Professor Anna Davies
Professor, Geography

Projects

• Title
  • Naturescapes
• Summary
  • NATURESCAPES (Nature-based solutions for climate-resilient, nature-positive, and socially just communities in diverse landscapes). EU HORIZON-CL6-2022-COMMUNITIES-01 funding call). Duration: Dec 2023 " Nov 2027 (4 years); Lead Partner: University of Utrecht, NL NATURESCAPES will undertake an ambitious transdisciplinary programme of work to pursue three overarching objectives that will allow us to reach four impact goals: Objective 1: Advance the knowledge frontier through novel assessment approaches capable of evaluating landscape scale synergies and trade-offs of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) assemblages for climate, biodiversity and communities. Objective 2: Evaluate the socio-political conditions and dynamics of NBS implementation to identify the values, visions, governance, finance and engagement needed to support effective and just naturescapes. Objective 3: Enable the transformative potential of NBS by examining, developing and trialling diverse theories of change, interventions and training designed to address systemic, structural and capacity constraints.
• Funding Agency
  • Horizon Europe
• Date From
  • 1/12/2023
• Date To
  • 1/11/2027

• Title
  • WeAdapt
• Summary
  • This grant provides resources to roll out the Climate Smart TY unit module across Dublin and develop a new module for Cork
• Funding Agency
  • SFI
• Date From
  • 1/1/2023
• Date To
  • 31/12/2024

• Title
  • iAdapt
• Summary
  • Developing a TY module for expanding capacity amongst young people to engage in climate change adapation planning
• Funding Agency
  • SFI
• Date From
  • 1/1/2022
• Date To
  • 31/12/2022

• Title
  • CULTIVATE
• Summary
  • CODESIGNING FOOD SHARING FOR RESILIENCE
• Funding Agency
  • HORIZON EUROPE
• Date From
  • 1/1/23
• Date To
  • 31/12/26

• Title
  • SHARECITY
• Summary
  • With planetary urbanization fast approaching there is growing clarity regarding the unsustainability of cities, not least with respect to food consumption. Sharing, including food sharing, is increasingly being identified as one transformative mechanism for sustainable cities: reducing consumption; conserving resources, preventing waste and providing new forms of socio-economic relations. However, such claims currently rest on thin conceptual and empirical foundations. SHARECITY will identify and examine diverse practices of city-based food sharing economies, first determining their form, function and governance and then identifying their impact and potential to reorient eating practices. The research has four objectives: to advance theoretical understanding of contemporary food sharing economies in cities; to generate a significant body of comparative and novel international empirical knowledge about food sharing economies and their governance within global cities; to design and test an assessment framework for establishing the impact of city-based food sharing economies on societal relations, economic vitality and the environment; and to develop and implement a novel variant of backcasting to explore how food sharing economies within cities might evolve in the future. Providing conceptual insights that bridge sharing, social practice and urban transitions theories, SHARECITY will generate a typology of food sharing economies; a database of food sharing activities in 100 global cities; in-depth food sharing profiles of 7 cities from the contrasting contexts of USA, Brazil and Germany, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Australia; a sustainability impact toolkit to enable examination of city-based food sharing initiatives; and scenarios for future food sharing in cities. Conducting such frontier science SHARECITY will open new research horizons to substantively improve understanding of how, why and to what end people share food within cities in the 21st Century.
• Funding Agency
  • European Research Council
• Date From
  • 1/10/15
• Date To
  • 31/09/2020

• Title
  • CONSENSUS:consumption, environment and sustainability
• Summary
  • This research examines four key areas of household consumption that inhibit our ability to achieve sustainable development: transport, energy, water and food. Four themes are developed: how consumption can be measured and evaluated; how sustainable behaviours and incentives are being developed and implemented; identifying links between consumption, health and well-being; and finally how matters of household consumption are being governed through institutional practice and participation
• Funding Agency
  • EPA
• Date From
  • 1/1/09
• Date To
  • 31/12/15

• Title
  • BRIDGE- Communicating across the science policy divide
• Summary
  • This research will co-create a toolkit for good practice communication between researchers, policy makers and intermediaries such as journalists and NGOs working in the fields of biodiversity, climate change and water
• Funding Agency
  • EPA
• Date From
  • Jan 2013
• Date To
  • Sept 2013

• Title
  • Creating a Sustainable Economy
• Summary
  • The Stern Review (2006), which examined the economics of global climate change, brought unprecedented attention to the economy-environment interface and reiterated calls for more sustainable development. Although highly contested, sustainable development is frequently conceptualised as that which contributes to social, economic and environmental well-being for present and future generations. While many aspects of modern life are now globalised the ethos of sustainable development seeks to foster more integrated and inclusive practices that facilitate 'thinking globally, [and] acting locally'. It is in this context that social economy enterprises - defined as non-profit activities designed to combat exclusion through socially useful goods or services sold - have been identified by the United Nations, the European Union and many national governments as a mechanism through which economic growth can contribute to sustainable social development, inclusion and well-being. Within the social economy arena environmentally-focused social economy (ESE) enterprises, such as community-based recycling organisations, gardening initiatives and fuel poverty programmes, explicitly engage with all three pillars of sustainable development. While such initiatives have been experiencing a period of expansion in the European Union no systematic analysis has been undertaken of their activities, the conditions that shape those activities or the contribution they are making towards sustainable development in Ireland. In order to address this analytical deficiency this project will extend theoretical debates about sustainability and the social economy, particularly drawing out issues of scale and governance, through an empirically grounded evaluation of ESE enterprises. Methodologically the project comprises a phased multi-method research programme including a nationwide survey and mapping exercise, in-depth case study analysis and the development of a sustainability impacts procedure. The research findings will expand understanding of the sustainability-social economy interface within the current development context in Ireland and will be of interest to domestic and international academic and policy making communities.
• Funding Agency
  • IRCHSS
• Date From
  • 03/03/08
• Date To
  • 03/03/11

• Title
  • Communicating environmental risk: waste, incineration and dioxins
• Summary
  • Concerns remain in society about the risks to human health and the environment associated with waste incineration and with the toxicity of the by-products that incineration creates despite the reassurances of regulators, politicians and industry. This project examines and evaluates the ways in which debates about risks related to incineration have been conducted in Ireland in order to facilitate a better understanding of how incineration risk communication is produced and received.
• Funding Agency
  • Environmental Protection Agency
• Date From
  • October 2006
• Date To
  • March 2010

• Title
  • Citizen Smart
• Summary
  • Cross cutting thematic project as part of the SFI Spoke ENABLE: Connecting Communities to Smart Urban Environments through the Internet of Things
• Funding Agency
  • SFI
• Date From
  • 2018
• Date To
  • 2021

• Title
  • Biodiversity politics: policy, planning and public understanding
• Summary
  • While effective biodiversity planning involves a detailed understanding of natural processes and ecosystem functioning it is becoming increasingly apparent that successful protection and enhancement of biodiversity will also require a clear understanding of the politics of policy making and a supportive public. In order to inform management practices in Ireland key actors and publics (including children) will be engaged in discussions concerning the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. This qualitative data will provide essential information on fundamental issues of power, politics and participation in biodiversity planning and detailed analysis of the data will generate recommendations for improved mechanisms to promote positive biodiversity management.
• Funding Agency
  • EPA
• Date From
  • 1/4/06
• Date To
  • 31/12/09

• Title
  • BIOCHANGE - Research Cluster
• Summary
  • The Irish Environmental Protection Agency has funded, in excess of €1.6 million, a major integrated project on Irish biodiversity titled Biodiversity and environmental change: an integrated study encompassing a range of scales, taxa and habitats. This project, which will run for 42 months, will involve multi-disciplinary research across nine Irish research institutions working in close collaboration. The partners in the project are: BEC Consultants Ltd, Central Fisheries Board, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin, National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), University College Cork (UCC), University College Dublin (UCD), University of Limerick. The overall project co-ordinator is Dr Steve Waldren (TCD, swaldren@tcd.ie).
• Funding Agency
  • EPA
• Date From
  • 2006
• Date To
  • 2009

• Title
  • Evaluating domestic waste collection charges and their impacts: a nationwide study of weight and use based mechanisms
• Summary
  • A review of the nationwide experience of weight-based domestic waste collection charges' aims to analyse and evaluate the use of weight and use based domestic waste collection charges in Ireland. The project will examine the effectiveness of the various schemes in terms of displaying a reduction in domestic waste to landfill and waste recycled, and will include an investigation into the prevalence of illegal dumping of domestic waste in the light of the introduction of these charges. This information will be gathered through both a desk-based study of international research into the impact of weight-based waste collection charges and empirical fieldwork combining qualitative and quantitative research.
• Funding Agency
  • EPA
• Date From
  • 1/2/06
• Date To
  • 1/04/08

• Title
  • An opportunity not to be wasted: civil society and the governance of waste in Ireland
• Summary
  • [€35,000]. I am the sole and principal investigator on this research project. I currently have a research assistant working on the project for six months of the award period. This research is examining the form and functioning of civil society in relation to waste issues and evaluating the future potential of civil society to contribute to the sustainable governance of waste in Ireland. This is significant as public policy arenas are no longer the preserve of formal government structures. Instead policy making is a complex system of governance involving different tiers of government and different spheres of public, private and civil society activity. The management of Ireland's waste is a key area where such systems of governance can be identified. Waste management practices have been informed by governments, from the EU to local authorities, environmental consultancies and industry, but civil society, through community groups and environmental organisations, has also been mobilized around waste issues. So far, however, analyses of waste management in Ireland have focused on actions of the state and on technical issues of disposal. While there is an emerging body of literature on individual and household attitudes and actions in relation to waste a critical analysis of civil society's role in waste management is absent. It is this gap in research that this project will address.
• Funding Agency
  • Royal Irish Academy Third Sector Research Programme
• Date From
  • 2004
• Date To
  • 2006

• Title
  • Geographies of Waste: governance, scale and networks
• Summary
  • [€38,000] Previously perceived as a local, technical issue for governments, waste management is now also a global, socio-political process involving complex patterns of multilevel governance. This fellowship will facilitate the development of a research monograph to examine the neglected geographies of waste, in particular the integral processes of translocalisation and politicisation inherent in waste management. The text will compare waste management practices in Ireland, Switzerland and New Zealand. The New Zealand component of the research was initiated in December 2003 and this work was funded through the Trinity College Maintenance Grant, further research will be conducted in New Zealand in 2005. The EPA funded research in addition to the work on anti-incineration campaigns (Trinity) and civil society (Royal Irish Academy) detailed above will form the background for the Irish case study and the Switzerland data will build on information gathered during a field study to Switzerland, funded by the Swiss Embassy in May 2003. The Fellowship runs for one academic year and provides €38000 to provide for a replacement lecturer to cover teaching and administrative duties. This is a prestigious and highly competitive award that takes applications from across the Humanities and Social Sciences. No other geographer was awarded a Fellowship in this round and was no other lecturer in Trinity (a Professor in Economics did achieve a similar award).
• Funding Agency
  • IRCHSS Fellowship Scheme
• Date From
  • 2004
• Date To
  • 2005

• Title
  • STATUS - Sustainability tools and targets for the urban thematic strategy
• Summary
  • [My component of the overall grant = €25,000, total grant = €1,000,000] The Urban Thematic Strategy (UTS) is one of seven Thematic Strategies, which together comprise the European Community's 6th Environment Action Programme. The UTS is a new way of developing environmental policy for complex problems that require a broad approach, and needs to respond to the differing economic, social and physical contexts, which apply across the European Union (EU). The EU has agreed that the theme of sustainable development should underpin all EU actions and this, therefore, is the key organising principle for the UTS. STATUS has as its principal aim the development of flexible targets for local authorities across Europe, to be self-assessed against the themes of the UTS through an on-line tool. The tool will be supported by a validation mechanism, to assist local authorities in focusing on relevant policy areas for sustainable development. The prototype tool and mechanism will build on the synergies between the already existing initiatives (e.g. European Common Indicators, Urban Audit; and Lasala On-line) for assessing progress towards urban sustainable development. This proposal has seven core partners including myself, the others are: University of Northumbria at Newcastle (UK); Abo Akademi University (Finland); International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives European Secretariat GmbH (European body); Trinity College, University of Dublin (Ireland); VTT Technical Research Centre Of Finland, VTT Building And Transport (Finland); Ecologica Ltd (UK); Ambiente Italia S.r.l (Italy).
• Funding Agency
  • EU 6th Framework Bid to Specific Targeted Research Project
• Date From
  • 2005
• Date To
  • 2006

• Title
  • STATUS - Network
• Summary
  • Sustainability Tools and Techniques for Urban Sustainable Development. Partners from UK, Italy, Germany, Finland and Ireland
• Funding Agency
  • EU 6th Framework
• Date From
  • 2005
• Date To
  • 2006

• Title
  • Multi-Level Governance and Climate Change Networks in Ireland
• Summary
  • [€6,000]. I am the sole and principal investigator on this project. This project investigates the impact of multi-level governance and trans-national environmental networks on climate change policy and practice in Ireland. Two trans-national environmental networks for climate change - Energie Cités and Cities for Climate Protection - that are active in Ireland are being examined and compared. These case studies will provide an opportunity to: gauge the significance of forms of multi-level governance in addressing global environmental problems; assess the ways in which such networks foster policy learning across different spatial scales; and examine their impact on policies to address climate change at local, national and supra-national scales. A survey of all Energy Agencies in Ireland (the main actor in local actions for climate change and potential members of climate change networks) has been conducted and in-depth interviews with key actors in both transnational networks and representatives of three Energy Agencies, Galway City, Dublin and County Cork completed. This work complements theoretical investigation of environmental governance work being undertaken with European colleagues and is being published in international peer-reviewed journals (see publications list for details). As a result of this work I have been asked to become a member of the Meath Energy Agency Scientific Committee, as mentioned in previous sections of this report.
• Funding Agency
  • IRCHSS Small Projects Grant 2002
• Date From
  • 2003
• Date To
  • 2004

• Title
  • Environmental Attitudes and Behaviour: values, actions and waste management
• Summary
  • [€143,603]. This three year project, which began in 2001, involves a nested methodological framework developed to establish the attitudes of householders towards, and actions in relation to, waste management in Ireland. I am the co-principal investigator for this grant with Prof. David Taylor. I designed the research project application and structure based on previous experience with a similar project for my post-doctoral research at Cambridge University. Following a quantitative survey of 1,500 householders in three case study locations (Kerry, Galway and Fingal) in-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted to explore the reasoning behind stated attitudes and actions. A 'model household' exercise is being conducted to establish the main barriers and opportunities for improving waste management activities amongst householders in Ireland. Preliminary findings from this project have been presented both within Ireland and at overseas conferences. In addition work has been published in Irish Geography (see publications for details). Further articles are currently being produced for internationally peer-reviewed articles.
• Funding Agency
  • Environmental Protection Agency ERTDI Scheme, Code 2001-MS-SE2-M1
• Date From
  • 2001
• Date To
  • 2005

• Title
  • Anti-Incineration Movements in Ireland
• Summary
  • [€8,000]. I am the sole and principal investigator on this project. Following the Waste Management Act 1996, and its subsequent amendment in 2001, incineration of municipal waste as a waste management option in Ireland has been enshrined in Waste Management Plans throughout the Republic. The National Government has supported the development of waste-to-energy thermal treatment as a means of complying with the EU waste hierarchy and as an improvement on landfill disposal of municipal waste. The decision to build municipal incinerators for the first time in Ireland has though generated huge controversy amongst environmental groups at national and local levels and amongst local communities facing the location of incinerators in their neighbourhoods. Debate about the incineration issue in Ireland has been dominated by expert-driven technical and scientific arguments regarding emissions from thermal treatment facilities. While important, such analyses are alone insufficient to establish the full form and function of social opposition to incineration facilities. To provide greater depth of understanding this study examines the social processes that have been mobilised around the issue of incineration, in particular the scale, form and practice of anti-incineration protests. The study has two components: first, a content analysis of media coverage of the waste issues (including incineration), specifically through the National and local press; second, a set of in-depth interviews with key players in the incineration debate. Preliminary findings of this research have been presented at the Annual Royal Geographical Conference in London (2003) and at Cork University (2004).
• Funding Agency
  • Trinity College Start-up Fund
• Date From
  • 2003
• Date To
  • ongoing

• Title
  • Governance and planning for sustainable living.
• Summary
  • Euro 138,752 (with Professor David Taylor)
• Funding Agency
  • COHMAR
• Date From
  • Jan 2009
• Date To
  • Dec 2011