Governance, equality and sustainability
Our shared vision rests on the reality that powerful mobilisation is needed to achieve societal transformations to repair the damage wrought by our extractive and destructive global systems, and ensure that the needs of all are met within the means of the Earth. At a time when planetary boundaries are being exceeded and governments are lagging behind in decarbonisation efforts, we need nothing less than the regeneration of our planet.
Our manifesto
We recognise that our vision cannot be achieved through ambitions and soft targets. We concluded that transformation cannot happen without the creation of more just and equitable societies and the development of more sustainable consumption and production systems. Our manifesto advocates for impactful research which reconnects us with ourselves, our fellow human beings, our communities and the living planet.
Theme priorities
Our theme priorities include:
- Creating an inclusive forum for networking and discussion about our research and wider interests in sustainability
- Sharing and collaborating on funding opportunities and other relevant events
- Creating a network that is supportive to researchers at all levels of seniority.
It is a complex, multifaceted and interconnected theme.
Ecological regeneration and transformation requires a structural shift towards equity. Our theme embraces diverse methodologies and approaches and will foster a culture that respects and amplifies these. Ultimately, we wish to learn from each other, contribute to the challenging sustainability research agenda, and advocate for a more equal and sustainable future in systems, which are regenerative and facilitate the flourishing of humans, biodiversity and ecosystems.
We are delighted to be part of the Institute for Sustainability. Although only just established, the Institute has already created many opportunities for us to meet, exchange ideas and be challenged, encouraging working across disciplines and creating new partnerships. We look forward to being part of a community of scientists and other colleagues working together towards a sustainable and fairer future.
Co-leads
Dr Noreen O'Meara
Associate Professor (Reader), Human Rights, European and Environmental Law. Co-director: Surrey Centre for International and Environmental Law (SCIEL).
Biography
Noreen O'Meara is an Associate Professor (Reader) of Human Rights, European and Environmental Law. She read Law at the University of Cambridge (Corpus Christi College) and UCL (LLM (Public Law) and did her PhD at Queen Mary, University of London. She has also completed non-degree studies at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Université Paris-1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and RADA. She previously worked as a research fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) and in practice at the European Commission's Legal Service and the Court of Justice of the European Union (cabinet, Advocate General Sharpston). Her work focused on infringement actions against Member States and cases in a broad range of areas, including data protection, taxation, extradition and environmental law.
At the University of Surrey, she has focused her research on human rights and European law, developing particular expertise on rights and the environment, environmental pollution and the evolution of human rights protection in Europe.
Noreen is Co-Director of the School of Law’s newest research centre, the Surrey Centre for International and Environmental Law (SCIEL) which launched in May 2020, and is a Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability. She leads and researches on a range of projects, several of which are hosted at the Governing Plastics Network, on the law and governance of plastics pollution and extended producer responsibility - funded by UKRI/GCRF, AHRC, ESRC/IAA, EPSRC, GIZ and the Danish EPA. Further recent interdisciplinary projects were funded by UGPN (focusing on plastics pollution during Covid-19) and the British Academy (exploring strategies for tackling fake news and online misinformation in the G7). She is also PI on four British Academy projects with collaborators across the EU exploring aspects of rights of nature, trade and urban sustainability. She also leads a project funded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) addressing global plastics and trade governance in the light of the negotiations for a UN Global Plastics Treaty, in collaboration with colleagues at Surrey, Exeter and Copenhagen.
In 2018 and 2020, Noreen was a Sutherland Fellow (UCD), and previously held visiting positions at The Institute of European and Comparative Law (IECL, University of Oxford), iCourts (University of Copenhagen), University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin. She is also a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Stockholm University, a Research Affiliate at UCD Earth and an Affiliate researcher at the Exeter Centre for Environmental Law (ExCEL). From 2020-2023, she is on the Editorial Board of the Irish Journal of European Law.
Professor Nigel Morgan
Professor of Social Sustainability
Biography
Nigel has spent 30 years promoting inclusive, creative and responsible tourism research, education and academic community engagement. An economic and social historian by doctoral training, his research is encapsulated in three entwined strands: place marketing, power and identity; inequality and wellbeing; critical studies and gender.
He is perhaps best known for co-founding the Critical Tourism Studies Network in 2005 and co-chairing it until 2015. He has led consultancy projects for clients in the UK, Europe, the US and Asia and his research funders include the ESRC, British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, the EU and the Norwegian Research Council.
Dr Lada Timotijevic
Associate Professor; Head of Department of Psychological Sciences; Deputy Director of the Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre
Biography
Having completed my PhD in 2000 (University of Surrey) in the area of identity processes in the context of social and cross-cultural mobility, I have subsequently worked within the advertising industry (J. Walter Thompson).
I joined the Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre (FCBH) at the University of Surrey (Department of Psychology) in 2002, a multidisciplinary research centre which brings together skills and expertise from across the University in order to address research questions on food related policy, consumer behaviour and public health. Since my arrival, I have played an instrumental role in the success of the Research Centre, working on research projects of substantive theoretical and applied relevance.
I work within the critical public health framework and my empirically-oriented work has focused on understanding the role and nature of public and stakeholder engagement and dialogue in policy and science, risk perception and governance, and science-policy interaction. Policy relevance is a key theme across my research projects, and my work is aimed at both understanding the processes of policy making, and contributing evidence on which to base policies. I am particularly interested in public health nutrition, sustainable diets and illness prevention.