Margaret Gearty
Margaret’s Phd project in lowcarbonworks:
I joined Lowcarbonworks just after I’d completed a Masters in Business and Responsibility at the University of Bath. Before that I’d spent 15 years working as an engineer and project manager in the hi-tech semiconductor industry. On Lowcarbonworks I’m interested in really getting behind examples of where innovations have occurred and finding new interesting ways to learn from them.
To do this I’m conducting what’s called a Learning History of innovative approaches to carbon reduction in Local Authorities. The learning history has been used with considerable success in settings ranging from Car Manufacturers to The Natural Step (a Swedish environmental education organisation).
It’s different from a conventional case study analysis in two main ways. First, by foregrounding the human story, it is not presenting a definitive, exhaustive explanation - rather it is working with multiple different perspectives that represent different levels too. So analysis, story, reflection and recollection all go side by side in the history. Second, by using an action research approach, particular attention is paid to there being value for the participants and for others influenced by the research.
So this is not extractive research. What we do with the Histories is as important as the documents themselves. Workshops, online support and other forms of engagement are being organised around the central ’story’ of low-carbon innovation in local authorities.
It’s been fascinating and inspiring to travel up and down the country this past year meeting individuals who have been involved in projects that show Low Carbon sometimes really does work!