DEFRA Waste Behaviour ESRC Policy Fellowship
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Engineering
Abstract
Each fellowship will last up to 18 months to cover a three-month inception phase for set up activity, followed by a 6-12-month placement with the host organisation, and concluding with an impact phase lasting up to three months.
Fellows will co-design projects and activities with their host and produce analysis to inform government decision-making across a range of policy priorities. Fellows will also engage across the host organisation, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers. This will be supported through their embedded role within the host organisation, including line management support.
Fellows will co-design projects and activities with their host and produce analysis to inform government decision-making across a range of policy priorities. Fellows will also engage across the host organisation, building effective working relationships and supporting wider knowledge exchange with researchers. This will be supported through their embedded role within the host organisation, including line management support.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Lili Jia (Principal Investigator / Fellow) | |
| Steve Evans (Researcher) |
| Description | The funded work has led to a discovery of how different behavioural incentives could be combined together to generate stronger incentives to motivate sustainable consumption. This resulted in a development of a systems learning framework to map out the transformation process of sustainable consumption. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes can be taken forward and put to use in three ways: First, the systems learning framework can be used for analysing policy hypotheses and identify policy priorities. Second, the systems learning framework can guide the collection of new data to test the hypotheses. Third, the systems learning framework can be used to development metrics for measuring progress of the transformation of sustainable consumption |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
| Description | My research findings have been used for improving the understanding of complex evidence in policy design and the important role of business incentive in motivating sustainable consumption. They expanded the strategies of waste policy design from two (mandatory regulation and financial incentives) to five (mandatory regulation, financial incentives, voluntary regulation, sustainable products and services, and sociopsychological incentives). The systems learning framework developed through this project paved a new research method for designing policy interventions with a holistic approach to trigger systemic sustainable consumption. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Environment Agency Chief Regulator's report 2023-24. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | It help environmental regulators demonstrate a new approach to encouraging companies to move towards environmental sustainability. |
| URL | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-chief-regulators-report-2023-24/enviro... |
| Description | Influence on Food Data Transparency policy at Defra |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | It aims to improve data transparency, rigour and consistency in measuring carbon emissions along the food supply chain. |
| URL | https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/environment-and-business/seebeyond/ |
| Description | Land Use for Net Zero Hub |
| Amount | £6,590,156 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/Y008723/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2023 |
| End | 03/2027 |
| Description | Standardising environmental data schema for the food and drink sector going beyond legal compliance (SEEBEYOND 2) |
| Amount | £980,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 1070150346 |
| Organisation | Environment Agency |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2023 |
| End | 03/2026 |
| Description | Joined a winning consortium in collaboration with 33 organisations |
| Organisation | James Hutton Institute |
| Department | Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I used systems approaches to help the 'Land Use for Net Zero' (LUNZ) Hub develop a winning bid. I am one of the six advisors to the LUNZ Hub. I will contribute the architecture of systemic solutions to motivating land use transformation to net zero and support the development of net-zero land use transformation policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The LUNZ Hub is the first of its kind consortium of 34 leading research and stakeholder organisations established to help all four UK administrations address land use and agriculture as a major greenhouse gas emitting sector. The "Land Use for Net Zero" (LUNZ) Hub, co-led led by The James Hutton Institute and the University of Leicester, with £6.5 million funding from UK Research and Innovation, will provide UK and devolved nations timely evidence around land use, from renewable energy to soil carbon and green finance, to help drive the land transformations needed to achieve net zero by 2050. It will also play a pivotal role in helping to communicate more widely the critical importance of land and how it's used as a major carbon sink or source. Agriculture and land use have a major impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as a wide range of other environmental, societal and economic outcomes, but progress towards decarbonisation is lagging behind other sectors. The declaration recently announced at COP28 on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action states the UK government's intent to act on land use and climate change by increasing public financial support and scaling science-based solutions, and LUNZ will be a key conduit for these actions. Achieving the transformational change in land management needed will depend on government access to world-class research and innovation and a novel approach to collaboration across a variety of critical stakeholders. Hub co-lead of the winning Consortium, Professor Lee-Ann Sutherland (The James Hutton Institute), explained: "The science behind land use is highly complex. It is influenced by a range of economic, social and environmental factors, and complicated further by a changing evidence base, novel market forces, the emergence of new data and models, and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence. Our aim is to bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers and our work will be focused on meeting specific policy-maker needs, giving them the evidence they need in the format and timeframe they need it. "Our Consortium has developed a series of innovative mechanisms to do just that - an Agile Policy Centre, Net Zero Futures Platform, and Creative Methods Lab - each tailored to generate clear, robust answers to urgent questions." Equally novel is the approach to stakeholder participation in the Hub, as Hub Co-lead, Professor Heiko Balzter (University of Leicester), explained: "Creating a fair, realistic path to Net Zero in the land use sector can only be achieved with the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders throughout the process- to provide their expertise, share the Hub's outputs and ensure its proposals work in practice as well as theory. "Our consortium reflects this - ranging from those at the cutting edge of climate change modelling to farmers groups, advisory organisations, non-governmental organisations and an arts collective. Their range and profile will ensure the Hub's impact extends throughout society - so everyone can engage in land use transformation - from the food they buy to their holiday, housing and investment decisions." At the heart of the challenge is understanding how transformative change can be achieved and predicting the impact of proposed approaches against multiple environmental, societal and economic outcomes. A central strand of the Hub's approach will be the development of plausible and innovative net zero scenarios and associated pathways - novel tools based on advanced modelling methodologies that can predict the impacts of different policy interventions across a variety of metrics. |
| Impact | We had the kickoff workshop in February and will generate more outputs in the coming years. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Joined a winning consortium in collaboration with 33 organisations |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Department | Department of Geography |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I used systems approaches to help the 'Land Use for Net Zero' (LUNZ) Hub develop a winning bid. I am one of the six advisors to the LUNZ Hub. I will contribute the architecture of systemic solutions to motivating land use transformation to net zero and support the development of net-zero land use transformation policies. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The LUNZ Hub is the first of its kind consortium of 34 leading research and stakeholder organisations established to help all four UK administrations address land use and agriculture as a major greenhouse gas emitting sector. The "Land Use for Net Zero" (LUNZ) Hub, co-led led by The James Hutton Institute and the University of Leicester, with £6.5 million funding from UK Research and Innovation, will provide UK and devolved nations timely evidence around land use, from renewable energy to soil carbon and green finance, to help drive the land transformations needed to achieve net zero by 2050. It will also play a pivotal role in helping to communicate more widely the critical importance of land and how it's used as a major carbon sink or source. Agriculture and land use have a major impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as a wide range of other environmental, societal and economic outcomes, but progress towards decarbonisation is lagging behind other sectors. The declaration recently announced at COP28 on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action states the UK government's intent to act on land use and climate change by increasing public financial support and scaling science-based solutions, and LUNZ will be a key conduit for these actions. Achieving the transformational change in land management needed will depend on government access to world-class research and innovation and a novel approach to collaboration across a variety of critical stakeholders. Hub co-lead of the winning Consortium, Professor Lee-Ann Sutherland (The James Hutton Institute), explained: "The science behind land use is highly complex. It is influenced by a range of economic, social and environmental factors, and complicated further by a changing evidence base, novel market forces, the emergence of new data and models, and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence. Our aim is to bridge the gap between researchers and policy makers and our work will be focused on meeting specific policy-maker needs, giving them the evidence they need in the format and timeframe they need it. "Our Consortium has developed a series of innovative mechanisms to do just that - an Agile Policy Centre, Net Zero Futures Platform, and Creative Methods Lab - each tailored to generate clear, robust answers to urgent questions." Equally novel is the approach to stakeholder participation in the Hub, as Hub Co-lead, Professor Heiko Balzter (University of Leicester), explained: "Creating a fair, realistic path to Net Zero in the land use sector can only be achieved with the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders throughout the process- to provide their expertise, share the Hub's outputs and ensure its proposals work in practice as well as theory. "Our consortium reflects this - ranging from those at the cutting edge of climate change modelling to farmers groups, advisory organisations, non-governmental organisations and an arts collective. Their range and profile will ensure the Hub's impact extends throughout society - so everyone can engage in land use transformation - from the food they buy to their holiday, housing and investment decisions." At the heart of the challenge is understanding how transformative change can be achieved and predicting the impact of proposed approaches against multiple environmental, societal and economic outcomes. A central strand of the Hub's approach will be the development of plausible and innovative net zero scenarios and associated pathways - novel tools based on advanced modelling methodologies that can predict the impacts of different policy interventions across a variety of metrics. |
| Impact | We had the kickoff workshop in February and will generate more outputs in the coming years. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | DEFRA Webinar delivered by Prof Steve Evans: What works when transitioning to a sustainable system? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | About 60 policy makers at DEFRA attended for the webinar. The discussions focused on the current challenges of environmental policy and how to motivate industry to improve environmental performance. The webinar reported increased interest in the systems approach and exploring potentials to improve environmental performance of industries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | DEFRA-EA webinar: Standardising environmental metrics for food businesses going beyond legal compliance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Over 100 policy makers at the DEFRA and Environment Agency attended for the webinar. The webinar sparked questions and discussion over how to motivate companies to go beyond legal compliance. The webinar reported increased interest in motivating sustainable production. This result has received interest from the DEFRA's Food Data Transparency team and a collaboration was established. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Going beyond legal compliance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | 40 policy makers from different government bodies attended the Behavioural Insights Community webinar. The presentation 'Going beyond legal compliance' sparked questions and discussions over the incentives and contexts that can motivate companies to go beyond legal compliance. The participants reported a changed view of using combined incentives rather than singular incentive. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Invitation to Food Data Transparency Partnership |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Two meeting were held to discuss how to join the effort on increasing environmental and food data transparency. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | Motivating sustainable production in food and drink sector: an incentive-based approach |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | About 30 policymakers attended the talk which inspired broad discussions and interests to explore new regulatory approach. Two more meetings were scheduled for deeper discussions with the Regulation team. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Webinar: An incentive-based approach to environmental regulation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Over 60 policy makers at DEFRA attended for the webinar. The incentive-based approach inspired questions and discussion over the government's role in motivating companies to go beyond compliance. The webinar reported increased interest in an incentive-based approach to environmental regulation and a follow-up with the DEFRA's Food Waste Reduction Policy team. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |