{"id":2243,"date":"2025-04-29T15:34:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T14:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/sci\/?p=2243"},"modified":"2025-05-01T08:50:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T07:50:26","slug":"we-want-to-build-capacity-for-citizens-to-research-and-propose-what-works-best-for-them-and-to-advocate-on-their-own-behalf-just-centre-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/sci\/2025\/04\/29\/we-want-to-build-capacity-for-citizens-to-research-and-propose-what-works-best-for-them-and-to-advocate-on-their-own-behalf-just-centre-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe want to build capacity for citizens to research and propose what works best for them and to advocate on their own behalf\u201d: JUST Centre Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ next_background_color=”#000000″ global_module=”322″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu global_parent=”322″ menu_id=”7″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” module_class=”main-navigation” _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”dark” \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#1d1d1d”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”2″][et_pb_row_inner locked=”off”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.0.106″ title=”on” meta=”on” author=”on” date=”on” categories=”on” comments=”on” featured_image=”on” featured_placement=”above” text_color=”dark” text_background=”off” locked=”on” parent_locked=”off” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_layout=”light” parent_locked=”off”]<\/p>\n

Sherilyn MacGregor, Mat Paterson, and Helen Holmes on the \u2018Joined-Up Sustainability Transformations\u2019 approach.\u00a0<\/h2>\n

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The launch of the JUST Centre (Joined-Up Sustainability Transformations) marked a significant milestone in advancing sustainability and social justice, building on decades of research at the Sustainable Consumption Institute. The ESRC-funded<\/a> JUST Centre aims to integrate environmental initiatives with efforts to improve quality of life and social inclusion.<\/p>\n

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JUST Centre launch \/Photo \u00a9 University of Manchester<\/p><\/div>\n

The Centre\u2019s public launch<\/a> event was held at the People\u2019s History Museum and brought together over 150 attendees from local government, business, academia, and civil society. In line with its people-centred approach, the event showcased community-led sustainability initiatives.\u00a0Discussions highlighted the urgency of evidence-based policy and the need for innovative strategies<\/a> to ensure a just transition to net zero\u2014one that leaves no communities behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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We spoke with SCI members of the JUST team, Sherilyn MacGregor, Mat Paterson, and Helen Holmes, to explore the aims, methods, and future directions of the Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How do you think recent global political shifts\u2014such as the rise of right-wing populism<\/a> and declining public support for sustainable change\u2014might impact the JUST Centre? What strategies do you have in place to navigate these challenges?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mat<\/strong>: I think there is a plausible scenario that could play out in many of our study regions, where Reform UK win a substantial number of seats in local elections. In Greater Manchester, for example, they came second in 14 of the 27 parliamentary constituencies. In that scenario, there are interesting and important challenges for climate action, that the JUST Centre can focus on. Reform have made clear that undermining climate action is their second most important political target, after immigration. However, at the moment, most Reform supporters still support action on climate change. How then do those promoting climate action in the places where Reform gain local council seats proceed? Do Reform try to undermine that action even if it is locally popular? Or do people start getting less supportive of climate action because they have voted Reform and start to take on its policy positions (even when they may have voted Reform because of immigration or just as a \u2018screw the lot of you\u2019 vote)? Conversely, there is good evidence that the Reform\/right wing populist attacks on climate action have made social justice arguments a key part of the rhetoric<\/a>, in ways that do identify the regressive effects of much of current climate policy. The JUST Centre is well placed in this context to show how climate action can be redesigned to promote socially just climate action that undermines these arguments by populists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cJUST Centre is well placed in global political context to show how climate action can be redesigned to promote socially just climate action\u201d<\/h2>\n

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During an SCI workshop on reflecting on its new research strategy, one perspective suggested that achieving sustainability requires excluding certain actors (e.g., banks and corporations), rather than simply including those who are currently marginalised. What is the JUST Centre\u2019s stance on this? Does the project engage with large businesses?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherilyn<\/strong>: one of our thematic areas is \u2018social and solidarity economies\u2019, which suggests we are more likely to engage with SMEs than large corporations. However, one of our impact partners is the British Chambers of Commerce, so this perspective will be represented. At the moment we don\u2019t have plans to work with banks or large corporations, but to be fair it is too early to answer this question. The Centre has justice at its core, which leads us to focus on improving equity and inclusion in, and correcting the historic marginalisation of certain groups from, sustainability discourse and policy. One could argue that large corporations and wealthier people have always been included.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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JUST Centre team \/\u00a0Photo \u00a9 University of Manchester \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

Before the launch of JUST at the People\u2019s History Museum, a two-day workshop was held. Could you share the insights of it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherilyn<\/strong>: It wasn\u2019t a workshop. It was a Centre kick-off meeting with all of the co-investigators and researchers from our core impact partner, the Young Foundation. It was an opportunity for around 25 of us to reconvene after a two year process of applying for the funding. We revisited the vision, aims and objectives, and research design and methods that we set out in the application to the ESRC. We also discussed the changes in political and economic context since 2023, which could affect the work we do in positive and negative ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cJUST will take a grassroots bottom up approach – working with and learning from local communities\u201d<\/h2>\n

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Could you provide more details about the research methodologies for the project?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Helen<\/strong>: The project takes a mixed methods approach. To begin with we are producing an Index for Net Zero readiness. This builds on an existing index (produced by colleagues at Leeds University) which will be developed further specifically for JUST. The index brings together various spatial and secondary datasets to produce a tool which determines an area’s propensity for net zero. This will be combined with empirical qualitative data working with local communities to determine what works, where and how, and what opportunities there are for enabling new sustainable and equitable low carbon initiatives. A big part of this will be engaging local community members in participatory action research\u00a0 – with local people becoming citizen social scientists and researching their local communities.<\/p>\n

One anticipated outcome of the JUST Centre is a toolkit. Could you elaborate on its expected results and the strategy to communicate it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mat<\/strong>: We have sketched the design of a toolkit which we will develop over the course of JUST\u2019s life. The overall goal is to provide a range of actors – policymakers at multiple levels of government, businesses, community groups – to be able to judge both the overall level of readiness for just transformations towards sustainability, and the range of strategies available to them to pursue it. The core parts of the toolkit are an Index for Place Readiness for Net Zero, of which a first version already exists, and a Place-Matching Tool. The first of these uses already existing socio-demographic data across the UK to identify how close particular neighbourhoods are to achieving net zero, and what types of challenges they have in reaching it. The second of these will draw on the Index and our detailed research across the North of England, to enable policymakers from elsewhere to learn from our detailed insights, by comparing their neighbourhoods and situation to ones in our study regions, and draw inferences from our research in that way. The Toolkit will be openly available for people to use directly.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Centre has justice at its core, which leads us to focus on improving equity and inclusion in, and correcting the historic marginalisation of certain groups from, sustainability discourse and policy\u201d<\/h2>\n

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At a recent SCI event<\/a>, a perspective was shared that Thatcher\u2019s transformation of British capitalism and society laid the groundwork for the UK’s later success in emissions reduction. Are there specific historical conditions in the North West that make the region particularly responsive or proactive in implementing just sustainability policies?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mat<\/strong>: The point I made there is quite specific. It is that the successful assault on the coal miners\u2019 union by the Thatcher government in the early-mid 1980s changed the power relations within the energy sector which meant that when climate change got on the agenda, phasing out coal became the \u2018path of least resistance\u2019 to policymakers. The UK has now completely phased out coal from electricity production, and is one of the few countries to have done so. But it was a highly unjust transition<\/a>. There are two lessons for the JUST research agenda. One is the simple one – the lesson from a highly unjust transition that left whole communities destroyed for generations. The second is more complex, which is that this deindustrialisation across Northern England (and much of the UK in practice) is one of the key factors that has led to the rise of right wing populism, whose electoral success is particularly notable in ex-mining areas (indeed one Reform UK MP is the son of a coal miner), creating particular challenges for the JUST research agenda.<\/p>\n

In recent SCI events, it has been noted that progressives often excel at criticism but sometimes leave gaps that climate skeptics. Given this, what is the JUST focus would be in sustainability stories?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherilyn<\/strong>: We will be doing participatory action research with communities who will be able to tell their own stories of why joining up decarbonisation and socio-economic regeneration is the best way forward to a just transition to net zero. We want to build capacity for citizens to research and propose what works best for them and to advocate on their own behalf.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know there are many positive examples of lower carbon living that are beneficial to households and communities, but are not covered in the media and not well known across the UK\u201d<\/h2>\n

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In your view, how can the challenge of decarbonisation\u00a0be made less abstract and more personally engaging for people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherilyn<\/strong>: The JUST Centre will be gathering case studies and stories to show what works where why and for whom. We know there are many positive examples of lower carbon living that are beneficial to households and communities, but are not covered in the media and not well known across the UK. We think that the more we can show the benefits of joining up decarbonisation with socio-economic regeneration, particularly in areas that feel \u2018left behind\u2019 (such as deindustrialised and rural areas of the North of England), the more people will overcome the fear and distrust that is fueling resistance in some places. At the JUST Centre launch we invited spokespeople from four joined-up initiatives to explain the positive outcomes of their work (Rossendale Valley Energy; Climate Sisters; Homes for Living; and Project Collette).<\/p>\n

Some scholars suggest that rethinking collective care models could be key to advancing low-carbon living. What is the JUST Centre’s approach to this idea?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherilyn<\/strong>: JUST will move the debate away from dominant focus on individual behaviour change to building community capacity for lower carbon living. Two of our thematic areas will be developing tools that make collective care (or social reproduction) work hand-in-hand with decarbonisation. The \u2018built and social infrastructures\u2019 theme recognises informal and formal care provision as part of social infrastructure. The \u2018social and solidarity economies\u2019 theme foregrounds systems of provision that are based on mutual aid and forms of exchange that are part of diverse economies rather than a capitalocentric one. Both themes are informed by heterodox theoretical perspectives that take care seriously, such as feminist political economy and ecological economics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cJUST will move the debate away from dominant focus on individual behaviour change to building community capacity for lower carbon living\u201d\u00a0<\/h2>\n

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Eco-feminist perspectives argue that a sustainable future must consider not only human well-being but also the needs of other living beings, including animals and plants. Is this perspective relevant to JUST Centres\u2019s approach?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sherilyn<\/strong>: Yes. One of the thematic areas is \u2018principles of justice\u2019 and will be taking an holistic understanding of justice that includes the more-than-human. It is too soon to explain how this might inform the empirical aspects of the Centre\u2019s work.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What are the advantages of approaching sustainability from sociology and political science perspectives, as opposed to purely technical or economic frameworks?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Helen<\/strong>: JUST will take a grassroots bottom up approach – working with and learning from local communities to determine where there are opportunities for more sustainable and equitable low carbon living. This co-productive approach differs vastly from many technocentric solutions we see to fight climate change – which often provide top down interventions without fully engaging with local people and local needs. These often then result in unintended consequences because of this lack of engagement and collaboration. JUST takes an interdisciplinary approach drawing on a spectrum of knowledges and experiences to focus on finding locally JUST solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Related<\/h1>\n

Related posts:<\/h3>
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The International Sustainability Transitions Conference 2017<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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Changing behaviours, transforming society<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
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SCI at the British Sociological Association Conference 2017<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

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