Skip to main content
Nick Hacking   BA (Hons) MSc AFHEA

Dr Nick Hacking

(he/him)

BA (Hons) MSc AFHEA

Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Nick Hacking

Overview

My research covers the environmental governance of sustainability transitions in the waste, resources and energy sectors (specifically the 'circular economy'). In the governance of normative shifts towards sustainability, I am particularly interested in the role of space, place, networked power relations, health, innovation, environmental justice and epistemic injustice.

My research activity covers the delivery of new 'greener' infrastructure via national and regional planning systems (e.g. energy-from-waste facilities, energy-from-biomass energy plants and hydrogen facilities). I currently maintain contact with several communities in England and Wales where such infrastructure has been (or is being) located.

While working for the WISERD research institute (2021-3), I was involved in ESRC-funded research into citizen science and the planning system. I remain affiliated to WISERD.

Previously, in GEOPL, I completed two ESRC-funded projects on the impact of Brexit on the UK's waste and resources sector and how standards are being used with circular economy initiatives, respectively. Overall, my research has distinct theoretical, empirical, methodological and policy dimensions.

Publication

2024

2023

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Articles

Book sections

Conferences

Monographs

Thesis

Websites

Research

I research the improved governance of waste, resources and energy (the ‘circular economy’). This interdisciplinary area of research links urban planning, human geography and sustainable development.

Firstly, the European Union (EU) has historically played a central role in reshaping the UK’s approach to sustainable waste management. Formerly waste materials attracted a zero or negative value and the favoured disposal option was landfill. Now, waste materials are regarded as resources with value for the economy. This gradual shift in policy, practice and the conceptualisation of materials has been accompanied by similarly profound developments in governance including:

  • traditional regulatory approaches to waste management have been supplemented by voluntary measures, especially via standards;
  • the site of much governing activity has shifted upwards from London to Brussels and downwards to the devolved nations with a consequent increase in policy variation;
  • local authority waste management operations are joined by social enterprises and waste companies in delivering waste and resources management policy; and
  • policy itself, under the umbrella of the Circular Economy (CE) principles, is demanding more holistic, integrated approaches and a multi-scalar organisation of material supply chains.

Whilst never settled or secure, these complex arrangements for governing materials have faced major uncertainties since Brexit. In an increasingly fluid picture of materials governance, there are major uncertainties in knowing where things are physically circulating - this presents problems in assessing performance and change.

Secondly, I research public participation in the planning system, specifically when communities opt to undertake citizen science or 'community science' in defiance of a development. Meaningful public participation, as a key part of effective waste governance, is supposed to help avoid unsustainable social, economic and environmental outcomes at local, regional and global levels.

However, many of the newer, more sustainable waste projects - often involving advanced clean technologies - are sited near to relatively deprived communities. These places typically have long histories of environmental degradation from past and present polluting industrial activity. Deep concerns exist with some community members, local politicians and NGOs about the cumulative impact on the environmental health of such additional industrial activity. This place-specific context, involving issues of expertise and 'epistemic injustice' (Fricker, 2007), also feeds public distrust with the regulator, local government bodies and developer/operators.

Teaching

My current teaching contributions focus on planning, human geography, methods and sustainable environmental governance:

  • CP0149 - Key Issues in Urban Planning
  • CP0273 - Developing Research Methods
  • CP0354 - Planning Placement Students
  • CP0375 - Climate Change and Environmental Governance
  • CPT831 - Live Project (for planners on placement)
  • CPT855 - Environmental Policy & Climate Change
  • CPT878 - Planning for Sustainability

 

In the past, I have contributed to:

  • CP0144 - Urban Economies
  • CP0148 - Making Knowledge
  • CPT826 - Environmental Management
  • CPT885 - Governance of the Eco-city Development Process
  • CPT893 - Researching Urban & Regional Development

 

Biography

Education and qualifications

  • 2017: PhD Sustainability, Cardiff University
  • 2010: MSc Sustainability, Planning & Environmental Policy, Cardiff University
  • 1990: BA (Hons) Geography, University of Manchester

Professional memberships

  • The European Association for the Study of Science and Technology
  • The Circular Economy Research and Innovation Group Wales (Welsh Government and Swansea University)
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the Environment Research Group
  • Member of the Spatial Planning and Analysis in City Environments Group
  • Member of the Energy Research Cluster
  • Affiliate member of the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management (CIWM)
  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS)

Academic positions

  • 2018-present: Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University
  • 2016-2018: Contract Research Associate, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University
  • 2013-2013: Research Assistant, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University
  • 2010-2013: Research Assistant, Low Carbon Research Institute, Cardiff University

Contact Details

Specialisms

  • circular economy
  • Waste management, reduction, reuse and recycling
  • Public participation and community engagement
  • environmental governance
  • citizen science