Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford

• caitlin.hafferty@ouce.ox.ac.uk

• Ecosystems Theme

Caitlin is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Environmental Social Science interested in addressing interlinked social, environmental, and economic challenges through interdisciplinary and participatory research. Her research broadly explores the governance and equity dimensions of nature recovery and nature-based solutions. She is particularly interested in effective and meaningful public and stakeholder engagement in environmental decision-making processes.

She is currently working with the Nature-based Solutions Initiative as part of the Agile Initiative, on a project that explores scaling-up nature-based solutions in the UK. This will lead on to further research exploring the governance and equity of nature restoration efforts in two case study landscapes (Oxfordshire and the central Scottish Highlands) as part of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery.

Caitlin recently completed her PhD at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), which focused on practitioners' perspectives of effective engagement in the digital age. During her PhD, she completed research internships with Natural England and the Welsh Government, as well as contributing expertise to the Defra Science Advisory Council (SAC) Social Science Expert Group (SSEG) review of public engagement. Caitlin has also worked on a number of interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects funded by Defra, Natural England, NICRE, and Innovate UK. Caitlin is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and member of the Participatory Geographies Research Group (PyGyRG) and Digital Geographies Research Group (DGRG).

Reports

• Hafferty, C. (2022) Embedding an evidence-led, best practice culture of engagement: learning from the evidence. Natural England Research Report NEER021.
• Chivers, C., Hafferty, C., Reed, M. and Raseta, S. (2022) Exploring the socio-economic innovation capacities of rural food, farming, and forestry small-medium enterprises. NICRE Research Report No.1: July.
• Chiswell, H., Hafferty, C., Kubinakova, K., and Goodenough, A. (2022) Evidence-led, best practice engagement in Natural England, Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire (internal report).
• Kindred, D., Ingram, J., Hafferty, C., Gairdner, J., Bouvet, L., Fellows, C. and Cooney, B. (2021) Farm Performance Enhancement Platform: Appraisal of the impacts of COVID-19 on Knowledge Exchange in Agriculture: Summary. UKRI.
• Short, C., Hafferty, C., Hobbs, S., Lenormand, T., Malekinezhad, F., and Morse, A. (2021). The role of English agri-environment schemes in managing geological SSSIs: Environmental Stewardship Monitoring & Evaluation Framework. Natural England.
• Hafferty, Caitlin (2020) What factors are linked to people living in households that are in material deprivation? Technical Report. Welsh Government, Cardiff.
• Hafferty, Caitlin (2020) What factors are linked to people feeling able to influence decisions affecting their local area? Technical Report. Welsh Government, Cardiff.
• Hafferty, Caitlin (2020) What factors are linked to people agreeing that their local area has a sense of community? Technical Report. Welsh Government, Cardiff.
• Hafferty, Caitlin (2020) What factors are linked to people being satisfied with the area that they live in? Technical Report. Welsh Government, Cardiff.
• Hafferty, Caitlin (2020) What factors are linked to people feeling safe in their local area? Technical Report. Welsh Government, Cardiff.
• Hafferty, Caitlin (2020) What factors are linked to people speaking the Welsh language? Technical Report. Welsh Government, Cardiff.
• Short, C., Breyer, J., Bell, G., Jackson-Matthews, S., Hafferty, C., McLaren, C. and Ord-Hume, D. (2020) LM0481: Assessment of the impact of agri-environment schemes on SSSI recovery. Project Report. CCRI, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham.

Papers

• Ingram, J., Maye, D., Bailye, C., Barnes, A., Bear, C., Bell, M., Cutress, D., Davies, L., de Boon, A., Dinnie, L. and Gairdner, J., Hafferty, C., Holloway, L., et al. (2022) What are the priority research questions for digital agriculture? Land Use Policy, 114 :105962.

Book chapters

• Hafferty, C., Babelon, I., Berry, B., Brockett, B., Hoggett, J. (in press). 'Digital tools for participatory environmental decision-making: challenges, opportunities, and future directions'. In: Sherren, K., Thondhlana, G., and Jackson-Smith, D. (eds). Opening Windows: Emerging Perspectives, Practices and Opportunities in Natural Resource Social Sciences. Utah State University Press.