Policy, Governance and the Environment research theme

Shaping decisions for secure, sustainable, green futures

Theme Co-Leads: Dr Laura de Vito and Dr Thomas Appleby

This theme focuses on the role of policy and governance in affecting environmental security and sustainability for current and future generations (e.g. in relation to air quality management, net zero strategies, water access and quality, conservation management etc). It draws on interdisciplinary expertise from public policy and governance, environmental law, human geography, ecological economics, anthropology, environmental psychology.

This theme tackles challenges of environmental policy development and implementation, environmental management approaches for resource security, polycentric and collaborative governance arrangements. Its broad aim is to analyse and co-develop effective solutions to these challenges from the local to the global scale and across the policy cycle, including the policy impacts of societal responses to environmental change, and societal response to environmental policies.

Research projects

• Defra Environmental Science Research, Development and Evidence Services Framework (2026)
• ODA Global Innovation Fellowships: Conciliation resources and C40 2025 (2025)
• Measuring the climate impact of Clean Air Fund (2025)
• Mission Net Zero Innovation Demonstrate - monitoring and evaluation (2025)
• Integrated water management solutions in an urban setting (2024)
• Reviewing evidence on health impacts of low level pollution in countries and regions with ambient air pollution (2023)
• Modal shift and transport decarbonisation targets of the Wales Transport Strategy (2023)
• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the Local Air Quality Grant Scheme (2023)
• ESRC Policy Fellowship - Welsh Government Sustainable (2022)
• CADTIME - Clean Air for Delhi through Intervention Mitigation and Engagement (2017)
• Lloyds Register Foundation (2013)