Community resilience and cascading climate impacts

About the Project

Critical infrastructures are central to the function of society, with interdependencies between systems which brings risks of disruption in one sector impacting on another. From the UK’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCC, 2021) CCRA3, we know that climate impacts affect power, ICT, water and transport networks, with interdependencies between these and other systems. Impacts on electricity or water networks, for example, will cascade and disrupt sectors which rely on these networks for their functioning; as an example, power cuts will affect rail and tram networks which in turn make it harder for people to get to work. Except for the healthcare system (see for example Curtis et al, 2017) much of the research on cascading or interconnected risks has focused on the infrastructure systems themselves, with less known about the disruption to the essential services that these systems enable (e.g. education, social care, food, sanitation), and how the people providing these services, and the communities where they are happening, change their practices to adapt and cope with the disruptions.

This PhD project is undertaken as part of the work programme on People Centered Resilience undertaken within the CAST Centre and, in line with the ambitions of this programme of work, the focus is on these essential services, and the adaptations or resilience practices that are adopted by the people providing the services. Although everyone is at risk, we know that some, for example women, ethnic minority communities or people on low income, are more vulnerable. Our desire therefore is for this PhD project to foreground the impacts, and actions, of those often under-represented in adaptation understanding and, as a consequence, policy, with the ambition to influence policy making through improved understanding of everyday adaptations and resilience, and the amplification of these stories.

There are four primary objectives for this project:

• To understand how climate impacts on one infrastructure system or sector impact on risks within interdependent sectors as experienced at household, local and community scales.
• To understand how UK communities are being affected by cascading impacts, and how people and communities are responding in the short and longer term, and what capacities enable them to do this.
• To develop scenarios which articulate alternative examples of cascading events, and, using a persona approach, develop storylines which describe the impacts on diverse people, ensuring representation of groups under-represented in resilience planning.
• To co-develop the interventions, policies and activities that are needed at different scales to support community resilience to cascading climate events

The project will combine literature review and policy analysis with the primary qualitative research methods, for example interviews or participative social network mapping, with co-development workshops with communities and decision makers. Outputs will include 2-3 academic papers, and non-academic, policy relevant outputs which use creative methods to tell the risk stories of everyday adaptations and resilience, and the amplification of these stories.

This research is conducted within the ESRC Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation, contributing to the research thread on people-centred resilience. The successful candidate would be seated in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (University of Manchester), an interdisciplinary research group that contributes to the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon and resilient future.

Eligibility

We are looking for a motivated, intellectually curious researcher with a strong interest in climate change, social policy, and everyday sustainability. You should be comfortable reading across disciplines and using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. A background in geography, sociology, environmental studies, environmental policy, or a related field is desirable, though we welcome applicants from adjacent disciplines who can make a compelling case for their fit with the project.

Essential: a 2:1 or above (or international equivalent) in a relevant undergraduate or postgraduate degree; enthusiasm for socially engaged, policy-relevant research; and a willingness to work independently, collaboratively, within communities and with people of diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Desirable: experience with qualitative research methods; familiarity with climate adaptation and resilience literature; and an interest in participatory approaches and policy engagement.