection. It concludes with a tribute to Russell, who contributed so much to the journal.

doi.org/10.1111/area...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Area by Russell Hitchings, Alan Latham and Tatiana Thieme (2024) entitled 'Opening the notebook: How and why human geographers take fieldnotes' with a black banner at the top.

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Geo: Geography and Environment @geoopenaccess.bsky.social · Oct 22

🔋New #OpenAccess paper in Geo🔋

'Place-based and people-centred: Principles for a socially inclusive Net Zero transition' by Lucie Middlemiss et al.

This paper investigates attitudes towards Net Zero in low-income neighbourhoods in Leeds & Newcastle.

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Place‐based and people‐centred: Principles for a socially inclusive Net Zero transition

Our research in seven low-income neighbourhoods in Leeds and Newcastle in the UK uncovered perspectives and concerns on Net Zero. We found that people's engagement in Net Zero was shaped by the parti....

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Rob Bellamy @drrobbellamy.bsky.social · Oct 22

Read my first editorial for new journal Dialogues on Climate Change here! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Iain Soutar @isoutar.bsky.social · Oct 15

We at @uniofexeter.bsky.social are now welcoming applications for ESRC PhD studentships on the theme of Climate Change, Sustainability and Society. Deadline is 14 Jan 2025

Award details | Funding and scholarships for students | University of Exeter

www.exeter.ac.uk

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Sarah Bell @sarahbell85.bsky.social · Oct 9

Excited to share our latest news piece: sensing-climate.com/news/climate... We reflect on the potential for 'crip time' to offer a safer, more care-full approach when when considering methods of engagement with climate change and climate action ⏳🌎🌱

Climate care in crip time — Sensing Climate

We recently had a paper published in the International Journal of Disability and Social Justice. Here we reflect on the potential for 'crip time' to help move beyond panic responses to climate change ...

sensing-climate.com

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Dr Ola Michalec @olamichalec.bsky.social · Oct 8

New publication!

Really pleased to see our article in @geoopenaccess.bsky.social "Electric feels: The role of visual methods in energy futuring" rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Madeleine Gabriel @madgabes.bsky.social · Oct 8

How do people using smart prepayment meters experience demand flexibility services?

@mikefsway.bsky.social & team have published a new report based on interviews with Utilita customers. V relevant in helping think how to make energy transition accessible to all

www.nesta.org.uk/project/unde...

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Tom Hargreaves @thargreaves.bsky.social · Oct 8

📌

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Tom Hargreaves @thargreaves.bsky.social · Oct 2

A magnificent series and a wonderful book. Thank you!

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Jordan Collver @jordancollver.bsky.social · Oct 1

Honoured to be a co-author on this new paper in GEO with @olamichalec.bsky.social and a lineup of great artists:

"Electric feels: The role of visual methods in energy ‘futuring’"
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Kate Stewart @katestew.art · Sep 30

Hey, #Sociology #AcademicSky, this year the UEA Sociology Annual Lecture will be given by @rosedwards.bsky.social and we're very very excited about it.
If you're Norwich-ish, please join us, or share with your networks as you see fit.

A poster for the UEA Annual Sociology Lecture 2024. The poster reads "Whose Shoulders? Sociology & the role of Academics' wives' Rosalind Edwards, Professor of Sociology, University of Southampton. Thurs 21st November, 3pm - 4.30pm EFY1.02" Theres a QR code to register, which you can also find here: https://tinyurl.com/SOLLecture2024

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Tom Hargreaves @thargreaves.bsky.social · Sep 24

📌

Iain Soutar @isoutar.bsky.social · Sep 22

Full report here:

Making a Net Zero Society: Follow the Social Science

Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science

accessnetwork.uk

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Rebecca Willis @bankfieldbecky.bsky.social · Sep 18

I'm proud to be part of She Is Sustainable, a peer support network for women working in sustainability. We're entirely volunteer-led.

We're looking for new Directors of our Community Interest Company. Interested? Happy to chat. Details here sheissustainable.org/director-rec...

Director Recruitment 2024

Role:CIC Director (x6)Location: Remote/home based in the UKRemuneration:Unpaid / voluntary. Modest expenses coveredTerm:Minimum 18 months Purpose:To deliver aims of She is Sustainable, primarily to su...

sheissustainable.org

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Tina Fawcett @tinafawcett.bsky.social · Sep 11

What are the possibilities of a good digital society? A British Academy paper exploring the ways in which digital technologies, tools and practices shape and are shaped by society, and how policymakers can navigate the digital society.
www.eci.ox.ac.uk/news/what-ar...
@britishacademy.bsky.social

What are the possibilities of a good digital society?

www.eci.ox.ac.uk

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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · Sep 11

Last re-up for for this essay on why we need a Digital Civil Society Observatory. This is about 4 things:
- getting a better real-time understanding of how technologies are changing society
- using civil society's inbuilt horizon scanning expertise

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publications...

People Not Code: The Case for a Digital Civil Society Observatory

This essay makes the case for Digital Civil Society Observatory, an evidence-gathering body that would sit alongside the AI Safety Institute and the Turing Institute.

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

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