Catherine Bottrill

A major cultural shift towards an environmental ethic I feel is needed if the challenges climate change presents are to be addressed. Sustainability brings into question many of our lifestyle practices and requires a re-visioning of lifestyles to meet human needs. I am interested in what and how social processes need to be mobilised to facilitate a transformation of society whereby environmental protection and social justice is at its heart.

I am currently half through a doctorate study at the University of Surrey investigating what the UK music sector is doing in the climate change arena and what role it thinks it has for supporting a transition to low carbon living. My doctorate developed from First Step, a research project I lead with colleagues at the Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI) that scoped the annual GHG emissions of UK music sector. The First Step report was on behalf of Julie’s Bicycle, a non-profit organisation set-up by UK music sector business leaders to work together on creating a low carbon creative economy. It has been fascinating over the last 2-years studying how such a pivotal lifestyles industry engages in climate change action and might lever its influence with its supply chain and audiences to help catalyse environmental change.

I was an energy researcher at the ECI for a number of years investigating pathways to the creation of a low carbon energy system specialising on energy efficiency and behaviour change. I examined a novel carbon policy such as personal carbon allowances – a national cap and trade scheme designed for participation by individuals whereby each person receives an annual carbon allowance for home energy and transport use.

I am co-inventor of two software tools designed for home (imeasure) and business (smeasure) energy management, which enable users to longitudinally measure, monitor and target building energy use. I created these tools to make energy management accessible for non-energy geeks and to provide a rich data set for the energy research community.

I guess would describe myself as transatlantic – I have lived, studied and worked in UK and US. My undergraduate study was in Geography at St. Andrews University and my master study was in environmental management at Yale University. I have done research in Pakistan and India as part of my studies.