Background
National net zero plans within the framework of the Paris Agreement require local authorities to mitigate emissions via local planning, and transport and housing policies, whilst improving local resilience to climate threats. Local-level politicians will be central actors in this critical decade: eager to promote green projects and policies in response to their constituents’ demands or for branding purposes, but often constrained in terms of legal powers, public/political support and/or financial resources. To better understand, and suggest ways to navigate local governance challenges, this project aims for the first time to explore the role of local politicians in delivering net zero: what they will do to implement climate policies in their communities, and why; to what extent and by what means they will hold accountable national-level policymakers for missed opportunities in policymaking.
Research methodology
You will (a) collate and analyse (quantitatively and/or qualitatively) a new comparative database of political and policy documents (including press releases, policy documents, social media) and (b) undertake in-depth qualitative interviews with local politicians and policy actors (e.g. officers, activists, businesses, journalists). Depending on your specific geographical research interests and language skills you may include a comparison and in-depth analysis of different European country experiences.
Training and professional development
This PhD provides you with the opportunity to develop your skills in the collection and use of original social science data, documentary analysis and interviewing, scientific writing, and communicating research insights with stakeholders inside and outside of academia. You will receive relevant research methods training from several UEA DTPs and advanced training at specialised methods schools (e.g. ECPR, Essex; the NCRM). You will be associated with DeepDCarb (www.deepdcarb.org), a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant Project, whose consortium of interdisciplinary researchers will offer you valuable opportunities to undertake research and present the findings at specialised conferences.
Person specification
You should have a demonstrable interest in climate change science, politics and policy-making; a degree in Politics, Sociology or equivalent subjects; experience in independent qualitative/quantitative empirical research (e.g. interviewing, comparative case study or documentary analysis); and be eager to join and actively contribute to an international team of interdisciplinary researchers.
For more information on the supervisor for this project, please visit the UEA website www.uea.ac.uk
The start date is 1 October 2022
For more information about the ‘Critical Decade’ programme click here.
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