Major Grant for Interdisciplinary Team

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Posted on 08 November 2010

An interdisciplinary team from the natural and social sciences at Keele and the Marches Energy Agency has been awarded £452, 928 to carry out research over 30 months on 'Reducing Energy Consumption Through Community Knowledge Networks', beginning in January.

This major grant, in the face of stiff competition from over 80 other applications, is an indication of the high regard in which Keele's interdisciplinary sustainability research is held. The award is part of a £4 million investment from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Six other awards were made to UK HEIs.

The team comprises Professor Andrew Dobson, Dr Phil Catney and Dr Sherilyn MacGregor (Research Institute for Social Sciences/ SPIRE), Professor Mark Ormerod and Dr Zoe Robinson, (Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics/ School of Physical and Geographical Sciences) and Simon Ross, Marches Energy Agency.

The project will focus on knowledge networks in two types of community, called 'switched-on' and 'hard-to-reach'. The aim is to compare and contrast the energy reduction challenges in these two types of community, and to see which strategies work best in each of them. The 'switched-on community' is Shrewsbury and the 'hard-to-reach' community comprises the Newcastle-under-Lyme wards of Cross Heath and Knutton/Silverdale.

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