Graham Gill

Profile

Biography

I’ve been with the Department of Sociology since 2018 when I initially started an MA (by Research), that was subsequently converted to a PhD. Prior to this I studied a BSc in Environment, Economics and Ecology in the Department of Environment & Geography also at York.

Previously, I worked in HR as a Project Manager. But, with a love for the environment and being concerned by how the economy is so destructive ecologically, and also socially, I decided to study the sociological side of the environment.

Accordingly, though my PhD is around urban sustainability, as an undergraduate and through a research scholarship, I’ve explored many different research areas prior to settling on this, notably around perceptions of community renewable energy and the behavioural effects of co-operatively owned businesses.

Research

Overview

My PhD, entitled ‘Urban Sustainability Amid Neoliberal Realism’, focusses on how cities may make sustainability shifts given the ways they are constrained. This is an inductive inquiry study in which, having observed that the ways in which both academic literature and policymakers were inadequate, I conducted semi-structured interviews with policymakers and key stakeholders, primarily in York, but also in Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh, Plymouth and Preston to understand urban sustainability.

Given that cities contribute 75 per cent of carbon emissions and are often the location of the worst deprivation, while being on the scale at which local democracy functions, offering alternatives to the hegemony of the political economy, urban sustainability is a greatly pertienent research area.

Find out more and view my publications on ResearchGate.