Esther Carmen

I am an interdisciplinary qualitative environmental social scientists interested in the role of different actors in shaping system change in the context of complex environmental challenges, and how social, political and cultural factors intersect within collective change processes to shape what emerges.

I joined the Social, Economic and Geography Group at the Hutton in 2022 as an environmental governance researcher.

My research increasingly draws on systems thinking, often involves a transdisciplinary research approach, and is strongly orientated towards practice -  informed by 10 years working as a freshwater environmental practitioner in the UK and in Cambodia working with natural resource dependent communities.

Over the last 10 years my research has often focused on the role of state actors, from across levels of governance, and community-based actors. Commercial actors from across economic sectors are also critical for helping to shape systemic change and my role at the Hutton explicitly focuses on examining how to better engage with and enable this important and diverse group of actors to support the shift to more sustainable collective futures.

Current research

My current research focuses on anchoring nature-based solutions and natural capital approaches to support how socio-environmental connections are perceived and strengthened in practice by commercial actors within different economic sectors.

Past research

Before joining the Social, Economic and Geography Group my research encompassed different socio-environment problem domains, such as biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, climate change, social resilience and food system transformation.

I completed my PhD in environment and human geography at the University of York 2021. This entailed three distinct studies to examine the nature and role of social relationships within complex community change initiatives in the context of complex challenges such as climate change.