Shared Green Societies - Research Awards

This theme is dedicated to recognising PhD and Early Career Researchers in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) who support participatory processes with citizens and/or professionals through community initiatives for greater inclusivity. Community initiatives may bring together diverse actors—such as citizens, professionals, civil society organisations, associations, and representatives from municipal authorities—to address challenges in the Green Deal topic areas within that community. We highly value research and engagement work that seeks either to establish new community-led initiatives with citizens and/or professionals, with transformative impacts for the community, or to realign existing initiatives to better engage underrepresented groups. This theme emphasises the importance of participatory, inclusive and reflexive processes within the initiatives. We seek best practice examples of PhDs/ECRs acting as facilitators and enablers, bridging the gap between different interests. This includes reflecting on the most suitable process designs, techniques, and methods for engaging citizen and/or professional groups and engaging in reflexive discussions within community initiatives.

Evaluation criteria:

• Clear rationale on how their participation processes create transformative impacts for their target community.
• Clarity in explaining the approaches, methods, and techniques, that were applied in specific contexts to engage citizens and/or professionals.
• A critical reflection on one’s own role in the process, including the challenges encountered.
• Presenting the work in a clear and engaging way.

Judges:

• Sarah Seus, ISI
• Sarah Royston, ARU

This theme supports PhD and Early Career Researchers in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) who foster genuine, at least two-way knowledge flows between academic researchers and civil society organisations (e.g. NGOs, community associations, trade unions) or local actors (e.g. municipal authorities, grassroots groups, cooperatives). It values research that integrates academic insight with lived, practical, and community-based knowledge, to help bridge theory and practice to create tangible social impact. The focus here is on mutual learning, not for example one-way dissemination that transfers knowledge from academia to practice, nor is it about solely extracting data from practitioners. As such, this theme recognises policy and practice actors as experts in their own right and emphasises the need for reciprocal engagement. This theme does not cover collaborations that are purely academic, even if interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary in nature; its defining feature is sustained learning between SSH researchers and societal actors.

Evaluation criteria:

• Clear explanation of how the specific groups detailed in the submission (academics and non-academics) benefit from mutual knowledge flows
• Clearly identified and explained mutual learnings
• Critical reflections on the knowledge exchange and learning processes
• Presenting the work in a clear and engaging way

Judges:

• Chris Foulds, ARU
• Rosie Robison, ARU
• Antje Disterheft, ICS

This theme supports PhD and Early Career Researchers in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) whose research advocates for inclusive public policies. We see inclusive public policies as those which capture the diverse experiences, needs and priorities of different groups in society, and those that ensure equal opportunities to participate and access resources. Whilst it is not a requirement for the PhD/ECR’s research or engagement work to have already had a tangible impact on policy, there is the expectation that clear processes for raising awareness and evoking impact will have been set out. There is an expectation that the work will have supported pathways to more inclusive public policies, through the greater involvement of different voices, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds. For the purpose of this award, marginalised groups are those who experience exclusion or discrimination based upon their characteristics, for example, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, and religion. The research or engagement work undertaken can focus on one marginalised group, or take an intersectional approach. In the application, it is expected that applicants will define their understanding of inclusivity, and their expectations and/or recommendations for how inclusivity can be integrated into public policies. The representation of marginalised communities is considered a central component of the research undertaken. 

Evaluation criteria:

• Demonstration of research that engages with marginalised groups in a considered and meaningful way. 
• Clearly define what is meant by inclusivity, and how this is applied in the context of their research.
• Presentation of feasible, coherent, and relevant expectations and/or recommendations for how marginalised groups can be incorporated into public policies related to contemporary debates on sustainability.
• Presenting the work in a clear and engaging way.

Judges:

• Monica Truninger, ICS
• Ami Crowther, ARU