معرفی
Dr. Rose Cairns is a Research Fellow at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) within the University of Sussex Business School, where she has been working since 2012. Her research focuses on sustainability transformations, political ecology, and environmental governance, examining how collective imaginaries shape our approach to global sustainability challenges.
Dr. Cairns holds a PhD from the University of Leeds' Sustainability Research Institute (2012), an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity from the University of Exeter (2008), and a BSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge (2002). Prior to her PhD, she worked in the environmental NGO sector with organizations including People & Planet, the Centre for Alternative Technology, and Volunteering Matters.
Her research interests span multiple empirical areas including biodiversity conservation, climate change, geoengineering, the food/energy/water nexus, sustainable agriculture, and urban digital infrastructures. She takes a critical approach to policy processes, examining questions of power, language, and framing in the construction of expertise, unpicking dominant policy narratives, and analyzing environmental discourse across different social worlds.
Dr. Cairns' recent publications reveal a consistent focus on sociotechnical imaginaries and transformation processes, with increasing attention to crisis framing in sustainability discourse. Her work combines political ecology with critical policy studies, often employing qualitative and discursive methods to examine how sustainability challenges are framed and governed.
- Marie Curie global fellowship (UK Government guarantee funded) for 'Imaginaries in Crisis' project
- EPSRC grant for Crisis and imaginaries of sustainability transformations
- ESRC grant for Governance of Sociotechnical Transformations project
- ESRC grant for STEPS Centre research
- ESRC grant for Nexus Network project
As part of the teaching team for the online Sustainable Development MSc, Dr. Cairns contributes to modules on Sustainable Development: perspectives, policies and practices; Decolonising Knowledge for Sustainable Development; Democratising Science and Technology; and Methods and Skills. She supervises MSc dissertations on sustainability-related topics, particularly interested in working with students who wish to take qualitative and critical approaches to sustainability transformations and environmental politics.
Dr. Cairns is currently leading the 'Imaginaries in Crisis' project, examining how crisis framings in sustainability discourse might shape our ability to collectively imagine the future. She has previously led or contributed to significant research projects including the Governance of Sociotechnical Transformations (GoST), STEPS Centre Methods, SDG 17++, The Nexus Network, and the Climate Geoengineering Governance Programme.
