Environmental Social Scientist @ Oxford Uni • governance & politics of
@NatureRecovery
&
#NbS
• all things participation, democracy, digital tech • she/her
My PhD thesis was interdisciplinary, action-oriented, highly applied and focused on generating research impact.
Here's 5 things that I did to help achieve this - a thread (feel free to add to the list!)
#AcademicChatter
Do more participatory decision-making processes lead to better environmental outcomes?
This paper finds three factors that significantly influence environmental governance outcomes. Power delegation to participants is the most consistent predictor -
Now that everything is signed and I'm starting to move house next week, I'm really happy to share that I'll be joining
@oxfordgeography
@UniofOxford
in September as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Environmental Social Science! 😊🥳🎉
I am absolutely ecstatic to say that I have passed my PhD viva with (very) minor corrections!! 🥳🥳 What an incredible journey this has been!
HUGE thanks to
@profmarkreed
&
@GeogJulie
for such an enjoyable and positive viva experience and
@RosJennings
for chairing -
#PhDDone
!
@Amy_Hupe
Hi I'm Caitlin, I'm very unlikely to go to university (one of my college teachers burst out laughing when told I'd got into University).
I now have a BSc, two MSc degrees, and am about to finish my PhD. 😊
Very useful paper on
#qualitative
data collection during Covid-19, including a summary of the features of different
#online
videoconferencing platforms & key considerations for researchers.
👉👉
1⃣ 'Doing Qualitative Research Online' (2016) - includes ethical issues in research design; designing online qualitative studies; collecting qualitative data online through interviews & other methods; analysis & reporting findings.
➡️ 2/?
My PhD viva has been postponed and will now be in May, approx. 6 months after my submission date. This is causing quite a bit of anxiety, but I have my fingers crossed that all will go OK! 🤞🤞
Any
#viva
#PhDlife
tips greatly appreciated! 🙂
Hooray!!!!
My PhD thesis corrections have been officially accepted 🤗🤗 Watch this space for lots of evidence-led recommendations for best practice on
#DigitalEngagement
& institutionalising
#participatory
processes...
This is lovely to read!
I failed my A Levels, retook at another college, accepted to Cardiff Uni with average grades, later a PhD at Uni of Gloucestershire, and now work at Oxford doing my dream research job.
There are many career paths, and everyone goes at their own pace.
I like this letter from Prof Peter Edwards in today’s Times. It’s very easy to let ambition suck you into an idea that there is only one career path worth taking - or worse, that if you don’t race along it you’re falling behind or failing.
There is more to life.
'Academics around the world have applauded what many hope is the start of a rebellion against the huge profit margins in academic publishing, which outstrip those made by Apple, Google and Amazon.'
3⃣ 'Using Zoom Videoconferencing for Qualitative Data Collection: Perceptions and Experiences of Researchers and Participants' (2019) - exploring both researcher and participant perspectives on the use of web and videoconferencing platforms.
➡️ 4/?
2⃣ 'Qualitative data collection in an era of social distancing' (2020) - includes options & resources for researchers who need to alter their study designs from face-to-face qualitative data collection to a “socially distant” method.
➡️ 3/?
This photo in one word: RELIEF!
Aimee (
@06aims
) and I met at the
@RGS_IBGhe
Annual Conference in 2018 when we were MSc & new PhD students. Now we are Dr Morse and Dr Hafferty, having both passed our PhD vivas with minor corrections! 🥳🥂
@CCRI_UK
#phdchat
#PhDdone
Had a fantastic time attending the
#GIS
Research UK Annual Conference
@GISRUK
last week. I was so happy to receive an award for "Best Early Career Researcher Paper" for our paper on
#participatory
mapping! 🥳🎉Read it here:
I have been feeling really under the weather recently (🤧), but I am absolutely over the moon to share that I've just submitted my first ever, first author paper!!!!!! 🙌🎉🎊🥳🥂
Definitely celebrating this 😊 Fingers crossed for the next stages.
I've seen a lot of posts on 'participation' and 'engagement' recently, highlighting various ways to promote more inclusive research and decision-making processes.
But what does this actually mean?! A thread 🧵👇 (with links to some really useful articles and reports!)
I've finally put all of my PhD thesis chapters into one document!!! Was pretty nervous to do this but feels so great to have it all together 😊
Now for the final push and edits...
Really happy to start my first week as a Postdoc! 🙌
Fantastic day yesterday attending training on interdisciplinary working & policy making, as well as meeting colleagues
@NatureBasedSols
&
@NatureRecovery
.
How does
#participatory
and
#democratic
governance shape effective and inclusive outcomes from
#NatureBasedSolutions
? How can the social sciences enhance our understandings?🤔
Excited to present our work during this
@CCRI_UK
webinar, 18/01/23 12:15 GMT.
How it started > how it's going
@06aims
and I met at the 2018
@RGS_IBG
conference, right at the start of our PhD journeys!
We since joined
@PGF_RGSIBG
, met lots of incredible researchers, & are now about to finish our PhDs at
@CCRI_UK
🌱
Here we are today at
#RGSIBG22
🙌✨️
Two useful papers on writing an academic
#LiteratureReview
👇
What constitutes a good literature review and why does its quality matter? ➡️
Ten simple rules for writing a literature review ➡️
#PhDChat
#AcademicChatter
It is FINALLY here!!! 🥳🙌
My full PhD thesis on
#DigitalEngagement
in planning & environmental decisions is online and free to download!
👉
I also created practitioner guidance to share key messages from my PhD & current work:
As others have highlighted, this just reinforces systemic inequalities in academia.
As someone who worked long hours & late nights in hospitality to fund my way through my undergraduate and Master's degrees, publishing pre-PhD wasn't an option...
My jaws keep dropping as I go through 70 PhD applicant files. People w/ 2 coauthored papers & an interesting solo writing sample don’t even make it to the top 10 in my pile.
The level of knowledge, research experience & passion these kids bring to the table is just remarkable! 🤩
Just spotted a link to this paper in a Twitter thread - looks useful!
"Using
#Zoom
#videoconferencing
for
#qualitative
#data
collection: Perceptions and experiences of researchers and participants"
Some happy news - after peer review, my first, first author book chapter has been officially accepted! 🥳🎉 Looking forward to being able to share it in the future 😀
My PhD thesis is getting so close to being ready to submit, which is incredibly exciting, exhausting, and nerve wracking at the same time.
Trying to remember to take regular breaks - crochet & tea is a great way to do it! 😊🧶 🍵
4⃣ 'A COVID-19-era rapid review: using Zoom and Skype for qualitative group research' (2022) - how qualitative researchers can collect meaningful & representative data when constrained by cost, distance or unforeseen events.
➡️ 5/?
7⃣ 'Expanding Qualitative Research Interviewing Strategies: Zoom Video Communications' (2020) - examining the specific attributes of Zoom that contribute to high quality & in-depth qualitative interviews when in person interviewing is not feasible.
➡️ 8/?
'When face-to-face interviews are not possible: tips and tricks for video, telephone, online chat, and email interviews in qualitative research' (2021) - the benefits and drawbacks of different techniques to carry out interviews.
➡️ 13/?
A beautiful evening here at Ael Y Bryn, it's lovely watching the sun going down over the fields 🌄 It's impressive to see how far
@Steph_Hafferty
's
#NoDig
garden has come along in just a few months! 🍅🥕🥔🍆🥒
Almost a year after submitting my PhD thesis, I've just sent off the *actual* final copy to be published online!!
Things move slowly in academia, but I'm excited to share outputs and best practice recommendations on the challenges and opportunities for
#DigitalEngagement
...
🔟'‘At least in person there would have been a cup of tea’: interviewing via Skype' (2017) - consideration of researchers and participants not being able to share a range of senses (touch, smell and taste) during Skype interviews.
➡️ 11/?
4. I was careful to write my thesis in the most accessible way possible. To help with this, I:
- Wrote in plain language
- Provided clear descriptions of key terms and a glossary
- Included summary text boxes for each thesis chapter, including bullet-points with key messages
Happy birthday to my incredible, hardworking, intelligent, creative, passionate, and kind Mum,
@Steph_Hafferty
! It's inspiring to see how you've overcome barriers and achieved so much this year, and I can't wait to see what's in store for 2022! 🌱🌼🐞🥦🥕🍅
I've finally listened to over 100 episodes of
@500SongsPodcast
, which I came across by chance on Spotify. I love it - so well researched, comprehensive, interesting, and very entertaining. Also supported by notes/transcripts. Can't recommend it enough! 🎸
Social sciences make fundamental contributions to nature recovery. 🌳 Find out how in this incredibly inspiring panel discussion from the
@NEChiefSci
Science of Nature Recovery Conference:
Summary in the thread...🧵1/18
9⃣ 'Participatory Research Approaches in Times of Covid-19: A Narrative Literature Review' (2021) - provides an overview of current empirical & guidance literature on the use of participatory approaches within the context of Covid-19.
➡️ 10/?
5⃣ 'Conducting Qualitative Research to Respond to COVID-19 Challenges: Reflections for the Present and Beyond' (2021) - considers challenges in the COVID-19 context, namely “time constraints” and “physical distancing”.
➡️ 6/?
This is appalling on so many levels, with worrying impacts for academia and making things so much more difficult for our international research community.
I would not make this salary threshold, despite having a PhD, and would be categorised as an "unskilled worker"...
We’re increasing the minimum earnings threshold for skilled workers by 48% to £38,700, encouraging businesses to look to British talent first and invest in their workforce.
'Doing fieldwork in a pandemic' (2020) - crowdsourced document which has been put together by researchers who have added a range of diverse ideas for doing fieldwork in a pandemic.
➡️
6⃣ 'Making room for zoom in focus group methods: opportunities and challenges for novice researchers (during and beyond COVID-19)' (2022) - reflections on the opportunities & challenges for using Zoom for qualitative focus groups.
➡️ 7/?
'Intimacy, rapport, and exceptional disclosure: a comparison of in-person and mediated interview contexts' (2017) - comparing interview contexts with regard to rapport, suitability to sensitive topics, interview duration, and scheduling concerns.
➡️ 12/?
I almost forgot how useful
#ConnectedPapers
is! Enter a paper & it automatically creates a graph of papers which are connected to it. These are arranged according to similarity, so more similar papers are clustered together.
👉👉
#PhDLife
#AcademicChatter
Just completed my 20th run for
#Couchto5K
! I'm running for 25-30 minutes straight now which feels amazing, and my mental health has noticeably improved 😊🏃♀️
📢📢I'm excited to finally be able to share this report on evidence-led, best practice stakeholder
#engagement
! 🌱Free to access online at:
I've also created a free infographic pack to share key themes, online at: . RTs appreciated!
Our Commissioned Report 'Embedding an evidence-led, best-practice culture of engagement: learning from the evidence' (NECR448) is now available at:
#evidence
#engagement
🌿Exciting news - hot off the press! 🐦 We're thrilled to introduce the Recipe for Engagement (RfE), a new flexible guide developed by the
#AgileInitiative
,
@NatureBasedSols
&
@NatureRecovery
.
🔍Find out more 👇 1/10
Getting into the festive spirit by crocheting a hat for my brother! He has asked that I make him a "frog hat" (which will *hopefully* look like a frog's head when finished) 🐸
Stay tuned for pictures of the final product... 🐸
#crochet
#handmade
Just completed enrollment for the 3rd year of my
#PhD
(and final year of funding!) 😮 Everyone said it to me when I started, but time really does fly by very quickly...
#PhDlife
#AcademicChatter
At
@WorcCollegeOx
for the Oxford Nature Recovery Symposium - two days exploring the social and ecological dynamics of nature recovery, learning from a range of disciplinary perspectives & collaborating with decision-makers and practitioners 🌱
@NatureRecovery
@NatureBasedSols
@ZJAyres
Totally. And so much messaging that puts blame on individuals, not the system. I spotted this very problematic blog post today which lists "10 signs that you are not suitable for a PhD" including health and well-being issues, and financial concerns...
Really excited for my webinar tomorrow - over 200 people registered so far!
🌱Unlocking the power of engagement for nature recovery & nature-based solutions
🌎Part of Green Action Week 2024
🔗 Sign up:
@NatureRecovery
@NatureBasedSols
@ecioxford
Almost have a full draft of my PhD thesis. Feels like you have an endless amount of work to do, then it really sneaks up on you - the end is finally in sight!!
#phdlife
#AcademicTwitter
8⃣ 'Adapting Research Methodologies in the COVID-19 Pandemic' (2020) - collaborative online resource for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers whose work is being affected by the COVID-19 virus.
➡️ 9/?
I thoroughly enjoyed presenting a
@CCRI_UK
seminar yesterday on the
#SocialScience
contributions to understanding the participatory governance of
#NatureBasedSolutions
!
▶️YouTube:
🖼️PPT slides:
🚀Next webinar:
Later this month, I'm giving a
@CCRI_UK
seminar on
#AutomatedTranscription
! 🤖📝 Including an introduction, overview of key features, discussion of key practical & ethical considerations.
📆 24th June, 12:15-13-15.
Sign up for free here:
#AI
#innovation
Do you work with nature to achieve benefits for biodiversity and society? 🌎🐞 We're exploring the barriers people face & the opportunities for increasing support.
We'd love to hear from you via a short survey👉 🌿
#naturebasedsolutions
#restorenature
1/3
All set for my 5+ hour journey to Newcastle for
#RGSIBG22
! Really looking forward to seeing old and new faces, meeting people in-person, as well as joining in with some exciting
#participatory
@pygyrg
sessions & socials 🙌
Post-doc
@CaitlinHafferty
also joins the UK NbS Agile sprint, focusing on the governance and equity dimensions of
#naturebasedsolutions
, and exploring the governance of nature restoration efforts across the UK.
📣World's First Duck Degree📣
We're thrilled to announce that following the huge amount of interest in our Park Campus ducks, we're the first university to introduce a specialist new undergraduate degree. Head to for more info 🦆
How exciting - my PhD thesis on
#DigitalEngagement
finally exists in abstract form, with its very own DOI!! 😊
➡️
A copy will be free to download on ResearchGate very soon (+ some exciting practitioner guidance), and later on via the above link.
'Participatory video from a distance: co-producing knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic using smartphones' (2021) - the strengths and weaknesses of using remove participatory video methods, including ethical considerations.
➡️ 14/?
3. My approach was infused by my own personal values as a researcher: that research should remain useful beyond academia to make a positive change in the world.
Participation was a 'way of being', embedded in my personal life and extending beyond just professional activities.
Great news for a Monday afternoon, my
@RGS_IBG
membership has just been upgraded to a Fellowship! Excited to continue to take part in RGS activities & expand my experiences, including running two
#participatory
sessions with
@brunamontuori
at
#RGSIBG22
🤗
I've been reflecting on the value of in-situ, 'walking and talking', and mapping methodologies, particularly how (and if) they can be conducted via
#digital
/remote methods 🚶📍🗺️📶
Here are some articles I've found useful - a 🧵👇
#phdchat
#phdlife
#AcademicTwitter
#geography
Things can take a very long time to publish in academia, so I am going to share a copy of my PhD thesis on my website to download, alongside a summary for practitioners.
Has anyone else done this? Any tips / things to think about?
"Stakeholder engagement does not guarantee impact"
Stakeholder engagement has become a watchword for environmental scientists to assert the societal relevance of their projects to funding agencies...
Today I presented *in person* for the first time in >2 yrs! Sharing findings on practitioners' perspectives of the challenges & opportunities for instutionalising
#participation
, emerging from my broader research on
#DigitalParticipation
(Thx
@PippaSim
for the action shots!) 📷
Revising one of my thesis chapters outside in sunny West Wales! 🌞
This is one part of the homestead with no vegetable beds - my brother has made a den, hammock area, fire pit, & seating. 🐑🐏
1. In addition to an overarching research aim, my work was driven by a strong impact goal. This included specific and realistic outcomes or results that I could achieve in practice. To do this, I considered who was interested in my research and how they could benefit from it.
Today I finished the final big round of edits (for now) on one of my thesis chapters - yay! 🥳
I don't usually work weekends, however really enjoyed writing in the vegetable patch surrounded by fields, sheep, birds & bugs 🌱🥕🐑🐦🐞🐛
I've finished my thesis chapter on
#DigitalEngagement
! 💻
The final section included interviewees' reflections on
#hybrid
engagement, best practice, & suggestions for disseminating the findings of my research (e.g. guidance, training, & webinars).
#ResearchImpact
#Participatory
A misty afternoon walk at Cors Caron nature reserve - three raised bogs of deep peat which have built up over 12,000 years!
The bogs are surrounded by complex and unique habitats, which make it a fantastic place for wildlife 🦉🐸🦦🐛🪲
#PeatFree
#Nature
#Sustainability
Really enjoyed running a session on
#participatory
#governance
in the
@NatureBasedSols
Global Challenges Foundation Course today!
Some brilliant reflections on what 'engagement' means, who is included/excluded, institutionalising strategies, & involving
#nature
as a participant.