Dr Sarah Royston

Sarah carries out interdisciplinary research on sustainability and society, with particular interests in creative practices, everyday life, and institutional change. 

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Background

Sarah's past work has explored the intersections of creativity and sustainability; the role of sensory experience in energy-related practices; and how sustainable practices evolve over time. Having also worked in the NGO sector, Sarah takes a cross-sectoral, transdisciplinary approach to research on social and environmental challenges.

Sarah completed a PhD in Social Policy at the University of York (2007-2011), with a thesis exploring individuals’ life-stories about climate change action. She was seconded to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology to write a briefing on 'Climate Change: Engagement and Behaviour', and worked within the DEMAND centre at the University of Sussex, investigating how non-energy policies shape energy use.

Sarah joined the Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) in May 2019 to help bring expertise from the Social Sciences and Humanities into European energy policy-making. Sarah now works within the GSI’s theme on Creativity and Imagination, on projects such as LEAP Lab (Living Experiments in Arts-Science Practice to Re-imagine Sustainability) and the Writers’ HQ Festival of Writing as Resistance. She is keen to build links with creative practitioners and researchers in this field.

Research interests

• Intersections of sustainability research and creative practices, especially in writing
• Everyday practices, sensory experience and know-how
• In-depth qualitative methodologies, especially narrative and biographical approaches
• Queer ecologies
• Re-enchantment as resistance

Areas of research supervision

Sarah is happy to hear from potential PhD researchers in the social sciences whose theoretical and methodological interests align with those above. Particular topics of focus include:

• Creative writing and sustainability 
• Narrative and biographical methodologies in sustainability research
• Engagement and connection with biodiversity and green spaces

Qualifications

• PhD Social Policy, University of York
• MRes Social Research Methods, University of York
• MA Sustainable Development, University of Leeds
• BA Geography, University of Cambridge

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

Knowledge exchange

• Royston, S. and Deyn, K. (2024) "Re-enchantment and the Mythic Landscape" workshop, Forum Books, Whitley Bay, 19th October.
• Royston, S. (2024) "Challenging assumptions on sustainability in writing and publishing" workshop, The Seeds in the Dirt Imaginarium, Cambridge, 19th April.
• Royston, S. (2023) "Smart eHealth Utopia?", invited presentation to the Royal Geographical Society webinar series on Health+Energy, 21st April.
• Reviewer, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Horizon Scan on ‘Changing consumption to meet environmental goals’ , and expert contributor on ‘Environmental Housing Standards ’ POSTnote, 2021.

Selected recent publications

Royston, S. (2024) Fernseed: A Collection of Tales, The Braag: Newcastle upon Tyne.

Royston, S. (2024) The Waking of the English Blandscape, Undefined Boundary, 2(2), March.

Royston, S. (2024) The uses of enchantment, Notes from the Edge, Dialect, 23rd February.

Royston, S., Foulds, F., Pasqualino, R. and Jones, A. (2023) Masters of the machinery: The politics of economic modelling within European Union energy policy, Energy Policy, 173, 113386.

Alda-Vidal, C., Khalid, R., Foulds, C., Royston, S. and Greene, M. (2023) Gender imaginaries in energy transitions: How professionals construct and envision gender equity in energy access in the Global South, World Development, 168, 106258.

Greene, M. and Royston, S. (2021) Can people talk about their past practices? Challenges, opportunities, and practical applications of biographic inquiry for geographic research on consumption . Area, 00, 1– 12.

Royston, S. and Foulds, C. (2021) The making of energy evidence: How exclusions of Social Sciences and Humanities are reproduced (and what researchers can do about it). Energy Research & Social Science, 77, 102084.

Royston, S., Selby, J., and Kesidou, S. (2020) Governing energy in organisations: Energy management professionals, marginalised practices, and the limits to change. Environmental Policy and Governance 1–16.

Royston, S. and Selby, J. (2019) Non-Energy Policy, in “Energy Fables: Challenging Ideas in the Energy Sector”, edited by Jenny Rinkinen, Elizabeth Shove and Jacopo Torriti.

Royston, S., Selby, J. and Shove, E. (2018) Invisible energy policies: A new agenda for energy demand reduction. Energy Policy 123, p127-135.