Overview

Stewart Barr graduated from the University of Exeter’s Geography Department in 1998 and continued his studies at Exeter undertaking a PhD exploring household waste practices. Building on this research, he worked for two years in the Department as a post-doctoral researcher on an ESRC-funded project entitled ‘Environmental Action in and Around the Home’. He became a Lecturer in Geography in 2003, Senior Lecturer in 2008, Associate Professor in 2012 and is now Professor of Geography. Within the Department Stewart undertakes research in the Environment and Sustainability and Spatial Responsibilities Research Groups and he teaches modules at all levels of undergraduate study.

Broad Research Specialisms:

Geographies of sustainable development: sustainable practices; behaviour change theory, policy and practice; community resilience to environmental change; sustainable travel, tourism and mobilities.

Qualifications

BA (University of Exeter)
PhD (University of Exeter)

Links

• NERC Historic Droughts Project
• Commute Exeter
• ACCESS Project
• Education at a Time of Emergency
• Climate Stories

Research group links

• Environment and Sustainability
• Spatial Responsibilities

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Research

Research interests

Stewart’s research focuses on the ways in which publics engage with contemporary environmental dilemmas such as climate change and ‘Peak Oil’. In so doing, his research speaks to a range of inter-disciplinary audiences through publication in Geography and Environmental Social Science journals and the authorship of research monographs. In particular, his research aims to advance new agendas in both theoretical and applied contexts, with a recent focus on impact generation activities through business engagement. There are three broad strands to Stewart’s research:

First, Stewart’s research aims to provide a contextually rich and spatially situated understanding of environmental practices and how these have emerged and continue to evolve in an age of climate change and other major global environmental dilemmas like ‘Peak Oil’. In so doing, Stewart’s research calls for inter-disciplinary understandings of how social practices are both evolving in the light of ‘mega-issues’ like climate change and the ways in which consumption-heavy lifestyles may be brought into conflict with calls to reduce consumption as a way of averting catastrophic climate change. This is framed through explorations of various practices, including those related to energy use, water, waste and most recently mobilities.

Second, Stewart’s research also focuses on building critiques of existing Neo-liberal approaches to so-called ‘behavioural change’ as an individualistic mechanism for dealing with challenges such as climate change. This is undertaken within the context of research on ‘citizen-consumers’, who have been crafted as the primary agents for dealing with environmental dilemmas through the use of market mechanisms. Accordingly, his research argues for a re-assessment of such individualistic approaches, calling for a renewed focus on changing the contexts for civil action on environmental issues.

Third, Stewart’s research has a pragmatic and impact-generation strand which builds on these broad policy critiques through focusing on the efficacy of current market mechanisms for pro-environmental behavioural change in the UK (e.g. the use of Nudge Theory and Social Marketing). This research is designed to apply the ideas outlined in the previous two strands as a way of helping organisations in the public and private sectors to design and implement successful behavioural change campaigns that focus on the contexts and underlying practices for collective action through the use of social media.

Research projects

Stewart is principlal Investigator on the ESRC-funded Education at a Time of Emergency project, which is an Impact Accelerator Account grant exploring ways to enable education practitoners to use academic research on behavioural change. The project is wqorking with education practitioers across South West England and has involved mentoring and the development of a behaviour change toolkit.

Stewart is also principal investigator for a project funded by the Promoting Adaptation to Changing Coasts programme, which is evaluating the colnsultation processes for the Lower Otter & Saâne Valley Restoration Projects. Using document analysis, interviews and community workshops, the project is examining the ways in which working with communities afftected by climate change impacts can be undertaken effectively.

Stewart is co-investigator for the five-year ESRC-funded Advancing Cpacity for Climate and Environmental Social Science (ACCESS) project, ACCESS aims to provide leadership on the social science contribution to tackling and solving a range of environmental problems. ACCESS will provide insights to find fresh thinking and new solutions to support the transition to a sustainable and biodiverse environment and a net zero society.

Research grants

• 2022 ESRC
  ACCESS aims to provide leadership on the social science contribution to tackling and solving a range of environmental problems. ACCESS will provide insights to find fresh thinking and new solutions to support the transition to a sustainable and biodiverse environment and a net zero society.
• 2021 Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust
  This project evaluates the consultation processes undertaken with publics and other stakeholders as part of the Lower Otter and Saane Valley Restoration Projects, and contributes to the Promoting Adaptation to Changing Coasts programme.
• 2020 ESRC IAA Project
  This ESRC project aims to empower Environmental Education professionals at a time of heightened environmental concern and crisis. We recognise that practitioners in the sector are looking to update their approaches and methodologies while seeking to encourage engaged citizenship and pro-environmental behaviour. Through a programme of research-led workshops and mentoring, we will work with organisations in the South West of England to develop a toolkit for environmental education practitioners based on the social science of behaviour change.

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Publications

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External Engagement and Impact

Awards/Honorary fellowships

Visiting Associate Professor, University of British Columbia, February 2009 – July 2009.

Committee/panel activities

ESRC Senior Peer Review College member

Reviewer for the Research Council of Norway

Reviewer for the Fundação Para A Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) Portugal

Chair, Planning and Environment Research Group of the RGS-IBG

Editorial responsibilities

Editor, Local Environment.

Editorial Board member and former reviews editor for Environmental Values

Editorial Board member fof the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.

External Examiner Positions

Current appointments:

External examiner for Geography undergraduate programmes, London School of Economics and Political Science.

External examiner for MSc in Rural Community Development, Queen's Universiy Belfast 

Previous appointments:

Exeternal examiner for undergraduate Geography programmes at the University of Liverpool, Open University and University of York

External examiner for postgraduate taught programmes at the University of Bristol, Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Nottingham

Research degree examining

External examiner for PhD and MPhil theses at: University of Liverpool, University of Surrey, Kingston University London, University of Karachi, University of Patra Malaysia, University of Edinburgh, University of Melbourne, University of Manchester, Fudan University, Malaysia Multimedia University, University of Liverpool, National University of Ireland, Galway, Loughborough University, Cranfield University, Bournemouth University, Aberystwyth University, James Cook University, University of Northampton.

Internal examiner for 24 PhD theses. 

Invited lectures & workshops

Stewart delivered the Brian Hoyle Lecture at the Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference at Cardiff University, August 2018: Landsacapes of Sustainable Mobility

Significant Impact

Stewart was the lead researcher for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) case study on Influencing behaviour change as part of Geography's submission to REF. 

Stewart works extensively with local and regional stakeholders in South West England on a range of research projects, including Education at a Time of Emergency and the evaluation he is leading of the consukltaiton processes for the Lower Otter Restoration Project (LORP).

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Teaching

Modules

2023/24

Information not currently available

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Supervision / Group

Postdoctoral researchers

Postgraduate researchers

Alumni

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Office Hours:

Office hours for Term 2 of the 2023-24 academic year:

Mondays and Fridays, 16:00-17:00

Office hours must be booked in advance. Please e-mail Stewart to arrange a time slot. 

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