Lucy Michaels (Research Fellow)
Lucy Michaels (Research Fellow)
I am based at CIM working with Maria Puig de la Bellacasa on the AHRC funded-project, Ecological Belongings:Transforming soil culture through science, activism and art (March 2021 – September 2022).
Areas of interest: Political economy, science and technology studies, environmental psychology, mixed methods, environmental peace-building, animal welfare.
Academic Profile
Ph.D. Environmental Studies – Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
MA (Econ) International Development – University of Manchester, UK
BA (Econ) Social Anthropology – University of Manchester, UK
Research Profile
I am an academic and NGO researcher working in UK and Israel/ Palestine.
Between 2000-2005 I was director and agribusiness researcher at Oxford-based research co-operative, Corporate Watch.
Between 2006-2012, I was a teaching assistant and later lecturer at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel (AIES). AIES is an environmental studies and research institute in the Middle East with a student body composed of Jordanians, Palestinians, Israelis, and participants from around the world.
My PhD research at Ben Gurion University used a novel mixed methods approach to explore the discourses shaping Israeli social and political inaction around climate change. It identified distinct discourses reflecting social cleavages in Israeli society, and focused in particular on the dominant discourse around techno-optimism.
In 2009, I was a USIEF-Fulbright Fellow at the Yale Project for Climate Change Communication, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Between 2013-2015, I was a post-doctoral research fellow at the School of Sustainability, at the Interdisciplinary Centre (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, researching factors influencing the acceptance of new household energy technologies.
Since 2015, I have worked for Ecostorm Environmental Investigations in the UK co-ordinating major research projects for Greenpeace, Compassion in World Farming, Beyond GM, The Guardian, Changing Markets Foundation and World Animal Protection.
Academic Publications
Books
2003 Hungry Corporations: Transnational Biotech corporations colonise the food chain (with H. Paul, R. Steinbrecher and D. Kuyek). London: Zed Books
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
2022 “A ‘Light Unto the Nations?’ Technology and Techno-optimism in Israeli climate discourse”. With Elai Rettig (in process).
2016 “Motivations and barriers to integrating ‘prosuming’ services into the future decentralized electricity grid: Findings from Israel.” With Yael Parag. Energy Research and Social Science Vol 21, November 2016 pp. 70-83 Journal Impact factor: 8.04
2015 “Convergence and Conflict with ‘National Interest’: Why Israel abandoned its climate policy”. With Alon Tal. Energy Policy 87:480-485 Journal Impact factor:2.969
Book Chapters
2019 The Climate Smokescreen: The Public Relations consultancies working to obstruct greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Europe”: a critical approach (with K. Ainger). In Climate Change Denial and PR eds. Nuria Almiron & Jordi Xifra. London: Routledge
2014 Climate Change and trans-boundary initiatives in the Jordan River Basin: Can civil society show the way? In Adaptation to Climate Change through Water Resources Management: Capacity, Equity, and Sustainability, eds. D. Stucker & E. Lopez-Gunn. London: Routledge
2013 Anthropogenic climate change in Israel (with P. Alpert). In Between Ruin and Restoration: An Environmental History of Israel, eds. A. Tal, D. Orenstein & C. Miller. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press
2008 The Role of Civil Society in Addressing Transboundary Water Issues in the Israeli-Palestinian Context (with G. Bromberg & I. Aburdeineh). In Water Wisdom, eds A. Tal & A. Abed-Rabbo. Rutgers University Press
Contact
Email: lucy dot michaels at warwick dot ac dot uk