Abstract
Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science (ACCESS) is an Economic and Social
Research Council (ESRC) funded project, which aims to champion and coordinate social science
research, to build capacity and promote and enhance the value of environmental social science in
research and practice to address key environmental challenges.
ACCESS’s first step is to learn from the past experiences of social scientists in climate and
environment training, research, policy and practice through various research activities. This report
summarises the key findings of one of these activities: exploratory interviews with participants from
academic, governmental and non-governmental sectors to explore the impact of UK-based
Environmental Social Science (ESS) into policy and practice. Specifically, this report focuses on
participants’ experiences of the factors hindering or enhancing the integration of ESS into policy and
practice. The aim of this research is to provide evidence to promote greater inclusion of ESS
into policy and practice by outlining the key factors influencing its impact.
To achieve these wider project aims, findings presented here will be combined with evidence emerging
from other activities conducted within the ACCESS project to inform a broader set of
recommendations to enhance the inclusion of ESS into research, training and policy and practice. This
is with the wider ACCESS goal of supporting and building capacity for ESS in the UK. Findings
presented in this report, and subsequent reports of this nature, can be applicable for those working in
academia, the government agencies (intermediates), non-governmental organisations, and the policy
makers wanting to understand current and future ways in which UK-based ESS can be integrated into
research, training, and policy and practice. It is important to note that perceptions of enhancing and
hindering factors were collected through the interviews; assessing the extent of their reality in practice
would require other observatory methods that were not undertaken in this study (see Newman,
2023).