Research Team Professor Mark Dooris, Director ICSC Dr Alan Farrier, Research Fellow Dr Ioan Charnley-Parry, Research Associate Summary of Cluster Grant Project The research project ‘Climate Resilience, Social Justice and COVID-19 Recovery in Preston’ is headed up by Mark Dooris, Professor in Health and Sustainability within the School of Community Health and Midwifery. Exploring Preston’s recovery from COVID-19 and how it can assimilate and implement innovative opportunities to tackle climate change, the project aims to translate into practice the rhetoric of ‘build back better’ within the city by utilising the momentum of change and recuperation created by COVID-19.
More Information ‘Climate Resilience, Social Justice and COVID-19 Recovery in Preston’ has been funded for a period of 15 months from January 2021 by the Place-Based Climate Action Network (PCAN), which is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The ESRC invests in research that uses social science evidence to target significant socio-economic issues, including but not limited to, COVID-19, climate change, productivity, housing, mental health, and global governance. The Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN) is an ESRC-supported network that focuses on translating climate policies into action through place-based impacts. Their goal is to produce a replicable model to deliver climate policies globally and allow cities to become prosperous, healthier, and robust. Led by UCLan, the project is a collaboration with Preston City Council and the Community Gateway Association. At its heart is a focus on Preston’s anchor organisations and diverse communities. By having dialogue with organisational and community-based stakeholders, the research team hopes to be able to understand the intricate knowledge and perspectives of those who’ve faced disruption due to COVID-19 and explore resilience, responsiveness, and adaptability. The project combines a number of different strands. First, a ‘Rapid Review’ of existing literature and other relevant documentation regarding the intersection of ‘CommunityWealth Building’ and the ‘PrestonModel’, ‘Doughnut Economics’ and 'Place-Based Climate Action’. The Preston Model acts as a focal point around which the principles ‘Community Wealth Building’ is implemented. The Preston Model allows the citizens of Preston to ensure that the benefits of local growth are utilised for local growth and a shared agenda of benefit in terms of fair employment, progressive procurement of goods and services, and productive use of the land and property. Second, the recruitment and training of volunteer community researchers to work as co-researchers alongside the UCLan team to collect data. Third, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with stakeholders from anchor organisations and diverse communities within Preston. Once all the data is collected, the research team will conduct an analysis to identify recurring themes, key messages, and innovative solutions. The accumulation of this information would then be used to create a final project report with practical and action-focused recommendations of relevance to both organisations and communities. While the PCAN Project is committed to collecting and analysing research data and reporting its findings, this blog post hopes to establish a web presence and raise awareness among the citizens of Preston regarding the impacts of climate change and how we can take small, yet significant steps to improve the overall health of people, place, and planet. While the PCAN Project is committed to collecting and analysing research data and reporting its findings, this blog post hopes to establish a web presence and raise awareness among the citizens of Preston regarding the impacts of climate change and how we can take small, yet significant steps to improve the overall health of people, place, and planet.
To view all the project outputs, please click here.
Related ICSC Themes
