Led by Dr Faye Wade and Dr Sarah Parry

As a policy target, households have tended to be understood as an aggregated site, often bundled into broad categories for ease of statistical forecasting, with householders conceptualised as consumers or users, rather than active participants who can inform changes. These categories oversimplify social relations within households and their position within communities.

The sustainable households theme will focus on opportunities and challenges to deliver a just transition that is attuned to community-based expertise, intersectionality, digitalisation, and human-nature relations.

In turn, the theme will catalyse a cohesive network that amplifies Scotland’s existing strengths in the social sciences, arts and humanities for informing research and policy agendas and enable collaboration for these network members with STEM researchers and non-academic partners. Thereby, building community capacity to shape research and policy agendas.