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| I joined the Department of Geography in September 2001 from a lectureship at Kings College London. My research, which falls into the broad field of social science, focuses on environmental governance, specifically within the sectors of environmental awareness, waste management, biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development. These are issues both of key national and international significance in the field of public policy as clearly demonstrated in the attention given to them in government, industry, the media, community-based organisations and through increasing public concern. My major research focus for the first three years after arriving at Trinity was an Environmental Protection Agency funded project that I designed ‘Environmental Attitudes and Behaviour: values, actions and waste management’. I was awarded an IRCHSS Fellowship 2004/5 in order to complete the research monograph on ‘The Geographies of Waste’ (Ashgate, 2008). Subsequently I have had projects funded examining sustainability indicators (EU FP6), civil society and waste management (Royal Irish Academy), creating a sustainable economy (IRCHSS) and various EPA projects including Biodiveristy politics, climate change, environmental risk communication, waste charges and sustainable consumption.
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| Project title |
BRIDGE- Communicating across the science policy divide |
| Summary |
This research will co-create a toolkit for good practice communication between researchers, policy makers and intermediaries such as journalists and NGOs working in the fields of biodiversity, climate change and water |
| Funding Agency |
EPA |
| Programme |
STRIVE |
| Type of Project |
Desk Study |
| Date from |
Jan 2013 |
| Date to |
Sept 2013 |
| Person Months |
8 |
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| Project title |
CONSENSUS:consumption, environment and sustainability |
| Summary |
This research examines four key areas of household consumption that inhibit our ability to achieve sustainable development: transport, energy, water and food. Four themes are developed: how consumption can be measurd and evaluated; how sustainable behaviours and incentives are being developed and implemented; identifying links between consumption, health and well-being; and finally how matters of household consumption are being governed through institutional practice and participation |
| Funding Agency |
EPA |
| Programme |
STRIVE |
| Type of Project |
|
| Date from |
1/1/09 |
| Date to |
31/12/13 |
| Person Months |
48 |
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| Project title |
Creating a Sustainable Economy |
| Summary |
The Stern Review (2006), which examined the economics of global climate change, brought unprecendented attention to the economy-environment interface and reiterated calls for more sustainable development. Although highly contested, sustainable development is frequently conceptualised as that which contributes to social, economic and environmental well-being for present and future generations. While many aspects of modern life are now globalised the ethos of sustainable development seeks to foster more integrated and inclusive practices that facilitate ‘thinking globally, [and] acting locally’. It is in this context that social economy enterprises - defined as non-profit activities designed to combat exclusion through socially useful goods or services sold - have been identified by the United Nations, the European Union and many national governments as a mechanism through which economic growth can contribute to sustainable social development, inclusion and well-being.
Within the social economy arena environmentally-focused social economy (ESE) enterprises, such as community-based recycling organisations, gardening initiatives and fuel poverty programmes, explicitly engage with all three pillars of sustainable development. While such initiatives have been experiencing a period of expansion in the European Union no systematic analysis has been undertaken of their activities, the conditions that shape those activities or the contribution they are making towards sustainable development in Ireland. In order to address this analytical deficiency this project will extend theoretical debates about sustainability and the social economy, particularly drawing out issues of scale and governance, through an empirically grounded evaluation of ESE enterprises. Methodologically the project comprises a phased multi-method research programme including a nationwide survey and mapping exercise, in-depth case study analysis and the development of a sustainability impacts procedure. The research findings will expand understanding of the sustainability-social economy interface within the current development context in Ireland and will be of interest to domestic and international academic and policy making communities.
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| Funding Agency |
IRCHSS |
| Programme |
Thematic Grant Award |
| Type of Project |
Applied |
| Date from |
03/03/08 |
| Date to |
03/03/11 |
| Person Months |
36 |
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| Project title |
Communicating environmental risk: waste, incineration and dioxins |
| Summary |
Concerns remain in society about the risks to human health and the environment associated with waste incineration and with the toxicity of the by-products that incineration creates despite the reassurances of regulators, politicians and industry. This project examines and evaluates the ways in which debates about risks related to incineration have been conducted in Ireland in order to facilitate a better understanding of how incineration risk communication is produced and received. |
| Funding Agency |
Environmental Protection Agency |
| Programme |
ERTDI 2000-2006 |
| Type of Project |
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| Date from |
October 2006 |
| Date to |
March 2010 |
| Person Months |
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| Project title |
Biodiversity politics: policy, planning and public understanding |
| Summary |
While effective biodiversity planning involves a detailed understanding of natural processes and ecosystem functioning it is becoming increasingly apparent that successful protection and enhancement of biodiversity will also require a clear understanding of the politics of policy making and a supportive public. In order to inform management practices in Ireland key actors and publics (including children) will be engaged in discussions concerning the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. This qualitative data will provide essential information on fundamental issues of power, politics and participation in biodiversity planning and detailed analysis of the data will generate recommendations for improved mechanisms to promote positive biodiversity management. |
| Funding Agency |
EPA |
| Programme |
ERTDI - BIodiversity |
| Type of Project |
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| Date from |
1/4/06 |
| Date to |
31/12/09 |
| Person Months |
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| More Research Projects>>> |
| Davies, A.R., Assembling grassroots sustainability innovation, green economic zones and cleantech clusters: colliding tiers and spheres of green enterprise , Global Environmental Change |
| DAVIES, A.R., Enterprising Communities:Grassroots sustainability innovations, London, Emerald, 2012, 1 - 199pp |
| Davies A.R., Geography and the matter of waste mobilities, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 37, (2), 2012, p191 - 196 TARA - Full Text |
DAVIES, A.R., Doyle, R., Pape, J., Spaces for sustainability learning? Future visioning as a geographical process for transforming production and consumption practices., Area, 44, (1), 2012, p54 - 60
DOI |
Davies A and Mullin S, Greening the economy: interrogating sustainability innovations beyond the mainstream , Journal of Economic Geography, 11, (5), 2011, p793 - 816
Url TARA - Full Text
DOI |
| More Publications and Other Research Outputs >>> |