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Dr Karen Bickerstaff

Dr Karen Bickerstaff

Associate Professor in Human Geography

 3306

 +44 (0)1392 723306

 Amory 364a

 

Amory Building, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ , UK

Overview

As a human geographer I work on a range of environmental policy challenges in ways that connect to debates around living with risk and risky infrastructure, the application and governance of science and technology and questions about environmental and social justice.

I have pursued these interests through a diversity of projects that range in subject from the ‘geographies’ of matter, culture and politics that inflect the experience of urban air pollution, through political controversy around the siting of nuclear waste facilities, to the development of strategies, policies and infrastructures for low carbon transitions that attend to questions of fairness and justice.

I have previously held research and lecturing posts at the University of East Anglia (Environmental Sciences), the University of Durham (Geography) and Kings College London (Geography).

Broad research specialisms:

  • Risk, knowledge and uncertainty
  • Low carbon energy and heat – policies, planning and technologies
  • Sustainable consumption
  • Environmental democracy, justice and citizenship
  • Air quality / Nuclear policy and controversy

Campus office hour: Thursday 10.30. Please book here 

Online office hour: Weds 9.30. Please book here

 

 

 

 

Research group links

Research

Research interests

Funded research projects

Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science (ACCESS) (2022-2027) UKRI/ESRC funded £6,200,000. (PI's Patrick Devine-Wright and Prof. Birgitta Gattersleben, Surrey). 

I lead the Responsive Insights Group (RIG) - the agile research arm of the national network, developing collaborative links with a range of national and local climate and environmental policy stakeholders.

Sustainable Heating: Implementation of Fossil-Free Technologies (SHIFFT) (2019-2022) EU Interreg2seas funding

PI Peter Connor € 5,701,122  https://www.interreg2seas.eu/en/shifft

Working-class environmentalisms in the age of transnational markets (2016-2018) A BA/Leverhulme funded project to explore the relationship between working class activism and environmentalism in the UK and India (with Krithika Srinivasan [PI]) £10,000

Rethinking Energy Demand (2016-2018) An ESRC Impact award in collaboration with Devon County Council. PI (with Catherine Butler) £20,000

Welfare, Employment and Energy Demand: Examining Tensions and Opportunities in the Delivery of Demand Reduction  (2015-18)  Linked to DEMAND (with Catherine Butler [PI], Karen Parkhill, Gordon Walker) £242,000

Interdisciplinary Cluster on Energy Systems, Equity and Vulnerability (InCluESEV) (2009-12) The RCUK Energy Programme network on energy systems and justice - a collaboration between researchers and practitioners in fifteen countries.  PI (with Gordon Walker and Harriet Bulkeley) £480,000

Carbon, Control and Comfort: User-centred control systems for comfort, carbon saving and energy management (2009-12) An EON/EPSRC funded project to better understand the experience of comfort in domestic dwellings and pilot experimental efficiency devices  (with David Shipworth [PI] and others) £2,000,000

The Waste of the Word (2006-20011)  An ESRC large grant that brought together an interdisciplinary team to address the cultural and material dynamics of global waste flows and economies (with Nicky Gregson, Ray Hudson [PIs] and others) £3,000,000

Publications

Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year

Publications by category

Books

Bickerstaff K, Walker G, Bulkeley H (2013). Energy Justice in a Changing Climate Social equity implications of the energy and low-carbon relationship., Zed Books. Abstract.

Journal articles

Bickerstaff K (In Press). Living on with Sellafield: nuclear infrastructure, slow violence and the politics of quiescence. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Abstract.
Manktelow C, Hoppe T, Bickerstaff K, Itten A, Fremouw M, Naik M (2023). Can co-creation support local heat decarbonisation strategies? Insights from pilot projects in Bruges and Mechelen. Energy Research and Social Science, 99 Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Darvill C, Parsons L, Yu L (2023). Geography and environment: a time of change. Geo Geography and Environment, 10(1).
Bickerstaff K, Hinton E, Bulkeley H (2016). Decarbonisation at home: the contingent politics of experimental domestic energy technologies. Environment and Planning A, 48(10), 2006-2025. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Devine-Wright P, Butler C (2014). Living with low carbon technologies: an agenda for sharing and comparing qualitative energy research. Energy Policy Abstract.
Tweed C, Dixon D, Hinton E, Bickerstaff K (2014). Thermal comfort practices in the home and their impact on energy consumption. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 10(1-2), 1-24. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K (2012). "Because we've got history here": Nuclear waste, cooperative siting, and the relational geography of a complex issue. Environment and Planning A, 44(11), 2611-2628. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Lorenzoni I, Jones M, Pidgeon N (2010). Locating scientific citizenship: the institutional contexts and cultures of public engagement. Science Technology and Human Values, 35(4), 474-500. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Simmons P (2009). Absencing/presencing risk: Rethinking proximity and the experience of living with major technological hazards. Geoforum, 40(5), 864-872. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Agyeman J (2009). Assembling justice spaces: the scalar politics of environmental justice in North-east England. Antipode, 41(4), 781-806. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Bulkeley H, painter J (2009). Justice, nature and the city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33(3), 591-600.
Bickerstaff K (2009). Resisting global toxics: transnational movements for environmental justice. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING A, 41(10), 2537-2539. Author URL.
Bickerstaff K, Dodson B (2009). Reviews: the Geographies of Garbage Governance: Interventions, Interactions and Outcomes, Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice, Development and the African Diaspora: Place and the Politics of Home. Environment and Planning a Economy and Space, 41(10), 2537-2540.
Bickerstaff K (2009). The geographies of garbage governance: interventions, interactions and outcomes. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING A, 41(10), 2537-2539. Author URL.
Bickerstaff KJ, Simmons P, Pidgeon N (2008). Constructing responsibilities for risk: Negotiating citizen - State relationships. Environment and Planning A, 40(6), 1312-1330. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Lorenzoni I, Pidgeon NF, Poortinga W, Simmons P (2008). Reframing nuclear power in the UK energy debate: nuclear power, climate change mitigation and radioactive waste. Public Underst Sci, 17(2), 145-169. Abstract.  Author URL.
Bickerstaff K (2007). Hazards, vulnerability and environmental justice. JOURNAL OF RISK RESEARCH, 10(4), 585-587. Author URL.
Bickerstaff K, Simmons P, Pidgeon N (2006). Situating local experience of risk: Peripherality, marginality and place identity in the UK foot and mouth disease crisis. Geoforum, 37(5), 844-858. Abstract.
Bergmans A, Elam M, Sundqvist G, Kos D, Simmons P, Bickerstaff K (2005). CARL: a social science research project into the effects of stakeholder involvement on decision-making in radioactive waste management (RWM). Proceedings - 10th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management, ICEM'05, 2005, 960-970. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2005). Shared visions, unholy alliances: Power, governance and deliberative processes in local transport planning. Urban Studies, 42(12), 2123-2144. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K (2004). Risk perception research: socio-cultural perspectives on the public experience of air pollution. Environ Int, 30(6), 827-840. Abstract.  Author URL.
Poortinga W, Bickerstaff K, Langford I, Niewöhner J, Pidgeon N (2004). The British 2001 Foot and Mouth crisis: a comparative study of public risk perceptions, trust and beliefs about government policy in two communities. Journal of Risk Research, 7(1), 73-90. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Simmons P (2004). The right tool for the job? Modeling, spatial relationships, and styles of scientific practice in the UK foot and mouth crisis. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 22(3), 393-412. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2003). The place(s) of matter: Matter out of place - Public understandings of air pollution. Progress in Human Geography, 27(1), 45-68. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2002). Risk, responsibility, and blame: an analysis of vocabularies of motive in air-pollution(ing) discourses. Environment and Planning A, 34(12), 2175-2192. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Tolley R, Walker G (2002). Transport planning and participation: the rhetoric and realities of public involvement. Journal of Transport Geography, 10(1), 61-73. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2001). Public understandings of air pollution: the 'localisation' of environmental risk. Global Environmental Change, 11(2), 133-145. Abstract.
Tolley R, Lumsdon L, Bickerstaff K (2001). The future of walking in Europe: a Delphi project to identify expert opinion on future walking scenarios. Transport Policy, 8(4), 307-315. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (1999). Clearing the smog? Public responses to air-quality information. Local Environment, 4(3), 279-294. Abstract.

Chapters

Bickerstaff K (2017). Geographies of energy justice: Concepts, challenges and an emerging agenda. In  (Ed) Handbook on the Geographies of Energy, 438-449.
Bickerstaff K (2017). Justice in energy system transitions. In  (Ed) The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice, 388-399.
Bickerstaff K (2017). Justice in energy system transitions: a synthesis and agenda. In Holifield R, Chakraborty J, Walker G (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice, Routledge, 388-400.  Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Johnstone P (2017). The re-scaling of energy politics. In  (Ed) The Routledge Research Companion to Energy Geographies, 139-152.
Bickerstaff K, Johnstone P (2017). The re-scaling of energy politics: UK nuclear facility siting in historical context. In Bouzarovski S, Pasqualetti MJ, Castán Broto V (Eds.) The Routledge Research Companion to Energy Geographies, Taylor & Francis. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Hinton E (2013). Chapter 14: Climate change, human security and the built environment. In  (Ed) Handbook on Climate Change and Human Security, 361-381.
Bickerstaff K (2013). Climate change, human security and the built environment. In Grasso M, Redclift MR (Eds.) Handbook on Climate Change and Human Security, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 361-361.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2013). Making sense of energy justice. In Bickerstaff K, Waker G, Bulkeley H (Eds.) Energy Justice in a Changing Climate, London: Zed, 1-13.
McLaren D, Krieger K, Bickerstaff K (2013). Procedural justice in energy system transitions: the case of CCS. In Bickerstaff K, Walker G, Bulkeley H (Eds.) Energy Justice in a Changing Climate, London: Zed, 158-181.
Bickerstaff K, Agyeman J (2010). Assembling justice spaces: the scalar politics of environmental justice in north-east england. In  (Ed) Spaces of Environmental Justice, 193-218.
Fuller S, Bickerstaff K, Khaw FM, Curtis S (2010). Communication About Persistent Environmental Risks: Problems of Knowledge Exchange and Potential of Participative Techniques. In  (Ed) Risk Communication and Public Health.  Abstract.
Tolley R, Bickerstaff K, Lumsdon L (2003). 18 Social and cultural influences on the future of walking – the experts' opinion. In  (Ed) Sustainable Transport, 238-251.
Tolley R, Bickerstaff K, Lumsdon L (2003). Social and cultural influences on the future of walking - the experts' opinion. In  (Ed) Sustainable Transport, 238-251.

Publications by year

In Press

Bickerstaff K (In Press). Living on with Sellafield: nuclear infrastructure, slow violence and the politics of quiescence. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Abstract.

2023

Manktelow C, Hoppe T, Bickerstaff K, Itten A, Fremouw M, Naik M (2023). Can co-creation support local heat decarbonisation strategies? Insights from pilot projects in Bruges and Mechelen. Energy Research and Social Science, 99 Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Darvill C, Parsons L, Yu L (2023). Geography and environment: a time of change. Geo Geography and Environment, 10(1).

2017

Bickerstaff K (2017). Geographies of energy justice: Concepts, challenges and an emerging agenda. In  (Ed) Handbook on the Geographies of Energy, 438-449.
Bickerstaff K (2017). Justice in energy system transitions. In  (Ed) The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice, 388-399.
Bickerstaff K (2017). Justice in energy system transitions: a synthesis and agenda. In Holifield R, Chakraborty J, Walker G (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Justice, Routledge, 388-400.  Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Johnstone P (2017). The re-scaling of energy politics. In  (Ed) The Routledge Research Companion to Energy Geographies, 139-152.
Bickerstaff K, Johnstone P (2017). The re-scaling of energy politics: UK nuclear facility siting in historical context. In Bouzarovski S, Pasqualetti MJ, Castán Broto V (Eds.) The Routledge Research Companion to Energy Geographies, Taylor & Francis. Abstract.

2016

Bickerstaff K, Hinton E, Bulkeley H (2016). Decarbonisation at home: the contingent politics of experimental domestic energy technologies. Environment and Planning A, 48(10), 2006-2025. Abstract.

2014

Bickerstaff K, Devine-Wright P, Butler C (2014). Living with low carbon technologies: an agenda for sharing and comparing qualitative energy research. Energy Policy Abstract.
Tweed C, Dixon D, Hinton E, Bickerstaff K (2014). Thermal comfort practices in the home and their impact on energy consumption. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 10(1-2), 1-24. Abstract.

2013

Bickerstaff K, Hinton E (2013). Chapter 14: Climate change, human security and the built environment. In  (Ed) Handbook on Climate Change and Human Security, 361-381.
Bickerstaff K (2013). Climate change, human security and the built environment. In Grasso M, Redclift MR (Eds.) Handbook on Climate Change and Human Security, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 361-361.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G, Bulkeley H (2013). Energy Justice in a Changing Climate Social equity implications of the energy and low-carbon relationship., Zed Books. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2013). Making sense of energy justice. In Bickerstaff K, Waker G, Bulkeley H (Eds.) Energy Justice in a Changing Climate, London: Zed, 1-13.
McLaren D, Krieger K, Bickerstaff K (2013). Procedural justice in energy system transitions: the case of CCS. In Bickerstaff K, Walker G, Bulkeley H (Eds.) Energy Justice in a Changing Climate, London: Zed, 158-181.

2012

Bickerstaff K (2012). "Because we've got history here": Nuclear waste, cooperative siting, and the relational geography of a complex issue. Environment and Planning A, 44(11), 2611-2628. Abstract.

2010

Bickerstaff K, Agyeman J (2010). Assembling justice spaces: the scalar politics of environmental justice in north-east england. In  (Ed) Spaces of Environmental Justice, 193-218.
Fuller S, Bickerstaff K, Khaw FM, Curtis S (2010). Communication About Persistent Environmental Risks: Problems of Knowledge Exchange and Potential of Participative Techniques. In  (Ed) Risk Communication and Public Health.  Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Lorenzoni I, Jones M, Pidgeon N (2010). Locating scientific citizenship: the institutional contexts and cultures of public engagement. Science Technology and Human Values, 35(4), 474-500. Abstract.

2009

Bickerstaff K, Simmons P (2009). Absencing/presencing risk: Rethinking proximity and the experience of living with major technological hazards. Geoforum, 40(5), 864-872. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Agyeman J (2009). Assembling justice spaces: the scalar politics of environmental justice in North-east England. Antipode, 41(4), 781-806. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Bulkeley H, painter J (2009). Justice, nature and the city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33(3), 591-600.
Bickerstaff K (2009). Resisting global toxics: transnational movements for environmental justice. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING A, 41(10), 2537-2539. Author URL.
Bickerstaff K, Dodson B (2009). Reviews: the Geographies of Garbage Governance: Interventions, Interactions and Outcomes, Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice, Development and the African Diaspora: Place and the Politics of Home. Environment and Planning a Economy and Space, 41(10), 2537-2540.
Bickerstaff K (2009). The geographies of garbage governance: interventions, interactions and outcomes. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING A, 41(10), 2537-2539. Author URL.

2008

Bickerstaff KJ, Simmons P, Pidgeon N (2008). Constructing responsibilities for risk: Negotiating citizen - State relationships. Environment and Planning A, 40(6), 1312-1330. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Lorenzoni I, Pidgeon NF, Poortinga W, Simmons P (2008). Reframing nuclear power in the UK energy debate: nuclear power, climate change mitigation and radioactive waste. Public Underst Sci, 17(2), 145-169. Abstract.  Author URL.

2007

Bickerstaff K (2007). Hazards, vulnerability and environmental justice. JOURNAL OF RISK RESEARCH, 10(4), 585-587. Author URL.

2006

Bickerstaff K, Simmons P, Pidgeon N (2006). Situating local experience of risk: Peripherality, marginality and place identity in the UK foot and mouth disease crisis. Geoforum, 37(5), 844-858. Abstract.

2005

Bergmans A, Elam M, Sundqvist G, Kos D, Simmons P, Bickerstaff K (2005). CARL: a social science research project into the effects of stakeholder involvement on decision-making in radioactive waste management (RWM). Proceedings - 10th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management, ICEM'05, 2005, 960-970. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2005). Shared visions, unholy alliances: Power, governance and deliberative processes in local transport planning. Urban Studies, 42(12), 2123-2144. Abstract.

2004

Bickerstaff K (2004). Risk perception research: socio-cultural perspectives on the public experience of air pollution. Environ Int, 30(6), 827-840. Abstract.  Author URL.
Poortinga W, Bickerstaff K, Langford I, Niewöhner J, Pidgeon N (2004). The British 2001 Foot and Mouth crisis: a comparative study of public risk perceptions, trust and beliefs about government policy in two communities. Journal of Risk Research, 7(1), 73-90. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Simmons P (2004). The right tool for the job? Modeling, spatial relationships, and styles of scientific practice in the UK foot and mouth crisis. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 22(3), 393-412. Abstract.

2003

Tolley R, Bickerstaff K, Lumsdon L (2003). 18 Social and cultural influences on the future of walking – the experts' opinion. In  (Ed) Sustainable Transport, 238-251.
Tolley R, Bickerstaff K, Lumsdon L (2003). Social and cultural influences on the future of walking - the experts' opinion. In  (Ed) Sustainable Transport, 238-251.
Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2003). The place(s) of matter: Matter out of place - Public understandings of air pollution. Progress in Human Geography, 27(1), 45-68. Abstract.

2002

Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2002). Risk, responsibility, and blame: an analysis of vocabularies of motive in air-pollution(ing) discourses. Environment and Planning A, 34(12), 2175-2192. Abstract.
Bickerstaff K, Tolley R, Walker G (2002). Transport planning and participation: the rhetoric and realities of public involvement. Journal of Transport Geography, 10(1), 61-73. Abstract.

2001

Bickerstaff K, Walker G (2001). Public understandings of air pollution: the 'localisation' of environmental risk. Global Environmental Change, 11(2), 133-145. Abstract.
Tolley R, Lumsdon L, Bickerstaff K (2001). The future of walking in Europe: a Delphi project to identify expert opinion on future walking scenarios. Transport Policy, 8(4), 307-315. Abstract.

1999

Bickerstaff K, Walker G (1999). Clearing the smog? Public responses to air-quality information. Local Environment, 4(3), 279-294. Abstract.

Refresh publications

Teaching

Undergraduate:

  • GEO1310: Geographies of Environment and Sustainability
  • GEO3137: Carbon Societies: risk, consumption and governance (Convenor)

 

Modules

2022/23

Information not currently available


Supervision / Group

Postgraduate researchers

  • Nayani Ghoshal Net Zero energy transitions in rural India (EPSRC)
  • Ji Young Jung

Alumni

  • Anne Maassen (Durham University)
  • Chris Manktelow
  • Jane May Morrison
  • Catherine Queen
  • Arie Yanwar Kapriadi

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