LARCI Fellowship - Developing Capacity and Capablity to Embed Sustainability Across the Borough of Swindon

Action researcher Dr. Margaret Gearty from the University of Bath has been awarded a placement to share Lowcarbonworks learning with Swindon Borough Council. Swindon council has a widely recognised ambition to become a leader in sustainability and is on a journey towards embedding sustainability in its organisation. The Lowcarbonworks action research team, funded by EPSRC/ESRC as part of the Carbon Vision Programme, worked across public and private sectors to understand and overcome the complex factors that inhibit and enable the adoption of low carbon technologies. For this PhD, Dr Gearty developed action research and narrative approaches to help UK Local Authority organisations to share and develop learning about tackling climate change. She developed in the course of her research 'Learning Histories' of five of their most groundbreaking low carbon initiatives. Dr. Gearty will be working with Swindon's sustainability board and others at the council to pilot a version of Learning History and ensure an 'on the ground' perspective helps illuminate the ongoing strategic debate about achieving sustainable. Dr Gearty and Swindon's Deputy Chief Executive Celia Carrington and Head of Policy James Griffin welcome this exciting opportunity for mutual learning which takes Lowcarbonworks' research into a fresh, real time context.