Professor Sara Macbride-Stewart
BSc(Hons); DipCommPsych; PhD

: Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Sara Macbride-Stewart

Professor
School of Social Sciences

Sara MacBride-Stewart, Professor of Environmental Sociology

I am an experienced multidisciplinary academic working at the intersection of equity, climate, and health. My work promotes equitable responses to changes in the climate, environment and biodiversity. I am particularly focused on 'eco-equalities' and the prevention of new inequalities arising from environmental change, across social, cultural, and economic life. I am informed by critical environmental politics, eco-feminist studies, ecological and development and health/science and technology studies.

With over 20 years experience using collaborative, actionable, place-based methodologies I have developed an approach that mainstreams environmental and social justice. I have recently completed funded projects on:

Just Transition and Equality Mainstreaming Policy Development for Net Zero skills (Welsh Government)
Women in Farming Diversification in Wales (UKRI funded; LPIP)
Socio-political and postcolonial dimensions of biosecurity tree/forest management in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Cymru/Wales) (MFA Funded New Zealand)
Place-Based Citizen Science for water conservation in Malaysia (British Academy Newton Newton-Ungku Omar Fund)
Feminist New Green Deals for future transport and social care in Wales (Oxfam Cymru)
Rights and responsibilities to access and use of protected areas (Cardiff University)

I am active in supervising PhDs in our Environmental Sociology PhD group. I also teach programmes in environmental sociology, eco-equalities and qualitative methodologies at masters and undergraduate levels. I contribute to academic teaching innovation and mentorship in the UK and internationally.

I welcome students to contact me for postgraduate supervision in any of areas related to: critical environmental politics, environmental in/equalities, planetary health; environmental justice; gender, ecofeminism, feminist ecopolitics and new materialisms; environmental sociology; sustainable development, place-based citizen science and nature-based solutions, or socio-ecological analyses of environmental concerns focused on climate communities and rural policies.

I welcome collaborations across my research interests especially those that advance conceptual, methodological and collaborative or multidisciplinary approaches that make a difference to communities and places.

Publications

1. MacBride-Stewart, S., Alison, P., Ashworth, R., and Rachel, M (2026) Eco-equalities for a Just Transition to Net Zero: Applying an equality mainstreaming framework. Energy Research & Social Science 131 (2026): 104495.

2. MacBride-Stewart, S., Baker, L., Parken, A., & Bonner, E (2025). Next Steps for Women in Farming Diversification in Wales. Policy Brief – Briefing 2. Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales. LPIP Rural Wales

3. Parken, A., & MacBride-Stewart, S. (2025). Green, Fair and Caring: A feminist roadmap for Wales. Oxfam Cymru

4. Finlay-Smits, S; Ayala, M; Allen, W; Grant, A; Greenaway, A; MacBride-Stewart, S; O'Brien, L; Ehler, K.S, (2025) Decolonising knowledge practices in biosecurity: Developing a reflective toolkit for more inclusive, equitable, and respectful research People and Nature (2025-06-17)

5. Kadir, S.N.A., MacBride-Stewart, S., & Mohamad, Z.F. (2024) Unpacking place-based narratives: enhancing campus community participation in watershed conservation International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 25(8), 1787-1802.

6. Parken, A., MacBride-Stewart, S., Ashworth, R., & Minto, R. (2023). An equal and just transition-mainstreaming equality evidence panel-summary report (Update December 2023). Oxfam Cymru

7. MacBride-Stewart, S., McEntee, M., Macknight, V., Medvecky, F., and Martin, M. (2023). What We Do in Kauri Forests: Exploring the Affective Worlds of ‘High Risk’ Users of Vulnerable Forest Areas in Aotearoa|New Zealand. Knowledge Cultures, 11(1), 184–204.

8. MacBride-Stewart, S., O’Brien, L., Grant, A., Ayala, M., Finlay-Smits, S., Allen, W., and Greenaway, A. (2023). Healing Fragmentation of Forest Biosecurity Networks: A Conceptual and Reflexive Mapping Analysis of Postcolonial Relations that Matter in Aotearoa|New Zealand and Cymru|Wales. Knowledge Cultures, 11(1), 205–233.

9. Greenaway, A., MacBride-Stewart, S., Grant, A., Finlay-Smits, S., Ayala, M., Allen, W., O’Brien, L., and Martin, M. (2023). Positioning Research to Improve Tree-Biosecurity Relations. Knowledge Cultures, 11(1), 234–259.

10. McEntee, M., Medvecky, F., MacBride-Stewart, S. et al. (2023) Park Rangers and Science-Public Expertise: Science as Care in Biosecurity for Kauri Trees in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Minerva.

11. Baker, S., Bruford, M. W., MacBride-Stewart, S., Essam, A., Nicol, P. and Sanderson Bellamy, A. 2022. COVID-19: Understanding novel pathogens in coupled social–ecological systems. Sustainability 14(18), article number: 11649.

Podcast Series

12. Listen to our “Green Fair and Caring” 6 part podcast with Oxfam Cymru

Public Resources

13. Citizen Science Toolkit: Place-based Citizen Science for Water Conservation | Sekitar Kita

14. Decolonising Knowledge Practices Cards Postcolonial Possibilities - with decolonising tool in welsh, english and te reo!! - Research | RA2-4 — Mobilising For Action

Date
Type

2022

Baker, S. et al. 2022. COVID-19: Understanding novel pathogens in coupled social–ecological systems. Sustainability 14 (18) 11649. (10.3390/su141811649)
MacBride-Stewart, S. 2022. Environment. In: Monaghan, L. F. and Gabe, J. eds. Key Concepts in Medical Sociology. 3rd Edition. SAGE Key Concepts series London: SAGE Publications. , pp.52-58.
MacBride-Stewart, S. 2022. Girls' 'safety' in unfamiliar landscapes: the necessity of non-hegemonic femininities. In: Smith, T. A. , Pitt, H. and Dunkley, R. A. eds. Unfamiliar Landscapes: Young People and Diverse Outdoor Experiences. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. , pp.309-335. (10.1007/978-3-030-94460-5_13)

2021

MacBride-Stewart, S. 2021. Towards a critical social science of climate change and health. In: Chamberlain, K. and Lyons, A. eds. Routledge International Handbook of Critical Issues in Health and Illness. Routledge. , pp.328-345.
MacBride-Stewart, S. , Parsons, C. and Carati, I. 2021. Playfulness and game play: using geocaching to engage young people's well-being in a national park. In: Xu, F. and Buhalis, D. eds. Gamification for Tourism - 2-21 Edition. Channel View Publications
MacBride-Stewart, S. , Parsons, C. and Carati, I. 2021. Playfulness and game play: Using geocaching to engage young people’s wellbeing in a National Park. In: Xu, F. and Buhalis, D. eds. Gamification for Tourism. Aspects of Tourism Series Bristol: Channel View. , pp.210-236. (10.21832/9781845418236-013)
MacBride-Stewart, S. and Parken, A. 2021. Inequality in a Future Wales: Areas for action in work, climate, and demographic change. Project Report.[Online].Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. Available at: https://www.futuregenerations.wales/resources_posts/inequality-in-a-future-wales/.
Thornhill, I. et al., 2021. Towards ecological science for all by all. Journal of Applied Ecology 58 (2), pp.206-213. (10.1111/1365-2664.13841)

2020

MacBride-Stewart, S. 2020. Studying place. In: Atkinson, P. et al., SAGE Research Methods. Mobilities, Space and Place SAGE(10.4135/9781526421036827514)
Shaw, C. et al., 2020. Beyond the bicycle: seeing the context of the gender gap in cycling. Journal of Transport and Health 18 100871. (10.1016/j.jth.2020.100871)

2019

MacBride-Stewart, S. 2019. Atmospheres, landscapes and nature:off-road runners' experiences of wellbeing. Health 23 (2), pp.139-157. (10.1177/1363459318785675)
Macbride-Stewart, S. 2019. Discourses of wellbeing and environmental impact of trail runners in protected areas in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Geoforum 107 , pp.134-142. (10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.09.015)
MacBride-stewart, S. , Butler, C. and Fox, N. J. 2019. Editorial: special issue on society, environment and health. Health 23 (2), pp.117-121. (10.1177/1363459318816138)

2018

Read, S. and MacBride-Stewart, S. 2018. The 'good death' and reduced capacity: A literature review. Mortality 23 (4), pp.381-395. (10.1080/13576275.2017.1339676)
Simon-Kumar, R. et al., 2018. Towards north-south interconnectedness: a critique of gender dualities in sustainable development, the environment and women's health. Gender, Work and Organization 25 (3), pp.246-263. (10.1111/gwao.12193)

2017

MacBride-stewart, S. and Simon-Kumar, R. 2017. The Janus face of infertility in the global north and the south: reviewing feminist contributions to the debate. In: Davis, G. and Loughran, T. eds. , The Palgrave Handbook of Infertility in History: Approaches, Contexts and Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. , pp.461-490.

2016

Harden, J. , Kendall, K. and MacBride-Stewart, S. 2016. Editorial: teaching social and behavioural sciences in medical education. MedEdPublish 5 (3)(10.15694/mep.2016.000087)
MacBride-stewart, S. , Gong, Y. and Antell, J. 2016. Exploring the interconnections between gender, health and nature. Public Health 141 , pp.279-286. (10.1016/j.puhe.2016.09.020)
MacBride-Stewart, S. , Johns, N. and Green, A. 2016. Understanding same-sex marriage as equality, but with exceptions. Families, Relationships and Societies 5 (2), pp.229-245. (10.1332/204674315X14303090852878)

2015

MacBride-Stewart, S. , Parsons, C. and Carati, I. 2015. Playfulness and game play: using geocaching to engage young people’s wellbeing in a national park. In: Xu, F. and Buhalis, D. eds. Gamification in Tourism. Channel View Publications

2014

Johns, N. et al. 2014. When is positive action not positive action? Exploring the conceptual meaning and implications of the tie-break criterion in the UK Equality Act 2010. Equality Diversity and Inclusion 33 (1), pp.97-113. (10.1108/EDI-12-2012-0120)
MacBride-Stewart, S. 2014. Motivations for the 'gift-of-care' in the context of the modernisation of medicine. Social Theory and Health 12 , pp.84-104. (10.1057/sth.2013.22)
MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2014. Horowitz, R. In the public interest: medical licensing and the disciplinary process. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 2013. [Book Review]. Sociology of Health & Illness 36 (8), pp.1296-1297. (10.1111/1467-9566.12205)

2013

MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2013. Stacey, C.L. The caring self: The work experiences of home care aides, New York: Cornell University Press. 2011. [Book Review]. Sociology of Health & Illness 35 (4), pp.647-648. (10.1111/1467-9566.12060)
MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2013. The effort to control time in the 'new' general practice. Sociology of Health & Illness 35 (4), pp.560-574. (10.1111/j.1467-9566.2012.01503.x)

2009

Addis, S. et al. 2009. The health, social care and housing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older people: a review of the literature. Health and Social Care in the Community 17 (6), pp.647-658. (10.1111/j.1365-2524.2009.00866.x)
MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2009. The relationship between affect, subjectivity and care in the context of medicine. Presented at: BSA Annual Conference Cardiff, UK 16 -18 April 2009.

2008

Grace, V. M. and MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2008. 'How to say it?': Women's descriptions of pelvic pain. Women & Health 46 (4), pp.81-98. (10.1300/J013v46n04_05)
Grace, V. M. and MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2008. Metaphors of injury: women make sense of pelvic pain. In: Twohig, P. and Kalitzkus, V. eds. Social Studies of Health, Illness and Disease: Perspectives from the Social Sciences and Humanities. At the Interface/ Probing the Boundaries Vol. 49.Amsterdam: Rodopi. , pp.175-192.
MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2008. Cochlear implants: Intersubjective and uncanny medical technologies. Presented at: BSA Medical Society Annual Conference University of Sussex, Brighton, UK 4-6 September 2008.
MacBride-Stewart, S. J. and Grace, V. M. 2008. More than one of us: sex pain as an embodied affective relation. Presented at: Subjectivity. International Conference in Critical Psychology Cardiff, UK 27-29 June 2008.

2007

Grace, V. M. and MacBride-Stewart, S. J. 2007. "Women get this": Gendered Meanings of Chronic Pelvic Pain. Health 11 (1), pp.47-67. (10.1177/1363459307070803)
MacBride-Stewart, S. 2007. Peripheral Perspectives: Locating Lesbian Studies in Australasia. Journal of Lesbian Studies 11 (3-4), pp.303-311. (10.1300/J155v11n03_12)
MacBride-Stewart, S. 2007. Que(e)rying the Meaning of Lesbian Health: Individual(izing) and Community Discourses. In: Clarke, V. and Peel, E. eds. Out in Psychology: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Perspectives. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. , pp.427-443. (10.1002/9780470713099.ch20)

CURRENT AWARDS

o Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales the Local Policy and Innovation Partnership for Rural Wales UKRI 2024-27 £4.5 million, Co-I Funding to tackle challenges facing Wales’ rural communities - News - Cardiff University

o Equality mainstreaming and well-being policy innovation pilot. Welsh Govt 2021-22 £22K. Co-PI

o Postcolonial biosecurity possibilities: What postcolonial possibilities emerge when we map the shared and relational values of kauri and myrtaceae?. Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Landcare Research NZ) 20-23 £22K Co-I

o Reframing biosecurity tension through a citizen social science approach: Embodying good forest users’ values Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (Auckland University NZ) 20-23 £24K Co-I

o Using biodiversity research as catalyst for community based co-production studies ISSF Wellcome Trust 2020-22 £11K

o A green social prescribing resource for Abercynon, Accelerate Cyflymu/Cardiff University 2021-22 £147K

o The potential impact of future trends on existing inequalities in Wales, Future Generations Commissioner, Co-I £8K

o Precarious work, Precarious life: Unemployment and precarious work in the context of neoliberalism and precarity of life, FSPESP/British Council 2012 (8mo) £16K

I am a module leader in the following modules that I have developed, teach on and assess:

SI0306 Gender Relations & Society (year 2) Not taught 2021

SI0293 Secondary Data Analysis

SI0620 Environment and Human Health (NEW)

SIT019 Critical Perspectives in Social Science (lecturer only)

SIR019 Community Sustainable Health Wellbeing (NEW)

Dissertations

CURRENT

PHD, Prof Doc and Maters Students (including International supervision), please go to Supervision (tab)

External Examiner

MRes in Sustainable Futures, ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership

As a global academic, I studied in New Zealand/Aotearoa at Otago and then Waikato Univerities, where I learnt the basics of interdisciplinary Social Science and community-based approaches. I moved to Canterbury University in Christchurch where I taught gender, and equality as a conceptual and a methodological field. Following an interdisciplinary postdoc I moved to Cardiff in Wales where I worked again communities, social sciences and medics. My career has continued to grow at Cardiff where I now teach, research and work with communities and policymakers in tackling global and local climate issues.

Qualifications

2004 Postgraduate diploma in Community Psychology, Psychology, Waikato University, NZ

2001 Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology, Waikato University, NZ

1990 Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Psychology, Otago University, NZ

Honours and awards

Contribution to High Level Reports

o Governance Working Group Member Global Planetary Health Roadmap and Action Plan - Planetary Health Alliance 2024

o Appointed member of Advisory Panel, Environment and Marine Diversity Division, Welsh Government 2024-2026

Professional memberships

Planetary Health Alliance (Individual Member)
Outdoor Recreation Group (Wales)
HEA Associate (by invitation);
Behavioural and Social Sciences Teaching (BeSST) Committee membership;
Membership British Sociological Society

Academic positions

Academic Appointments

2025- Professor of Environmental Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff Univerity

2020 - 2024 Reader in Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

2007- 2019 Senior Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

2017 Visiting Senior Academic, Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2004-6 Senior Researcher, Cardiff Institute of Society Health and Ethics, Cardiff University

2002-4 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Canterbury (Christchurch, NZ)

2001-2 Lecturer, Gender Studies, University of Canterbury

Committees and reviewing

Academic Leadership, management and teaching-related administrative roles (Internal)

2025 Co-Director EDI School of Social Sciences and member of Senior Management Board

2024 Member of Wiserd and Member of subgroup Places of Climate Change-(PLoCC-Wiserd)

2022-currently co-Lead Planetary Health University Research Network

2022-currently URN Leads Group

2023-currently Member University Directors of Research Committee (UDORN)

2024-currently Elected member SOCSI Research Committee

2022-currently Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Champion SOCSI

2021-2023 EDI Committee Race Equality Action Group SOCSI

2019-2020 Executive Board Member Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University URI

2015-2018 PhD Co-ordinator, School of Social Sciences

2009-2010 Ethics Committee Member, School of Social Sciences

2009-2014 Library Representative, School of Social Sciences

2009-2015 Social Science Lead, Cardiff School of Medicine

Scientific Advisor

Invited as a Reviewer, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Interdisciplinary Evaluation Panel, 2024

Invited as a Reviewer, Wales, Community Lottery Fund, 2024

Invited as a Social Science Expert “Climate Change and Health Report” Welsh Government, 2024

Invited as an Equalities Expert “Wales Net Zero Skills Plan”, 2023-24

Invited as a Social Science Expert “Nature and Us” Natural Resources Wales Survey, 2023-24

Invited as a Social Science Expert “Adapting to Climate Change: Progress in Wales” UK Climate Change Committee 2023

Invited as a Social Science Expert, Roundtable on green skills, Aberdare, March 2023

Advisory Panel UKRI Planetary Health Working Group, 2022

Memberships and Activities

2023 – Planetary Health alliance
2022-2023 Canoe Wales people and places SIG
2017-2020 Co-coordinator BSA Medical Sociology Special Interest Group on Environment and Human Health
2009-2020 Membership British Sociological Society
2015 (July) Registered as HEA Affiliate (by invitation)
2015 (July) Association of Medical Educators (AMEE) Affiliate (by invitation)
2010-2017 BeSST Committee membership (National group of Sociologists and Psychologists teaching in Medicine)
2010-2017 BeSST Social Sciences in Medicine Curriculum Design
2009-2014 Wales British Sociological Society Medical Sociology Regional Representative

I an interested in supervising research in the following areas: environment, gender and health especially in relation to promoting sustainable health, social justice and equalities. That is, the ways in which natural environments (including national and urban parks) contribute to a health, well-being and social-justice agenda is of particular interest. In the context of global environmental pressures, I am interested in the interconnectedness in and between contexts, tensions between protecting nature and destroying nature, disenfranchised and connected communities, as well as alternative systems and institutional frameworks in which innovative approaches to gender, health and environmental changes/impacts are being advanced.

I will also consider supervision in the following topics and /or theoretical perspectives: environmental justice, nature-society-science discourses and policy, citizen science and participatory approaches, non-medical experiences, precarity and environmental labour, professional practice, public policy, feminist theories, queer, postmodern, and embodied approaches related to regulation, subjectivity, materiality, temporality, and affect.

Current Doctoral Students

Andrea Cooper (ESRC PhD) Investigating The Experience Of Informal Carers Within The Process Of Long Term Care Admission: Implications For Social Work Practice
Nia Came (Proff Doc) Speech & Language Therapy In Neurological Rehabilitation: Patient-Centres Care as a Dominant Discourse Underlying Daily Clinical Practice?
Amelia Curtis-Brown (1+3 ESRC) Personal sanitary products, sanitary poverty, and the future of the environment
Alice Essam (ESRC) Re-Enchantment In The Margins: Medicinal Children Socio-Ecologies In Brazil And The UK

International Supervision

Masters supervisor for Siti Norasiah Binti Abd. Kadir, Science and Teachnology Studies University Malaya 'Place-based Interpretation as a Sustainability Communication Strategy in Watershed Conservation'

Recently Completed Masters (completed Oct 2020)

LIsten to a PODCAST about my students work, and how they managed their research during the pandemic Sustainable Places Podcast - Sustainable Places Research Institute - Cardiff University

Amelia Curtis-Rogers: Pandemics, Personal Care and Periods
Lucy Aprahamia: "Those Anaemic-Looking Millennials": An Analysis of the UK Press Coverage of Vegans As Environmental Activists
Cathrine Winding: Eco-Anxiety in The Welsh Capital: A Qualitative Study Of Climate Change Anxiety Amongst Young Adults In Cardiff

Current supervision

Scovia Adrupio

Joao Miguel Araujo Lima

Contact Details

[email protected]
+44 29208 76354
Glamorgan Building, Room 0.76 Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WA

Research themes

Funding to tackle challenges facing Wales’ rural communities

External profiles

ORCID

Professor Sara Macbride-Stewart
BSc(Hons); DipCommPsych; PhD

Teams and roles for Sara Macbride-Stewart

Professor

2026

2025

2024

2023