Winner of the award in 2012

The System is Unfair but Inequality is Natural; System Justification, Information and Climate Change Scepticism

Sarah Becker, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK

Who was Jonathan Sime?

This Jonathan Sime Dissertation Award is given in memory of Jonathan Sime who died suddenly in January 2001, aged just 50. The award is funded by a friend of Jonathan from his teenage years.

Jonathan combined the roles of scholar and consultant in the field of environmental psychology and was highly regarded as a researcher and teacher within the environment-behaviour field. He made a significant contribution to the literature in this field, especially with his work on conceptual and practical aspects of human behaviour in fires. He always sought to bridge the frequently mutually exclusive emphasis on people and built environments (Shields, 2003). He worked on the social dynamics of environmental risk perception and he wanted to develop an approach of transdisciplinarity which would link scholarship and practice, as well as different disciplines. More recently he had returned to exploring an earlier fascination, i.e. the complex issues of place attachment and sense of place. No listing of his achievements could do justice to his memory but the following will provide a brief summary:

Having graduated in Psychology from London University in 1972, Jonathan revealed his early interest in architecture and people-environment relations by working first as an interior designer/constructor at a photographic studios in Hamburg, and then as a Research Assistant in the Sociological Research Branch of the Housing Development Directorate of the Department of the Environment. This early experience persuaded him that the newly emerging field of environmental psychology in the UK was where he wanted to be. Jonathan Sime came to the University of Surrey in 1974 and was in the second cohort of students to join the MSc in Environmental Psychology. Having successfully completed the MSc, he began his PhD work (awarded 1984) and a career of research for which he was most widely known. The title of his thesis was “Escape behaviour in fires: panic or affiliation”. He was supervised by David Canter and worked with David on various fire-related research contracts. From 1981 he held a number of Research Fellow positions (Portsmouth Polytechnic; University of Surrey) and visiting lectureships (Kingston Polytechnic; Portsmouth Polytechnic - where he was Director of the Building Use and Safety Research Unit; University of Surrey; Fire Service College; Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon). In 1999, he was appointed Visiting Professor in the School of the Built Environment at the University of Ulster and just before his death he had accepted a visiting faculty position in Environment & Behaviour at the University of Utah.

Jonathan’s work included over 70 publications and more than 100 conference presentations, mostly to international audiences. He carried out research and compiled reports for 31 organisations including the Railtrack Safety & Standards Directorate; the Fire Research Station; The Royal Institute of British Architects; London Underground; London Buses Ltd.; the Forestry Commission; British Airport Authority; Channel Tunnel Safety Authority and the Department of the Environment. Since 1972 he lectured at seventeen different universities, research institutions and government departments in the UK and at twenty outside the UK. The breadth and depth of his professional experience was considerable. Environment-behaviour research and teaching was his life and joy.

His enthusiasm for the subject was also reflected in the many organisations to which he belonged and made an active and invaluable contribution. In addition to being IAPS Secretary, he was a member of the British Psychological Society, EDRA, the International Association for Fire Safety Science, and PAPER, the last of which he had served on the Board. He was Book Review Editor of the Journal of Risk Research and on the Editorial Boards of Environments by Design, Corporate Communications and Journal of Architectural and Planning Research.

Jonathan was, above all, a sincere and fun-loving person. He was a keen musician and played the guitar and harmonica as a visiting soloist with amateur music groups. He loved many sports, especially skiing. He was a gentle person. He was deeply thoughtful and gave willingly of his time to students, colleagues and friends. He had an unshakeable belief in the concept of fairness and always respected and gave credence to the opinions of others. The environment-behaviour research world is a small and close community but scattered over five continents and Jonathan had very many friends in each of them. He is sadly missed.

It is a great privilege to be given an award which bears his name.

Reference

Shields, T.J. (2003). Obituary: Professor Jonathan Sime. In David D. Evans (ed) “Fire Safety Science – Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium”, pp. xv-xvi.

A selection of Jonathan Sime’s publications

Sime, J.D. (1999). What is environmental psychology? Texts, content and context. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19(2), pp. 191-206.

Sime, J.D. (1999). Crowd facilities, management and communications in disasters. Facilities, 17(9-10), pp.313-324.

Sime, J.D. (1998). Visual access configurations: spatial analysis and occupant response inputs to architectural design and fire engineering. In M. Teklenburg, J. van Andel, J. Smeets and A. Seidel (Eds) Shifting Balances, Changing Roles in Policy Research and Design. IAPS 15, Eindhoven: European Institute of Retailing and Services (EIRASS), pp. 140-151.

Sime, J.D. (1997). Informative flood warnings: occupant response to risk, threat and loss of place. In J. Handmer (Ed.) Flood Warning: Issues and Practice in Total System Design. Flood Hazard Research Centre. London: Middlesex University, pp.155-175.

Sime, J.D. (1995). Creating places or designing spaces? In L. Groat (Ed.) Giving Places Meaning. Readings in Environmental Psychology, Vol 4. London: Academic Press, pp.27-41 (reprint).

Horlick-Jones, T. and Sime, J.D. (2004). ‘Living on the border: knowledge, risk and transdisciplinarity’ Futures, 36, pp. 441-456.

What is Environmental Psychology?

Environmental psychology explores the transactions between people – both individuals and groups – and their physical setting; it gives a prominent place to environmental perceptions, attitudes, evaluations and representations and accompanying behaviour. Environmental psychology focuses on both the effects of environmental conditions on behaviour and how the individual perceives and acts on the environment. As psychologists our focus is on people’s perceptions, attitudes and actions, but as environmental psychologists we believe that these psychological processes are always situated, that is, they are invariably place-related and place-dependent.

Many problems we face in society are a product of the breakdown of the relationship either between people and people in an environmental context, or between people and the physical environment itself – leading to serious and damaging environmental, individual and social consequences. Society invests enormous resources into the planning, design, construction, management and use of the physical environment. This investment ensures that we are not only fed, clothed, housed, employed and made secure, but that the quality of our lives is enhanced as much as possible.

What are we looking for?

Dissertations will be considered if they describe a piece of empirical work in the field of people-environment studies. Both qualitative and quantitative pieces of work will be considered. The field includes subjects such as environmental perception and cognition, environmental stress, personal space, territoriality, crowding, work- learning or residential environments, the natural environment, sustainability, resource management, environmental disaster, environmental problems and behavioural solutions, children and the environment, crime and the environment, etc.

The process

The Jonathan Sime Dissertation Award is available to students who have completed an undergraduate degree and produced a dissertation in a subject area related to Environmental Psychology at a British University.

It will be for dissertation tutors or heads of departments to nominate dissertations for this award by submitting an abstract of the dissertation to a panel of assessors. This will be an extended abstract, up to a maximum of 500 words, prepared by the student for the Panel. A second sheet of illustrations may be added, if appropriate. A hard copy and an electronic copy of the abstract must be submitted by July 1st. Electronic copies may be sent by email.

The Panel of Assessors will select from the submitted abstracts three dissertations for further consideration and the chosen candidates will be notified by July 15th of the need to submit a full dissertation. Unsuccessful candidates will also be informed by July 15th.

Full dissertations are to be submitted by July 31st, together with a stamped and self-addressed envelope. That is, one hard copy as well as an electronic (PDF) copy of the full dissertation, including Appendices, should be sent to Dr. Birgitta Gatersleben for the attention of the Jonathan Sime Award Panel. The Panel of Assessors comprises national and international Environmental Psychologists.

The Panel will, inter alia, be looking for:

• A strong clear link between the introduction, methods, results and discussion
• A clear and engaging introduction which identifies the major points to be covered including clearly presented aims, research questions and/or hypotheses
• A clear description of the study design and the analytical procedures used
• Results which are clearly presented with good use of illustrative material as appropriate and discussed in terms of the theoretical, methodological and practical implications of the findings
• A conclusion which summarises the main findings for each of the research questions or hypotheses and the recommendations for future research
• References which are complete and correctly cited throughout
  

The winner of the award and the institution will be notified by September 15th, when submitted dissertations will be returned.

The winner may be offered the opportunity for a short paper based on their entry to be published in the Bulletin of the International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS). Publication decisions will be the responsibility of the editor of the IAPS Bulletin. The abstracts of the three finalists will be published on the website of the Jonathan Sime Award.