Megan Pickles

Profile

Provisional PhD Candidate, investigating how transport policy framing shapes community participation in mobility transitions and energy demand reduction, funded by the Energy Demand Research Centre.

My research examines how dominant policy framings in transport planning can constrain public discourse around mobility challenges, and explores how visual participatory methods like photovoice can enable communities to articulate alternative understandings of transport justice and accessibility. Building on my MSc, I investigate how grassroots approaches and collaborative governance can inform regional, place-based transport decarbonisation policies, while also delivering co-benefits across other sectors. I am particularly interested in how these approaches can promote policy alignment and reinforce the importance of fairness and equity in decarbonisation efforts.

Previously, I got my MSc in Sustainability in Transport from the University of Leeds. I wrote my MSc dissertation on how participatory methods such as Photovoice can involve diverse communities in local plan making for transport decarbonisation. Alongside my Masters, I gained valuable experience working in grassroots social enterprises, including a feminist social enterprise and an energy advice CIC. These experience highlighted the disconnect between top-down policy approaches and lived experiences of energy and transport challenges, particularly for marginalised communities, shaping my commitment to interdisciplinary approaches and inclusive actions in transport policy.

Research interests

 

1. Governance of decarbonisation
2. Environmental justice in transport systems
3. Place-based approaches to decarbonisation
4. The role of scale and policy in transport decarbonisation
5. Participatory methods in decision-making