SRI Seminar

SRI seminar - Karen Lucas (Institute of Transport Studies)

“EVALOC: Action research with low carbon communities in the UK”

Abstract

The talk will present research involving six communities in the UK who had benefited from government-funding for micro-generation to reduce their carbon consumption. It used participative action research with these communities to increase awareness of, enhance their uptake and evaluate the impacts of these interventions.  The talk will discuss the highs and lows of four years of key stakeholder interactions and coproduced with local residents.

Biography

Karen is Professor of Transport and Social Analysis at the Institute of Transport Studies, University of Leeds and Deputy Director of the Leeds Social Sciences Institute. She has 20 years of experience in social research in transport. She is a world-leading expert in the area of transport-related social exclusion in the Global North and South. She leads the International Network for Transport and Accessibility in Low Income Communities (INTALInC).

In 2015, she won Edward L. Ullman Award by the Transport Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers and in 2016 the University of Leeds Women of Achievment Award, both for her significant contribution to transportation geography.

Karen is a regular advisor to national governments in the UK and abroad.  In 2002, she was seconded to the Social Exclusion Unit to develop policies to address the transport exclusion of low-income and disadvantaged groups and communities. She subsequently worked for the Department of Transport to undertake pilot studies and develop the Guidance on Accessibility Planning that resulted from this study. She has subsequently worked for local and national governments in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. She is currently, seconded to Highways England to set up a methodology for the community impact assessment of the Lower Thames Crossing project.

Karen is co-chair of the Special Interest Group on Cultural and Social Issues in Transport for the World Conference on Transport and Society (WCTRS) and of the NECTAR Cluster 7: Social and Health Impacts of Transport.  She is a memeber of the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Transport Geography, Springer's Transportation journal and Urban Book Series.