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Biography
Stephen Parkinson (Parky) is a Researcher at Earthwatch and PhD student in the Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Nottingham.
Stephen joined Earthwatch in 2018 having obtained a BA degree in Geography from the University of Cambridge. He works across several Horizon Europe research projects, looking at the "science of citizen science" and trying to improve the way projects involve local communities and members of the public. In October 2023, Stephen joined the Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training as a PhD student at the University of Nottingham. His PhD research is currently based around the CircleUp project [https://circle-up.eu] and explores how households can be more meaningfully involved as actors in the circular economy. Previously, Stephen worked in the freshwater team at Earthwatch, supporting research on the FreshWater Watch project.
Research Summary
PhD title: Households and digital technology in a "circular society"
My PhD aims to contribute to the discussions around responsible research and innovation within the circular economy looking specifically at how households can successfully be engaged as "circular citizens" (active participants in the transition to the circular economy) and to what extent digital technologies and (personal) data can play a role in this process. More specifically, my research will explore how households currently perceive the circular economy and how this compares with other actors' perceptions including NGOs, local authorities, and businesses. The findings from this research will be of importance to many organisations currently struggling with how to achieve ambitious targets around the circular economy.
The overall objectives of my PhD are: (i) to demonstrate that, with the right support, households can make a more effective contribution to the circular economy than the current system allows; (ii) to highlight the potential role of digital solutions in this process; and (iii) to explore how households and communities can negotiate and share collective responsibility alongside other actors such as businesses.
Research Questions:
To what extent does digital technology affect the way households engage with the concept of a circular economy?
- How do households currently interact with the circular economy and what role does digital technology play?
- How do digital and in-person interventions affect households' attitudes towards the circular economy and the type of behaviours they adopt?
- In which ways does a participatory approach alter the design of circular economy interventions?
Recent Publications
BISHOP, ISABEL, BOLDRINI, AMEDEO, CLYMANS, WIM, HALL, CHARLOTTE, MOORHOUSE, HEATHER, PARKINSON, STEPHEN, SCOTT-SOMME, KESELLA, THORNHILL, IAN and LOISELLE, STEVEN, 2025. FreshWater Watch: Investigating the Health of Freshwater Ecosystems, from the Bottom Up Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. 10(1), 2 STEPHEN PARKINSON, LUIGI CECCARONI, DORI EDELIST, EMILY ROBERTSON, ROXANA HORINCAR, CLAIRE LAUDY, TODOR GANCHEV, VALENTINA MARKOVA, JAY PEARLMAN, PAULINE SIMPSON, VALENTIJN VENUS, PATIENCE MUCHADA, GARABET KAZANJIAN, BENTE LILJA BYE, MARCO OLIVEIRA, HUGO PAREDES, JAMES SPRINKS, ANNA WITTER, BIANCA CRUZ, KAUSHIKI DAS and SASHA MARIE WOODS, 2024. The Iliad digital twins of the ocean: opportunities for citizen science ARPHA Proceedings. 6, 61-65 JAMES CHRISTOPHER SPRINKS, GIOVANNI MACCANI, DILEK FRAISL, ANA SOLANGE LEAL, AGUEDA GRAS-VELAZQUEZ, ARIANNA LICONTI, STEFFEN FRITZ, CATARINA AZEVEDO, LUIGI CECCARONI and STEPHEN PARKINSON, 2024. CROPS: changing the scale of citizen science towards the transnational level ARPHA Proceedings. 6, 101-105 CECCARONI, LUIGI, WOODS, SASHA M., BUTKEVIČIENĖ, EGLĖ, PARKINSON, STEPHEN, SPRINKS, JAMES, COSTA, PEDRO, SIMIS, STEFAN G. H., LESSIN, GENNADI, LIÑÁN, SONIA, COMPANYS, BERTA, BONFILL, ELISABET and PIERA, JAUME, 2023. The Role of Citizen Science in Promoting Ocean and Water Literacy in School Communities: The ProBleu Methodology Sustainability. 15(14),