Environmental issues are ultimately social issues. They are caused, understood, and must be solved, by people as individuals, groups, communities, political and institutional systems. Yet, the value of the environmental social sciences in interdisciplinary research, policy and practice is not always well understood.

In 2022, the UK Economic and Social Science Research Council funded a 5-year knowledge exchange program to champion environmental social sciences (ESS) in the UK. It soon emerged that championing environmental social sciences requires a shared understanding of what ESS actually are. This includes defining ESS, describing who works in the field, and outlining who may benefit from engaging with ESS, including when, why and how. There are several reasons why this is a challenge, including existing disciplinary boundaries and tensions within academia and varied perceptions of what ‘good’ science is, or should be. Moreover, perspectives of what a description of ESS should include and look like varies between academic and non-academic fields; an additional challenge for knowledge exchange.

We set out to develop a concise, comprehensive description of environmental social sciences (ESS) that can be used by those working in, and with, ESS to champion its value and use in interdisciplinary research, policy and practice. Our aim was to create a description of the field that captures its core principles as well as its complexity. This description was developed by a transdisciplinary group of UK-based environmental social scientists working in academic and non-academic fields based on a review of existing literature and a series of group discussions.

We define ESS as the (systematic) study of the interrelationship between three dynamic components: people, the social environment, the non-human natural environment. We distinguish three distinct and complementary types of knowledge: instrumental, diagnostic/evaluative and critical/innovative. Through examples and case studies, we demonstrate when and how different types of ESS knowledge can be beneficial at different stages of research and practice projects.

Environmental social sciences are often perceived to have less impact than other scientific perspectives. To help make a case for its value and importance it is essential that those working in the field develop and hold a shared description of the field that captures its breath and depth. Having a definition of ESS that is sensitive of disciplinary tensions and boundaries is vital to help demonstrate if, when and how the field can help understand and tackle people-environment challenges.