Tuesday, 01 August 2023
Two researchers from the University of Nottingham have been granted a funding boost to help analyse how thinking about a ‘more-than-human’ world can help us negotiate conflicts between environmental challenges and human priorities, to ensure sustainable futures for the planet and its inhabitants.
Catherine Price, a social scientist in the School of Geography, and Tom Bott, a soil scientist from the School of Biosciences, will receive a share of £250,000 from the Advancing Capacity for Climate Environment Social Science (ACCESS) Flex Fund competition to help include the more-than-human world in responsible research and innovation.
Their project, which looks at animals, plants, soil, water and land, aims to develop a conceptual framework for including these more-than-human world elements within responsible research and innovation (RRI).
The implementation of RRI by researchers ensures that research and its impacts on the wider world are opened up to broader deliberation, engagement and debate in an inclusive manner. This enables the complexities and uncertainties of research to be revealed through involvement with those impacted by the research.
To test the suitability and further its development, the conceptual framework will be applied to the case study of biochar. Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced when biomass undergoes a thermochemical process called pyrolysis.
Biochar is an ideal case study as it is a ‘new technology’ that is currently being investigated for its greenhouse gas removal potential at scale and which has a direct impact on the more-than-human world throughout its lifecycle.
Catherine Price said of the project: “I’m delighted we’ve received this funding. Including the more-than-human world will lead to a more environmentally conscious RRI framework, enabling researchers to better deal with current and future environmental challenges."
Tom Bott added: “I’m excited to explore how the more than human-world can be better represented within research and I’m grateful to the funders for supporting our project."
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More information available from Catherine Price at Catherine.Price@nottingham.ac.uk
Faith Pring - Media Relations Manager
Email: faith.pring@nottingham.ac.uk
Phone: 0115 748 4411
Location: University of Nottingham, University Park
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About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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