2024 PhD Project
About The Project
Water is an important, yet mismanaged and undervalued resource. As our water systems suffer degradation and further pollution, it is more important than ever to educate young people about water. However, as education systems become squeezed by focusing on testing and achievement, the opportunities for young people to learn outside of the classroom are diminishing. This leaves key questions about how young people will learn about the value of water, how best to use and reuse it, and learn to protect water and our environment.
In support of Nottingham’s 2028 Carbon Neutral Action Plan, this collaborative research project will explore the attitudes of young people in Nottingham towards water useage. This project also looks to collect data on behaviours and values around water, in the context of specific educational interventions which aim to change attitudes.
Working with Dragon Breath Theatre, the researcher will engage with several Nottingham and Nottinghamshire primary schools and visitors to the Papplewick Pumping Station Museum and evaluate existing educational approaches and interventions which aim to enhance the importance of water and its sustainable use and reuse. As well as examining the role of community partnerships in educating young people through immersive drama, this project will investigate to what extent, and how, the key areas of water management and carbon neutral futures are currently taught in local schools.
This PhD project is grounded in an interdisciplinary approach, combining history, sciences, engineering and the arts, and would best suit a social sciences perspective to support sustainable attitudes and behaviours in relation to water use across Nottinghamshire communities.
Project Aims
The key aims of this research are:
- To understand perceptions and attitudes of Nottingham’s young people towards water use, and identify ongoing educational needs
- To benchmark water behaviours within Nottinghamshire communities via engagement with primary schools and visitors to Papplewick Pumping Station
- To explore how educational initiatives based on immersive drama can support school and public education around Nottingham’s water stories and how we can best use and reuse water today and in the future.
The Project Team
- PhD Candidate: Saima Khan, NTU
- Lead Academic Supervisor: Dr Frances Howard, NTU
- Academic Co-Supervisor: Prof Rachel Louise Gomes, UoN
- Community Supervisors: Nettie Scriven and Peter Rumney, Dragon Breath Theatre and Ashley Smart, Papplewick Pumping Station