
Dr Candice Howarth from the University of Surrey has started her work as the Nexus Network Nexus Shocks Fellowship holder.
The Fellowship will explore in greater depth and build on the findings of the Nexus Shocks network activities funded under a Nexus network networking grant. It will analyse strategic national processes of decision-making and risk management in the UK, with a view to improving responsiveness in shock scenarios affecting the food energy water environment nexus.
Dr Candice Howarth will lead the research which will explore the extent to which nexus thinking could increase resilience to shocks to the nexus, and the role of social sciences and nexus thinking in informing these processes. This will entail engaging with the members of the Nexus Shocks network, and others as appropriate, to conduct a review of experience, evidence and lessons learnt from historical, nexus and non-nexus shocks. This will also enable an assessment of different traits that might define a nexus shock, its surrounding context and explore existing approaches for assessing shocks and expectations for responses and resilience.
The Fellowship will build on a series of questions that emerged from the Nexus Shocks network workshops, including:
- How does resilience evolve in the context of a nexus shock?
- How do policy/decision-makers deal with uncertainty and make firm decisions based on uncertain science in this context?
- How is the process of decision-making shaped and affected by different types of evidence drawn from particular disciplinary perspectives?
For further details please contact Candice.howarth@surrey.ac.uk