Amanda Slevin

Dr Amanda Slevin is a social scientist, educator and qualitative researcher who researches, teaches and writes about some of the most pressing challenges facing our socio-ecological world. Her policy-engaged research interests span multiple levels of analysis and include: anthropogenic climate change; climate praxis; policy frameworks, decision-making and practices surrounding climate action and hydrocarbon extraction; energy conflicts and just transition; ideology and resource management; transformative pedagogy; community activism; community participation in decision-making and multi-level climate action. Amanda works as Policy Fellow with the Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN), School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics in Queen's University Belfast. Through her role with the ESRC-funded PCAN, Amanda co-established and supports development of Belfast Climate Commission and its working groups; she co-founded and chairs the Commission's Community Climate Action Working Group. Co-Director of QUB's Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action, Amanda initiated and co-convenes QUB's first Faculty AHSS interdisciplinary module on sustainability and climate breakdown ('What is to be done? Sustainability, climate change and just energy transitions in the Anthropocene', PAI 1010) and she is actively involved in advancing QUB-wide sustainability teaching and learning. As Chair of Climate Coalition Northern Ireland, Amanda collaborates with a diverse range of civil society organisations and cross-party, cross-community politicians around development of Northern Ireland's first Climate Change Bill (introduced to the NI Assembly on 22 March 2021). Amanda is Principal Investigator for 'Mapping Community Climate Action' (participatory action research on community climate action in the Belfast City Region, co-developed with Community Climate Action Working Group members), 'Pathways for Sustainability' (qualitative research with QUB staff and students on QUB teaching and learning on the Sustainable Development Goals, Co-Investigators are Prof. John Barry and Dr Colin McClure), and 'Creating our Vision for a Greener Future' (a staff-student collaboration focused on using arts-based methods to engage members of the public around climate breakdown, sustainability and just transition). Amanda's Irish Research Council funded PhD research (2009-2013, UCD) was the first academic study of Irish state hydrocarbon management and its consequences for communities and wider society, culminating in her monograph Gas, oil and the Irish state: Understanding the dynamics and conflicts of hydrocarbon management (2016, 2017, Manchester University Press) and other publications. Amanda's professional background in community development, adult and community education influences her academic work and she is committed to public engagement and communicating social science research within wider society. Hand in hand with traditional research dissemination activities (e.g. books, journal articles, conference papers), Amanda regularly organises, co-organises and participates in public engagement events, writes accessible articles and engages in public debate on socio-ecological issues via contributions to policy development and media interviews. She is Series Editor for 'Socio-ecological crises: Responses, challenges and opportunities', a new book series with Peter Lang Publishers which seeks to make scientific research and sustainability praxis accessible to a general audience. As a result of her cross-cutting, multi-stakeholder sustainability and climate action activities, Amanda was highly commended in the Green Gown Awards (UK and Ireland) Staff Sustainability Champion category; she was also a finalist in the 'Benefitting Society' award category. In tandem with her work on socio-ecological issues, Amanda has undertaken research on broader social, economic and political issues within contemporary society and was involved in ‘Generation What’, a pan-European research project on the views and experiences of nearly one million 18-34 year olds. Working with colleagues in UCD's School of Sociology, Amanda was part of the research team that analysed findings of the survey completed by over 33,000 young people in Ireland; she also provided analysis of the Irish findings in a RTÉ 2 documentary which was televised in October-November 2017.