Implementing change
Technology is important, but it become meaningless unless it's used.
Social scientists work to understand systems and behaviours – why and how things work in societies. They therefore play a vital role in solving the many complex barriers that prevent potential solutions from being implemented. The research below includes studies ranging from why people choose certain behaviours over others, to how we can finance the transition in a just and equitable way.
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- BLOG: The elephant's journey
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- China is facing huge challenges to balance economic growth and biodiversity protection. This is particularly true in its remote and mountainous margins and poverty-stricken rural areas, mainly located in western China. In this article, our researchers examine a recent incident that provides some hope for improvement.
- Video: Up in smoke
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- Dr James Heydon explains why we need to urgently rethink our use of wood burning stoves in the UK, for both the environment and our own health.
- VIDEO: Blue-Green cities
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- Dr Emily O'Donnell explains why blue-green infrastructure is vital not just for the environment and to combat climate change, but also to create pleasant spaces and benefit the health and well-being of our communities.
- Video: Children, future generations and climate change law
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- Professor Aoife Nolan explains why the rights of children are essential to developing effective laws, policies, and programmes to counteract climate change.
- Blog: Impacts of transitioning to Net Zero
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- Achieving Net Zero requires pivoting away from fossil fuels, but the economic risks of an abrupt or unplanned transition are enormous. Success demands that governments understand and manage the impact on the oil and gas industry, argues Hafez Abdo.
- Video: Unwrapping food supply chains
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- In this short video series, Dr Anne Touboulic and Dr Lucy McCarthy unwrap their knowledge of food supply chains to explore some of the factors that go into food supply chains and some of the changes that can help to create a more sustainable system for the future.
- Blog: Building more effective tools for environmental education
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- Educational resources that target children's sense of agency are key in supporting behavioural change. To combat climate change we need to understand how to design and implement these into the curriculum most effectively, argues Jonathan Halls.
- Short article: Enterprise, communities and climate change: the mobilisation of ideas
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- Entrepreneurship can be just as much about responding to pressing challenges as it is about creating wealth. At the Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, current research shows how responsible entrepreneurship can change behaviours to reduce carbon usage within those communities most affected by climate change.
- Short article: Blue-greening cities for climate change adaptation
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- The risk of flooding is becoming ever more serious, both in the UK and across the globe, and the challenge of protecting our homes and cities is becoming increasingly important. Emily's research explores how cities, neighbourhoods and communities might increase their resilience to the impacts of climate change (particularly flooding) and what role blue-green infrastructure can play in mitigating flood risk while providing wider benefits to the environment and society.
- Short article: Assessing the effects of a changing climate on women and girls
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- As reported by UN Women, women and girls face an abundance of amplified social and economic threats compounded by the impacts of climate change.