Professor Anna Davies

Summary

Cross cutting thematic project as part of the SFI Spoke ENABLE: Connecting Communities to Smart Urban Environments through the Internet of Things

Funding Agency

SFI

Programme

Spoke

Project Type

Cross-cutting theme

Summary

[€35,000]. I am the sole and principal investigator on this research project. I currently have a research assistant working on the project for six months of the award period. This research is examining the form and functioning of civil society in relation to waste issues and evaluating the future potential of civil society to contribute to the sustainable governance of waste in Ireland. This is significant as public policy arenas are no longer the preserve of formal government structures. Instead policy making is a complex system of governance involving different tiers of government and different spheres of public, private and civil society activity. The management of Ireland's waste is a key area where such systems of governance can be identified. Waste management practices have been informed by governments, from the EU to local authorities, environmental consultancies and industry, but civil society, through community groups and environmental organisations, has also been mobilized around waste issues. So far, however, analyses of waste management in Ireland have focused on actions of the state and on technical issues of disposal. While there is an emerging body of literature on individual and household attitudes and actions in relation to waste a critical analysis of civil society's role in waste management is absent. It is this gap in research that this project will address.

Funding Agency

Royal Irish Academy Third Sector Research Programme

Summary

[€38,000] Previously perceived as a local, technical issue for governments, waste management is now also a global, socio-political process involving complex patterns of multilevel governance. This fellowship will facilitate the development of a research monograph to examine the neglected geographies of waste, in particular the integral processes of translocalisation and politicisation inherent in waste management. The text will compare waste management practices in Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand. The New Zealand component of the research was initiated in December 2003 and this work was funded through the Trinity College Maintenance Grant, further research will be conducted in New Zealand in 2005. The EPA funded research in addition to the work on anti-incineration campaigns (Trinity) and civil society (Royal Irish Academy) detailed above will form the background for the Irish case study and the Switzerland data will build on information gathered during a field study to Switzerland, funded by the Swiss Embassy in May 2003. The Fellowship runs for one academic year and provides €38000 to provide for a replacement lecturer to cover teaching and administrative duties. This is a prestigious and highly competitive award that takes applications from across the Humanities and Social Sciences. No other geographer was awarded a Fellowship in this round and was no other lecturer in Trinity (a Professor in Economics did achieve a similar award).

Funding Agency

IRCHSS Fellowship Scheme

Summary

[My component of the overall grant = €25,000, total grant = €1,000,000] The Urban Thematic Strategy (UTS) is one of seven Thematic Strategies, which together comprise the European Community's 6th Environment Action Programme. The UTS is a new way of developing environmental policy for complex problems that require a broad approach, and needs to respond to the differing economic, social and physical contexts, which apply across the European Union (EU). The EU has agreed that the theme of sustainable development should underpin all EU actions and this, therefore, is the key organising principle for the UTS. STATUS has as its principal aim the development of flexible targets for local authorities across Europe, to be self-assessed against the themes of the UTS through an on-line tool. The tool will be supported by a validation mechanism, to assist local authorities in focusing on relevant policy areas for sustainable development. The prototype tool and mechanism will build on the synergies between the already existing initiatives (e.g. European Common Indicators, Urban Audit; and Lasala On-line) for assessing progress towards urban sustainable development. This proposal has seven core partners including myself, the others are: University of Northumbria at Newcastle (UK); Abo Akademi University (Finland); International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives European Secretariat GmbH (European body); Trinity College, University of Dublin (Ireland); VTT Technical Research Centre Of Finland, VTT Building And Transport (Finland); Ecologica Ltd (UK); Ambiente Italia S.r.l (Italy).

Funding Agency

EU 6th Framework Bid to Specific Targeted Research Project

Summary

Sustainability Tools and Techniques for Urban Sustainable Development. Partners from UK, Italy, Germany, Finland and Ireland

Funding Agency

EU 6th Framework