Practices of democratic governance and decision-making have been institutionalised in environmental policy, yet are constantly evolving and travelling, and new democratic practices are continually being developed. Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars have explored these practices as ‘technologies of democracy’, whose innovation journeys and travel can be analysed in the same way that STS scholars have studied other technologies (Voβ & Amelung 2016). This is complemented by recent work in Human Geography which tries to better understand ‘policy mobilities’ (Temenos & McCann 2013), including the travel of certain democratic practices. Yet only a handful of studies have considered the effects of these travelling democratic practices on broader environmental governance (Pallett, 2015; Soneryd, 2016).
This PhD project aims to explore the travel and translation of democratic practices between different countries, domains and policy areas. The case or cases studied will be defined by the interests of the student, but could include prominent approaches currently being used in environmental policy like open data or sentiment mapping. The project will entail: (i) reviewing existing concepts and approaches to the movement of democratic practices; (ii) developing a conceptual framework on the basis of this review; (iii) applying the approach to one or more case studies; and (iv) developing approaches to engage policy makers and civil society actors in envisaging and anticipating the futures of these democratic practices. This PhD will contribute to developing new approaches to understanding democratic practices and policy travel, as well as providing constructive insights on contemporary democratic practices in environmental policy. This project would suit excellent candidates with a social science or interdisciplinary environmental science background.
For more information on the supervisor for this project, please go here
https://people.uea.ac.uk/h_pallett Type of Programme: PhD
Start Date: October 2020
Mode of Study: Full-time
Entry Requirements:
Acceptable first degree in Geography, Sociology, Science and Technology Studies, Political Science or similar.
Funding Notes
This PhD project is in a competition for a Faculty of Science funded studentship. Funding is available to UK/EU applicants and comprises home/EU tuition fees and an annual stipend of £15,009 for 3 years. Overseas applicants may apply but they are required to fund the difference between home/EU and overseas tuition fees (which for 2019-20 are detailed on the University’s fees pages at View Website . Please note tuition fees are subject to an annual increase).
