Ecological Justice Research Group

Ecological justice is the recognition that social justice and environmental issues are tightly intertwined – that the most vulnerable in society suffer the first and worst consequences of climate change and environmental degradation.

Therefore the solutions too need to be intertwined, learning from multiple disciplines, cultures and forms of knowledge.

Hosted within the Institute for Social Justice, the Ecological Justice Research Group (EJRG) is an energetic, supportive and diverse group of staff and postgraduate researchers, representing all 5 of the University’s academic schools and several professional services departments.

Formed in summer 2021, the group’s initial research emphases are:

• The University as a Living Lab: developing the pedagogical and research potential of the campus environment as a place, an ecosystem, a community and a design challenge. The group will pilot this approach through an interdisciplinary project in spring 2022, involving students from multiple schools, investigating the issue of local air quality through the lenses of citizen science, performance, global justice and spatial politics. This project builds on earlier pedagogical action research by EJRG members (Cunningham, Heinemeyer, Parks and Szilagyiova) into York St John students’ expectations, anxieties and sense of agency in relation to ecological justice, which highlighted students’ desire to engage actively with the campus environment.
• Community and youth activism, ecological anxiety and the climate movement: the intersections between education, psychology and advocacy.
• Arts/science collaboration in exploring sustainable futures.

Other recent initiatives or events organised by the EJRG include:

• Our inaugural symposium on 17 and 18 November 2021: Ecological Justice Research Symposium Poster (PDF, 2.6 MB)
• A Climate Justice Takeover of the Institute for Social Justice blog during 1 to 11 November, featuring a 'hot take' on climate justice by a YSJ student or member of staff on each day of the COP26 climate conference.

Get in touch

Membership of the EJRG is open to all York St John staff and postgraduate researchers. Contact coordinators Cath Heinemeyer and Jude Parks for further information.