The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UMIST is undertaking an interdisciplinary life ... more The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UMIST is undertaking an interdisciplinary life cycle socio-economic and environmental evaluation of bioenergy scenarios for the UK, to be integrated with a techno-economic evaluation undertaken elsewhere in the SuperGen consortium.2 The first aim is to develop contrasting bioenergy scenarios in consultation with bioenergy experts and stakeholders for three UK regions. These will
While sociologists of science and technology have long understood technological diffusion and ado... more While sociologists of science and technology have long understood technological diffusion and adoption as processes of social embedding, the psycho-social processes involved have received relatively little attention in the socio-technical transitions literature. Here we consider the value of Moscovici's social representations theory in terms of its potential contribution to a theory of socio-technical change, the multi-level perspective (MLP). Using fracking-derived shale gas as a technology case study and newspaper representations of the technology in Poland, Germany and the UK as data, we address and illustrate connections between the processes of anchoring and objectification that are central to social representations theory and the socio-technical dynamics observed. In so doing, we set out an approach for further work on agency in the MLP and socio-technical change processes generally, informed by a social psychological approach that aligns with structuralist concepts.
As a governance perspective, transition management views the engagement of a wide variety of stak... more As a governance perspective, transition management views the engagement of a wide variety of stakeholders in policy development as a necessary element in furthering sustainability through enhanced social learning. Yet as a literature it has paid relatively little attention to public consultation on socio-technical change. Here we set transition management in the context of longstanding debates in science and technology studies, technology assessment and deliberative democracy. Empirically, we use national survey data on Finnish public opinion of state support for future transport options. Showing how transport practices and attitudes to transport innovation policy vary with both demography and geography, we argue that these differences have implications for policy legitimacy. We suggest that, both given and despite the practical difficulties of deliberative democracy, use of participative opinion surveying to better understand social groups with needs and interests that differ from national averages, may help to enhance policy legitimacy and hence the success of transition management.
The NearCO 2 project aims to support the development of effective public and other stakeholders' ... more The NearCO 2 project aims to support the development of effective public and other stakeholders' engagement and communication strategies for CCS projects. In Work Package 3, of which this document reports, we analysed the gaps between existing practices of public engagement in CCS and other energy projects, and available toolkits or guidelines on this matter. Subsequently, we developed strategies for local engagement and communication that address the identified gaps.
Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to d... more Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to do so. With alarge, efficient and export-focused agricultural sector, Argentina is the world's third largest exporter of soy and sunfloweroils. Growing global demand and, to a far lesser extent, domestic demand for biofuels is contributing to the expansion of soy production and processing in Argentina, much of which is centred around the Paraná River. The Argentine biofuelssector exhibits clustering at both the cultivation and processing levels, but is also ...
Technical energy models operate within social systems and those that perform particular social as... more Technical energy models operate within social systems and those that perform particular social as well as technical functions are more likely to be used. We illustrate this with the example of the MARKAL energy system model in the UK, a model that is also widely used internationally. In the UK, MARKAL modelling has a long history helping underpin government energy and climate policy. We trace the use of the model from its initial development in the mid-1970s to the present day, highlighting attributes that contribute to its role as a successful 'boundary object' for different but interconnecting energy policy communities. We suggest that changing images of the energy policy problem have enabled MARKAL to shift from an initial role in identifying technologies to reduce oil dependency to playing a key role in target-oriented climate policy. Furthermore, we argue that the ability of MARKAL to perform different roles for different groups has served to embed and institutionalise the model in the energy policy community. Moreover, the capacity of the model to represent detailed technology options has accorded with a technological focus that has suited prevailing, shared conceptions of the energy-climate policy problem. of the MARKAL model and, in recent years, MARKAL modelling has been used extensively to inform UK energy and climate policy. Results from MARKAL have provided inputs to documents including the 2003 Energy White Paper [3], the 2007 Energy White Paper [4], the 2011 Carbon Plan [5] and the Committee on Climate Change reports Building a Low-carbon Economy [6] and The Fourth Carbon Budget [7].
ABSTRACT Theory suggests that the influence of science on policy will be greater when scientific ... more ABSTRACT Theory suggests that the influence of science on policy will be greater when scientific discourse is aligned with the language and meaning of wider social concerns. Seeking to assess whether scientists may be guided by such propositions in a controversial environmental policy arena, we examine the language and content of public-facing, UK scientific research grant abstracts on biofuels for the period 2007–2011, comparing these to stakeholder position statements and newspaper articles of the same period. We find that UK scientists have indeed broadly reflected societal concerns about biofuels during this period. However we also find that both science and society have paid less attention to procedural issues. We comment on the implications of the findings for the role of science in environmental policy development.
Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to d... more Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to do so. With a large, efficient and export-focused agricultural sector, Argentina is the world's third largest exporter of soy and sunflower oils. Growing global demand and, to a far lesser extent, domestic demand for biofuels is contributing to the expansion of soy production and processing in Argentina, much of which is centred around the Paraná River. The Argentine biofuels sector exhibits clustering at both the cultivation and processing levels, but is also strongly dependent on other relationships both nationally and internationally, including research and development linkages with international biotechnology firms and the more economically significant soy oil and meal markets. Although the trend of horizontal and vertical integration is advanced and likely to continue, we argue that clustering, in the sense of geographic proximity, needs to be seen in the context of the value chain. To date, governance of the soy industry has been characterised by declining government intervention in production, processing and export processes. In the absence of strong policy, it has been left to agroindustry to determine the development of the nascent biofuels sector, towards one focused primarily on the export market and leading to substantial gains for some actors in the value chain and losses for weaker players.
Public perceptions of climate change are known to differ between nations and to have fluctuated o... more Public perceptions of climate change are known to differ between nations and to have fluctuated over time. Numerous plausible characterizations of these variations, and explanations for them, are to be found in the literature. However, a clear picture has not yet emerged as to the principal trends and patterns that have occurred over the past quarter-century or the factors behind these changes. This systematic review considers previous empirical research that has addressed the temporal aspects to public perceptions. We address findings that have been obtained since the 1980s and using a range of methodologies. In this review, we consider early, seminal work examining public perceptions; survey studies carried out over long timescales and at an international scale; detailed statistical analyses of the drivers of changing perceptions; and qualitative research featuring a longitudinal component. Studies point to growing skepticism in the latter 2000s in some developed countries, underpinned by economic and sociopolitical factors. Even so, in many parts of the world, there has been growing concern about climate change in recent years. We conclude that the imbalance in the literature toward polling data, and toward studies of public perceptions in Western nations (particularly the United States), leaves much unknown about the progression of public understanding of climate change worldwide. More research is required that uses inferential statistical procedures to understand the reasons behind trends in public perceptions. The application of qualitative longitudinal methodologies also offers the potential for better appreciation of the cultural contexts in which climate change perceptions are evolving.
The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UMIST is undertaking an interdisciplinary life ... more The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UMIST is undertaking an interdisciplinary life cycle socio-economic and environmental evaluation of bioenergy scenarios for the UK, to be integrated with a techno-economic evaluation undertaken elsewhere in the SuperGen consortium.2 The first aim is to develop contrasting bioenergy scenarios in consultation with bioenergy experts and stakeholders for three UK regions. These will
While sociologists of science and technology have long understood technological diffusion and ado... more While sociologists of science and technology have long understood technological diffusion and adoption as processes of social embedding, the psycho-social processes involved have received relatively little attention in the socio-technical transitions literature. Here we consider the value of Moscovici's social representations theory in terms of its potential contribution to a theory of socio-technical change, the multi-level perspective (MLP). Using fracking-derived shale gas as a technology case study and newspaper representations of the technology in Poland, Germany and the UK as data, we address and illustrate connections between the processes of anchoring and objectification that are central to social representations theory and the socio-technical dynamics observed. In so doing, we set out an approach for further work on agency in the MLP and socio-technical change processes generally, informed by a social psychological approach that aligns with structuralist concepts.
As a governance perspective, transition management views the engagement of a wide variety of stak... more As a governance perspective, transition management views the engagement of a wide variety of stakeholders in policy development as a necessary element in furthering sustainability through enhanced social learning. Yet as a literature it has paid relatively little attention to public consultation on socio-technical change. Here we set transition management in the context of longstanding debates in science and technology studies, technology assessment and deliberative democracy. Empirically, we use national survey data on Finnish public opinion of state support for future transport options. Showing how transport practices and attitudes to transport innovation policy vary with both demography and geography, we argue that these differences have implications for policy legitimacy. We suggest that, both given and despite the practical difficulties of deliberative democracy, use of participative opinion surveying to better understand social groups with needs and interests that differ from national averages, may help to enhance policy legitimacy and hence the success of transition management.
The NearCO 2 project aims to support the development of effective public and other stakeholders' ... more The NearCO 2 project aims to support the development of effective public and other stakeholders' engagement and communication strategies for CCS projects. In Work Package 3, of which this document reports, we analysed the gaps between existing practices of public engagement in CCS and other energy projects, and available toolkits or guidelines on this matter. Subsequently, we developed strategies for local engagement and communication that address the identified gaps.
Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to d... more Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to do so. With alarge, efficient and export-focused agricultural sector, Argentina is the world's third largest exporter of soy and sunfloweroils. Growing global demand and, to a far lesser extent, domestic demand for biofuels is contributing to the expansion of soy production and processing in Argentina, much of which is centred around the Paraná River. The Argentine biofuelssector exhibits clustering at both the cultivation and processing levels, but is also ...
Technical energy models operate within social systems and those that perform particular social as... more Technical energy models operate within social systems and those that perform particular social as well as technical functions are more likely to be used. We illustrate this with the example of the MARKAL energy system model in the UK, a model that is also widely used internationally. In the UK, MARKAL modelling has a long history helping underpin government energy and climate policy. We trace the use of the model from its initial development in the mid-1970s to the present day, highlighting attributes that contribute to its role as a successful 'boundary object' for different but interconnecting energy policy communities. We suggest that changing images of the energy policy problem have enabled MARKAL to shift from an initial role in identifying technologies to reduce oil dependency to playing a key role in target-oriented climate policy. Furthermore, we argue that the ability of MARKAL to perform different roles for different groups has served to embed and institutionalise the model in the energy policy community. Moreover, the capacity of the model to represent detailed technology options has accorded with a technological focus that has suited prevailing, shared conceptions of the energy-climate policy problem. of the MARKAL model and, in recent years, MARKAL modelling has been used extensively to inform UK energy and climate policy. Results from MARKAL have provided inputs to documents including the 2003 Energy White Paper [3], the 2007 Energy White Paper [4], the 2011 Carbon Plan [5] and the Committee on Climate Change reports Building a Low-carbon Economy [6] and The Fourth Carbon Budget [7].
ABSTRACT Theory suggests that the influence of science on policy will be greater when scientific ... more ABSTRACT Theory suggests that the influence of science on policy will be greater when scientific discourse is aligned with the language and meaning of wider social concerns. Seeking to assess whether scientists may be guided by such propositions in a controversial environmental policy arena, we examine the language and content of public-facing, UK scientific research grant abstracts on biofuels for the period 2007–2011, comparing these to stakeholder position statements and newspaper articles of the same period. We find that UK scientists have indeed broadly reflected societal concerns about biofuels during this period. However we also find that both science and society have paid less attention to procedural issues. We comment on the implications of the findings for the role of science in environmental policy development.
Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to d... more Argentina aspires to become the global equivalent of Brazil for biodiesel and is well placed to do so. With a large, efficient and export-focused agricultural sector, Argentina is the world's third largest exporter of soy and sunflower oils. Growing global demand and, to a far lesser extent, domestic demand for biofuels is contributing to the expansion of soy production and processing in Argentina, much of which is centred around the Paraná River. The Argentine biofuels sector exhibits clustering at both the cultivation and processing levels, but is also strongly dependent on other relationships both nationally and internationally, including research and development linkages with international biotechnology firms and the more economically significant soy oil and meal markets. Although the trend of horizontal and vertical integration is advanced and likely to continue, we argue that clustering, in the sense of geographic proximity, needs to be seen in the context of the value chain. To date, governance of the soy industry has been characterised by declining government intervention in production, processing and export processes. In the absence of strong policy, it has been left to agroindustry to determine the development of the nascent biofuels sector, towards one focused primarily on the export market and leading to substantial gains for some actors in the value chain and losses for weaker players.
Public perceptions of climate change are known to differ between nations and to have fluctuated o... more Public perceptions of climate change are known to differ between nations and to have fluctuated over time. Numerous plausible characterizations of these variations, and explanations for them, are to be found in the literature. However, a clear picture has not yet emerged as to the principal trends and patterns that have occurred over the past quarter-century or the factors behind these changes. This systematic review considers previous empirical research that has addressed the temporal aspects to public perceptions. We address findings that have been obtained since the 1980s and using a range of methodologies. In this review, we consider early, seminal work examining public perceptions; survey studies carried out over long timescales and at an international scale; detailed statistical analyses of the drivers of changing perceptions; and qualitative research featuring a longitudinal component. Studies point to growing skepticism in the latter 2000s in some developed countries, underpinned by economic and sociopolitical factors. Even so, in many parts of the world, there has been growing concern about climate change in recent years. We conclude that the imbalance in the literature toward polling data, and toward studies of public perceptions in Western nations (particularly the United States), leaves much unknown about the progression of public understanding of climate change worldwide. More research is required that uses inferential statistical procedures to understand the reasons behind trends in public perceptions. The application of qualitative longitudinal methodologies also offers the potential for better appreciation of the cultural contexts in which climate change perceptions are evolving.
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Papers by Paul Upham