Doctor Liz Sharp

Summary

Liz undertakes interpretive research on the governance of socio-technical systems in the urban environment with a particular focus on the range of interactions between governance organisations (including service providers and regulators) and the public. Specifically she is interested in how social technical systems evolve and influence the provision of key services (mostly water, waste and energy) within the urban system. Her current empirical focus delves the policy assumptions and aspirations of providers and regulators about citizen-consumer responsibilities and preferences, in relation to water scarcity, energy (in) efficiency, drainage, and river management. In particular, she explores the extent to which policies match the understandings of the public whom they seek to influence. 

Educational record:

• BA Geography and Management 1989 Cambridge
• MA Town and Regional Planning 1994 Sheffield
• PhD Contesting Sustainability 1999 Sheffield

Full-time employment history:

• 2002-date Senior lecturer, Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Bradford. 
• 2005 Visiting Scholar, Monash University, Melbourne, Department of Geography and Environmental Science (water management)
• 1998-2002 Lecturer, Department of Environmental Science University of Bradford
• 2000-2001 Post graduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (University of Bradford). 
• 1994-1998 Doctoral researcher, Dept. Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield. Funded by ESRC studentship
• 1992-1994 MA, Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield;
• 1990-1992 Environmental Consultant, CL Associates, Birmingham (focus: contaminated land & waste management);
• 1986-1989 BA Geography & Management, Emmanuel College, Cambridge (2:1)

Recent research activities include:

• 2010-2014 PREPARED (EU Framework 7 Project) concerning water systems preparedness for climate change. 
• 2009-2011 Ashford's Integrated Alertness (AIA) project
• 2008-2011 URSULA (Urban Rivers and Sustainable Urban Living Agendas)
• 2005-2010 Pennine Water Group: Developing the Knowledge and Tools for Sustainable Urban Water Services
• 2007-2008 River Aire Strategic Study.

Recent Professional Activities:

• 2007-date Consultant for MWH and other consultants to undertake DCWW (Welsh Water's) 'Surface Water Management Strategy'.
• 2008 External consultant to ARUP for Bradford Resource Futures work.
• 2008 Oversaw community and stakeholder elements of two DEFRA funded 'Integrated Urban Drainage Pilot Projects'.
• 2007 Worked with Resource Futures and the Social Marketing Foundation to carry out work for the Environment Agency on the promotion of water efficiency
• 2007 Collaboration with Folkstone and Dover Water Services and Veolia Water to carry out qualitative evaluation of compulsory water metering
• 2006 Worked with Essex and Suffolk Water - for qualitative research on householders attitudes to water efficiency.

Recent Publications:

• Westling, E.,  L. Sharp., B. Surridge and D. Lerner. (under review), 'River restoration: exploring the social impacts of ecologically-driven change', River Research and Applications
• Sharp, L and J Dixon, (under review), 'Exploring disciplinary and user interactions in strategic research projects. Research Policy'
• Sharp, L , A. McDonald., P. Sim., C Knamiller., C Sefton and S. Wong (undergoing revision following review), 'Cross disciplinary insights on domestic water demand. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers'
• Westling. E., D. Lerner and L. Sharp, (forthcoming). Using secondary data to analyse the impact of water management actions. Journal of Environmental Management,
• Wong, S and Sharp, L. (2009). 'Making power explicit in sustainable water innovation: re-linking subjectivity, institution and structure through environmental citizenship. Environmental Politics. 18(1) 18- 37.
• Knamiller. C. and Sharp. L. (2009). 'Issues of trust, fairness and efficacy: a qualitative study of information provision for newly metered households in England. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 9(3), 323-331.
• Hopkinson. P., L. Sharp., S. Miles and L. Comerford-Boyles (2009). 'From Harvard to Bradford; experiences of running a peer education for sustainable development project'. PLANET: Learning and teaching in Geography and Earth Science, 22, 34-38.
• Thatcher. J. and Sharp. L. (2008). 'Measuring the Local Impact of NHS procurement in the UK: an evaluation of the Cornwall Food Project and LM3'. Local Environment 13(3), 253-270.
• Sharp. L. (2008). 'User interactions in strategic research: The example of two UK 'Integrated Urban Drainage Pilots. Paper presented at the 11th Integrated Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, UK, September 2008'.
• Knamiller. C. and Sharp. L. (2008). 'Information provision to support newly metered households in England: results from a qualitative case study. Paper presented at the 11th Integrated Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, UK, September 2008.
• Dixon. J and Sharp. L (2007). 'Collaborative research in sustainable water management: issues of inter-disciplinarity.' Inter-disciplinary Science Reviews, 32(3), 221-232.
• Kennedy. S., Lewis. L., Sharp. L. and Wong. S. (2007). Sustainable Urban Water Management (SUWM) In Urban Regeneration Projects. pp 681-688 In: Water management challenges in global change: Proceedings of the combined international conference of computing and control for the water industry (CCWI2007) and sustainable urban water management (SUWM2007) (Ed, Ulanicki, B., Vairavamoorthy, K., Butler, D., Bounds, P.L.M., Memon, F.A.,) De Montfort Leicester, UK: Taylor & Francis, London.
• Knamiller. C., C. Sefton., L. Sharp and W. Medd, (2007). Water in Everyday Use: A study of water-using technologies and the water user in Essex. pp 329-336 In: Water management challenges in global change: Proceedings of the combined international conference of computing and control for the water industry (CCWI2007) and sustainable urban water management (SUWM2007) ( Ed, Ulanicki, B., Vairavamoorthy, K., Butler, D., Bounds, P.L.M., Memon, F.A.,) De Montfort Leicester, UK: Taylor & Francis, London.