Mark Davis

Sustainability research team wins Best Paper Award Professors Lucie Middlemiss and Mark Davis have been honoured with the Best Paper Award by Energy Research & Social Science for their groundbreaking research.

Well done to @luciemidd.bsky.social and @profmarkdavis.bsky.social, who were awarded Best Paper by Energy Research & Social Science! 👏

Their paper investigates how social relations impact public decision-making and action around energy use.

Read more: environment.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...

Big milestone in citizen-led climate finance!

Co-created through research by Prof. Mark Davis (@profmarkdavis.bsky.social), Community Municipal Investments (CMIs)—also known as Local Climate Bonds—have now mobilised £30 million for green projects across the UK.

Following the announcement of @profmarkdavis.bsky.social as 2025 President of Sociology by the British Science Association, we are pleased to share our latest news article 📰

We had the chance to sit down with Prof. Davis to learn of his past achievements, current initiatives, and future vision 🎙️

This paper was mainly written at my kitchen table with @profmarkdavis.bsky.social, but with a stellar list of co-authors from the Whole Person Whole Place team: @drdonalbrown.bsky.social‪ @ruthbookbinder.bsky.social Iain Cairns, @giuliamininni.bsky.social @mcbrisbois.bsky.social ...

Prof. Mark Davis (@profmarkdavis.bsky.social) and Prof. Lucie Middlemiss have been awarded 'Best Paper' from Energy Research & Social Science 🎉

Their winning paper is entitled 'Developing a relational approach to energy demand: A methodological and conceptual guide'.

We are thrilled to share that @profmarkdavis.bsky.social has been named the 2025 President of Sociology by the British Science Association.

Mark will give a Presidential Keynote at the British Science Festival, taking place from 10-14 September in Liverpool. More information in the coming months.

Sociology and Social Policy researchers work to find solutions to the climate crisis As the University of Leeds hosts Climate Week, we look at how researchers in the School of Sociology and Social Policy are helping find solutions to the challenges caused by climate change.

As part of the @universityofleeds.bsky.social Climate Week 2025, take a look at how colleagues in the School of Sociology and Social Policy (SSP) are contributing to this field of research! 🌍 #climateweek #climatechange #climatecrisis #research

essl.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/ne...

The paper is available open access via this link: doi.org/10.5871/jba/...

For more on the work of the Leeds Relational Energy Group, visit: relationalenergy.leeds.ac.uk

It does so in the context of The Labour Party’s 2024 “Change” Manifesto and its aim to ‘Make Britain a clean energy superpower’. We argue this energy transition must result in fairer, greener and more inclusive societies, and point to opportunities for and risks to delivering on that ambition.

Drawing on our empirical work from across the Leeds Relational Energy Group (LREG), this co-authored paper explores this challenge through conceptual frameworks of social change as offered by Mariana Mazzucato and Torsten Bell.

✍🏻 NEW PAPER ✍🏻

Should we govern the energy transition through bold ‘Mission Led’ government or pragmatic ‘Radical Incrementalism’?

This question frames our latest paper, published by @britishacademy.bsky.social in a collection using SHAPE disciplines to improve governance for rapid decarbonisation.

🚨 NEW: GB Energy will install rooftop solar panels on around 400 schools & hospitals in a new £200 mn investment.

This could lower energy bills for these crucial public services while giving communities a real stake in the UK’s clean energy future.

But why stop there? 🧵

It meant a lot to me that the room was filled with colleagues from across campus and beyond, with both current and former students, and with my family and friends.

Thanks also to those who have sent such generous emails on the lecture itself, I’m excited to see where new collaborations may lead!

Yeah so, last Thursday… this happened!

A sincere and very heartfelt ‘thank you’ to everyone who made the time to come along to my inaugural professorial lecture @universityofleeds.bsky.social, entitled:

“If liquid modern life is rubbish, what should we do about it? Sociological fragments”

Professor Mark Davis delivers seventh Faculty Inaugural Lecture The Faculty was delighted to host Professor Davis' lecture in celebration of his impressive research career.

The School of SSP would like to congratulate @profmarkdavis.bsky.social on his lecture ‘If liquid modern life is rubbish, what should we do about it? Sociological fragments’ delivered at the ‘Faculty Inaugural Lecture Series’ on Thursday 13th March.

Read more here:

essl.leeds.ac.uk/education-so...

Faculty of Social Sciences Inaugural Lecture happens today at 5pm with @profmarkdavis.bsky.social

#research #socialsciences #uol

Bristol council's green investment scheme to fund climate action The council plans to utilise community investment to fund green projects across the city.

Back in 2018, I led a project that co-created Community Municipal Investments (CMIs), the model behind local climate bonds for UK councils.

This week, one of the project’s original case studies, Bristol City Council, launched its first CMI offer 🎉 More below:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thanks Stephen! It’s fantastic to see Bristol CC use the model they also helped to co-create as one of the original council case studies in the Financing for Society project: baumaninstitute.leeds.ac.uk/research/fin...

Better get writing this then…

Very honoured to have been asked to give an inaugural lecture as part of this series to celebrate social science expertise @universityofleeds.bsky.social

Further details on my lecture and how to register a place via the link below:

Thanks to all @lssi.bsky.social for the invitation to contribute to this event, a window into some really inspiring research by social scientists in collaboration with a range of impact partners.

See below:

Wishing our followers a restful and restorative break.

We will be back online in the second week of January.

Please see below for a range of services available for those on campus over the holidays.

Our @ukerc.bsky.social Social Relations of Energy Retrofit team, led by @drdonalbrown.bsky.social, have published a paper arguing that by paying attention to relational dynamics, we can better design retrofit policies that work with the grain of existing household practices and social relations.

Rethinking retrofit: Relational insights for the design of residential energy efficiency policy The ‘retrofit’ of energy efficiency, low carbon heating and renewable microgeneration measures in homes is a major focus for energy and climate policy…

Here is a brilliant Christmas gift for you, from @drdonalbrown.bsky.social. The next instalment in our #relational approach to #retrofit story. In this new paper Donal looks specifically at the way in which relational approaches can be used to craft policy.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

To review all the papers published by the team - based at Leeds, Strathclyde, Sussex and York - on a relational approach to retrofit, and wider topics in energy research and social science, check out the Library pages on the Leeds Relational Energy Group site:

relationalenergy.leeds.ac.uk/library/

Led by the brilliant @drdonalbrown.bsky.social, this is the latest paper from the Whole Person, Whole Place team brought together by a flex fund grant from @ukerc.bsky.social - which we have used to establish a new subfield of sociologically-informed energy research on #netzero challenges 🙌

We show how energy policy can embrace a relational approach that leverages sociological insight to reduce the frictions and potential exit points for customers on the retrofit journey, building on established ‘strong ties’ to people and place to foster trust in unfamiliar contexts and interactions.

We frame the challenge around an idealised retrofit customer journey, noting the amount of “relational work” needed at each stage - and how UK energy policy and most finance options are still locked into a problematic ‘rational actor’ mindset.

Rethinking retrofit: Relational insights for the design of residential energy efficiency policy The ‘retrofit’ of energy efficiency, low carbon heating and renewable microgeneration measures in homes is a major focus for energy and climate policy…

Ever received an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for your home and thought “well that looks real expensive and a lot of hassle: where do I start?”

There’s a sociological solution to this major challenge of domestic retrofit in the UK. New paper out today:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Love this! I’ve benefitted hugely from the support of LSSI and Policy Leeds in working with Leeds City Council and a range of other local government partners, and this is exactly the kind of framework to accelerate that vital civic collaboration. My congrats to all involved 🙌

Weekend Goals…