The human dimension

Professor Stephen Webb is driving a unique study that could change the debate on technologies for reducing carbon emissions.

Climate change is widely accepted as one of the major challenges facing today’s world.  The science and the solutions are argued across the globe from Fortune 500 boardrooms to dinner tables in the outback.

For most, the discussion centres on issues such as global warming, carbon emissions and our reliance on fossil fuels. However, Professor Stephen Webb believes there is a significant aspect of the debate – the people factor – that is being neglected.

Webb, the director of the University’s Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW), says people’s awareness and acceptance of new carbon abatement technologies are crucial pieces of the climate change jigsaw.

“We all know that public perception has a huge impact on government policy and industry direction,” Webb says. Public protest can make or break any new carbon reduction initiative.

“Technology alone cannot change energy behaviour unless it is accepted by society. It is often the case that innovations are technologically rich but socially poor.”

With world-recognised research expertise in science and technology studies, the University of Newcastle is uniquely placed to spearhead this new area of study into the social dimension of energy and resources. Webb, a leading international authority in human sciences, is directing a groundbreaking interdisciplinary study on public response to clean coal technologies which draws on expertise of researchers from both the University’s Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER) and RISIW.

The NSW government-funded project is evaluating how much people in Upper Hunter mining communities understand about the process of carbon capture and storage and their level of acceptance of this emerging technology.

In an Australian first, the project employs a research methodology known as Actor-Network Theory (ANT). This European-influenced approach looks at how “science is made” and how individual perceptions and trust are shaped by their ‘networks’.The project also encompasses a methodology called ethnography, which involves first-hand observation and  requires researchers to live and work among the communities they are studying.

Webb says the NSW Clean Coal Council, which is funding the project, was impressed that the University research team offered a new approach to an old problem.

“We know that surveys and focus groups, with their 30-minute interview format, do not tell the real story. By living and working with communities and by immersing ourselves in their day-to-day lives, we gain their confidence and acquire a much more accurate picture of the rich and dynamic nature of social relationships,” Webb says.

“This is social science that is at the cutting edge, both theoretically and methodologically.”

Pushing the boundaries is a characteristic of the Institute where a progressive approach is encouraged across all of its research programs, which cover themes as diverse as postindustrial cities, urban futures, Indigenous entrepreneurship, social justice and welfare governance.

Webb has always rejected the idea of cookie cutter templates for  policy driven research, believing the best results to be derived from a combination of evidence and deep interpretation. He has penned many influential articles and several textbooks on the merits of evidence-based practice , including a 2001 article in the British Journal of Social Work which is the world’s highest cited article in the field and ranked as the most influential journal article in the discipline over the last decade. (Hodges et.al. 2001)

The University of Newcastle this year attained an Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) rating of four for social work, a result that rates its performance well above world standard and one of the highest in Australia. Webb attributes the outcome to a highly credentialed group of committed researchers with a prolific output of articles in A-rated scholarly journals and highly cited publications.

“We have a world-class professoriate here in social sciences and a team of top quality researchers with innovative ideas and a power of international reach across many different areas.”

Visit the RISIW website