Professor Zoe Robinson
- Title
- Professor of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Location
- William Smith Building : WS 1.32
- Role
- Director of Education for Sustainability
- Phone
- (+44) 01782 7 34303
- z.p.robinson@keele.ac.uk
Biography
Zoe has a BSc in Geography and Geology, and a PhD in Glacial Groundwater Systems, and is now a Professor in Sustainability at Keele, having started at Keele in 2004 as a Lecturer in Physical Geography, following a period of time working in Environmental Consultancy as a Geologist/Hydrogeologist.
Rather than aligning with a particular discipline Zoe aligns herself with the emerging field of ‘Sustainability Science’, which centres around finding solutions to problems of ‘unsustainability’ rather than around specific disciplines. Zoe’s background in the sustainability field is broad covering research, education and outreach activities, detailed below:
Education
Zoe was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2012 for her institutional and national work in the field of Education for Sustainable Development and employability, and awarded Principle Fellow Status of the Higher Education Academy for her institutional sustainability leadership. Zoe plays a leading role in the sustainability agenda at Keele University, and specifically has a University role as Director of Education for Sustainability, with responsibility for embedding sustainability in the curriculum and wider student experience.
Zoe developed a degree programme in BSc Environment & Sustainability and has run this and BSc (Applied) Environmental Science for around ten years, as well as running a sustainability module on Greening Business, available for students from across the university. Zoe developed an international collaboration programme with a university in Nanjing, China, and teaches on a wide range of modules covering different areas of sustainability and environmental management, including water resource management.
Zoe acts as an advisor on Education for Sustainable Development for the National Union of Students and the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges, and is also on the Executive Board of the Committee of Heads of Environmental Sciences.
Outreach
For ten years Zoe ran an environmental education group ‘Science for Sustainability’, which delivered environmental education programmes for schools and school teachers, across a breadth of sustainability topics and levels, as well as working with the wider public. Zoe has also been involved in delivering training in ‘greening business’ for un- and under-employed graduates taking on short-term sustainability-focussed placements with local employers; developing a programme on climate change for business leaders; as well as developing educational resources for Veolia and Valpak. Through this outreach work Zoe has worked closely with a number of Councils (East Staffordshire Borough Council, Newcastle Borough Council, and Staffordshire County Council) and other local organisations such as Beat the Cold.
This work has been funded by EPSRC, Defra, RCUK, Institute of Physics, and Learning Skills Network.
Research and scholarship
Zoe’s main research focus on addressing sustainability is through educational strategies - areas of interest include student attitudes towards environmental citizenship, pedagogies of climate change, the development of sustainability as an educational ‘discipline’, supporting interdisciplinary learning on sustainability focused programmes, and the pedagogies of listening for sustainability.
Zoe has been involved in research relating to energy use in communities, and evaluating in-home fuel poverty interventions, as well as water and carbon footprinting of higher education institutions.
Zoe also works on groundwater and surface water systems in glacial environments, and how the ecological evolution of proglacial surface water bodies links with the geomorphological and hydrological evolution of these dynamic and sensitive regions.
This work has been funded by ESRC, EPSRC, NERC, NEA, HEA and HEFCE.
Teaching
Zoe has taught a wide range of different environmental science, sustainability and geography modules. Her current teaching commitments are on the following modules:
ESC-10061 Studying the Environment (module leader)
ESC-10043 Greening Business: Employability and Sustainability (module leader)
ESC-30020/ESC-40019 Water Resources (module leader)
ESC-10041 People and the Environment
ESC-10032 Global Warming or a New Ice Age
ESC-20017 Human Impacts on the Environment: Scientific Perspectives
ESC-20079 Environmental and Sustainability Impact Assessment and Research Planning
ESC-20030 Dynamic Geographies
GEG-20018 Concepts and Debates
GEG-10011 Geography and Geographers
Field courses:
- Centre for Alternative Technology
- Bordeaux
- Iceland
Selected Publications
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2022. The role of 'living laboratories' in accelerating the energy system decarbonization. ENERGY REPORTS, 11858-11864, vol. 8. link> doi> full text>
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2022. The benefits of virtual fieldtrips for future-proofing geography teaching and learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 1-9. link> doi> link> full text>
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Universities as living labs for climate praxis. In Addressing the Climate Crisis. (12 vols.). Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland: Springer Nature.. doi> link> full text>
Full Publications Listshow
Journal Articles
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2022. The role of 'living laboratories' in accelerating the energy system decarbonization. ENERGY REPORTS, 11858-11864, vol. 8. link> doi> full text>
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2022. The benefits of virtual fieldtrips for future-proofing geography teaching and learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 1-9. link> doi> link> full text>
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2019. Reducing carbon emissions in business through Responsible Management Education: Influence at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels. The International Journal of Management Education, 100328, vol. 18(1). doi> full text>
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2019. The importance of university, students and students' union partnerships in student-led projects A case study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 1409-1427, vol. 20(8). link> doi> full text>
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2019. Quantification of interlinked environmental footprints on a sustainable university campus: A nexus analysis perspective. APPLIED ENERGY, 65-76, vol. 246. link> doi> full text>
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2019. Understanding Transience and Participation in University Student-Led Food Gardens. Sustainability, Article ARTN 2788, vol. 11(10). link> doi> full text>
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2019. Quantification of interlinked environmental footprints on a sustainable university campus: a nexus analysis perspective.
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2019. Rating and rewarding higher education for sustainable development research within the marketised higher education context: experiences from English universities. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION RESEARCH, 548-565, vol. 25(4). link> doi> full text>
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2018. Environmental footprint assessment of green campus from a food-water-energy nexus perspective. CLEANER ENERGY FOR CLEANER CITIES, 240-246, vol. 152. link> doi> full text>
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2002. Discharge of debris from ice at the margin of the Greenland ice sheet. Journal of Glaciology., 192-198, vol. 48(161). doi>
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2017. The feasibility and challenges of energy self-sufficient wastewater treatment plants. APPLIED ENERGY, 1463-1475, vol. 204. link> doi> full text>
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2017. The use of educational game design and play in higher education to influence sustainable behaviour. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 359-384, vol. 18(3). link> doi> full text>
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2017. Too much of a good thing? the role of detailed UAV imagery in characterizing large-scale badland drainage characteristics in South-Eastern Spain. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING, 2844-2860, vol. 38(8-10). link> doi> full text>
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2016. The Rise and Fall of a Collaboration: Reflections on the benefits, challenges and lessons learned from an joint England-China teaching initiative. The Journal of Academic Development and Education, 32-56. link>
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2015. Preparing international students for the diversity of assessment in UK High Education. PedRIO, 30-35, vol. 7(Inclusive Assessment). link>
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2015. Long-term variability of proglacial groundwater-fed hydrological systems in an area of glacier retreat, Skeioararsandur, Iceland. EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, 981-994, vol. 40(7). link> doi> full text>
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2015. Identifying spatial and temporal dynamics of proglacial groundwater-surface-water exchange using combined temperature-tracing methods. FRESHWATER SCIENCE, 99-110, vol. 34(1). link> doi> full text>
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2014. Are geography students good "environmental citizens?" A comparison between year of study and over time. JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHY IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 245-259, vol. 39(2). link> doi> full text>
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2013. Big society, little justice? Community renewable energy and the politics of localism. Local Environment. doi>
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2013. Community knowledge networks: an action-orientated approach to energy research. Local Environment, vol. 18(4). doi>
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2013. Forthcoming: Big society, little justice? Community renewable energy and the politics of localism. Local Environment. doi>
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2002. Weathering reactions within a basaltic glacial outwash plain. GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA, A643, vol. 66(15A). link>
Chapters
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Universities as living labs for climate praxis. In Addressing the Climate Crisis. (12 vols.). Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland: Springer Nature.. doi> link> full text>
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2009. Greening Business. In The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy. Stibbe A (Ed.). Green Books.
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2009. Stable isotope tracers of shallow groundwater recharge dynamics and mixing within an Icelandic sandur, Skeiðarársandur. In Hydrology in mountain regions. Marks D and Sciences IAOH (Eds.). (vol. 326).
Other
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2002. Weathering reactions within basaltic outwash plain. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta Abstracts..
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2001. GPR-derived architecture of November 1996,jokulhlaup deposits, Skeidararsandur, Iceland. Eos Trans AGU 82(47)..
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2001. Proglacial groundwater response to multi-magnitude atmospheric/volcanic events. Earth Systems Processes Abstracts.
School of Geography, Geology and the Environment
William Smith Building
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5BG
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 733615
School email: gge@keele.ac.uk