collaborations between Nicola Spurling, Elizabeth Shove, Andy McMeekin, Dale Southerton, Daniel Welch
Between 2009-2013 I worked on questions of how to change high carbon consumption – often framed by policy makers as the need to change behaviour. Through a series of Exhibitions, Policy Reports, Working Parties and Blogposts I brought cutting edge insights from live research projects into dialogue with a variety of non academic audiences.
Sustainability|Social Practices|Policy: An Exhibition of Ideas and Panel Discussion, 11th September 2013, Mary Ward House, London.
with Andy McMeekin, Dale Southerton, Dan Welch & SPRG members
This was a major public sociology event at Mary Ward House, London, our audience included colleagues from DEFRA, Unilever and the Environment Agency. We took the Exhibition to The Scottish Government on 5th March 2014.
Interventions in Practice: Reframing policy approaches to consumer behaviour, SPRG Report. Spurling, N., McMeekin, A., Shove, E., Southerton, D. and Welch, D. (2013)
The Report develops and illustrates a workable alternative to behaviour change approaches in areas of transport, food and housing. In the past decade it has featured in teaching materials at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia), Aalborg University (Denmark), Manchester University (UK). Figures from the report have been reproduced in PhD Theses, and most recently in a Finnish book on sustainability.
How the Social Sciences can help Climate Change Policy: Extraordinary Lecture and Exhibition of Ideas, 17th January 2011, British Library, London. Elizabeth Shove, Nicola Spurling and members of the Social Change Climate Change Working Parties.
This was a major public sociology event at the British Library exhibiting the ideas of the Social Change Climate Change Working Parties (see below), our audience included DECC, DEFRA, Thames Water and Waterwise.
Social Change Climate Change Working Parties
Three working parties for non-academics and early career researchers, with Elizabeth Shove on her Transitions in Practice ESRC Leadership-Fellowship: Social theories of change, 9th-11th July 2009, Methods of representing transitions in practice, 6-7 Jan 2010, Crafting interventions, 8-9 July 2010, Lancaster University. These events introduced and developed a broad range of practice-theoretical ideas, and through activities and workshops considered their relevance to issues of sustainability.
Blogposts
Welch, D. and Spurling, N. (2014) Towards Sustainable Consumption: Start by reframing the questions, Policy@Manchester, read here >>
Spurling, N. and Dan Welch (2014) Unsustainable Practices: Why electric cars are a failure of ambition, Talking Climate, read here >>
Nicola Spurling 