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Dr Sophie Wynne-Jones

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography

s.wynne-jones@bangor.ac.uk

0000-0003-2745-3803

Dr Sophie Wynne-Jones

View Dr Sophie Wynne-Jones’s profile on the Bangor Research Portal

Overview

Research Interests

Sophie is a human geographer working on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Environmental Governance. This includes research on:

1) Net Zero and Sustainable Agriculture: behavioural insights on farmer decision-making and practice; land-use policy and governance changes; collaborations and partnership.

3) Rural/Environmental Knowledge controversies: how different stakeholders interact and agree on appropriate strategies for landscape futures, including proposals for tree planting and rewilding.

2) Human-Nature relations: e.g. for rewilding; understanding their more-than-human geographies, socio-cultural underpinnings and political-ecological implications.

She has recently completed an ESRC funded Policy Fellowship with Welsh Government’s Strategic Evidence Unit for Climate Change and Rural Affairs on ‘Agricultural Behavioural Insight’ and is now co-leading the Net Zero Transition Thematic Group for the UKRI funded Rural Wales Local Policy Innovation Partnership.

She has previously served on the Royal Geographic Society's 'Participatory Geographies Research Group' - and has a longstanding commitment to public scholarship and participatory working.

 

Current Projects

Governance and Policy

Rural Wales Local Policy Innovation Partnership Net Zero Transition Thematic Group co-lead. The LPIP is a three-year research partnership designed to connect researchers, stakeholders and communities in generating, sharing and applying evidence to enhance local policy and innovation for inclusive, sustainable growth in Rural Wales.  This is envisioned through the framework of the ‘wellbeing economy’, which prioritises an economy designed to deliver social justice for current and future generations on a healthy planet in which citizens are actively engaged in their communities.

The Supporting the Net Zero Transition Thematic Group focuses on challenges for businesses, landowners and communities in rural Wales in negotiating the transition to a net zero economy and society. These include projected changes in rural land use and farming practices (e.g afforestation, increased renewable energy production, land management for ecosystem services), and associated shifts in the mode of income-generation in the rural economy, as well as prospective impacts on rural communities, businesses and service provision from the removal of carbon-based transport and energy. Opportunities for innovation to support sustainable behaviours and practices are also covered.

ESRC Funded Policy Fellowship with the Strategic Evidence Unit for Climate Change and Rural Affairs. Providing agricultural behavioural insight to support the net zero transition. This included research support for policy development on the Sustainable Land Management and Agriculture, specifically the Sustainable Farming Scheme https://www.gov.wales/sustainable-farming-scheme and Soils Policy Statement. I also provided research support for Marine Policy on Coastal Community Capacity Building https://www.gov.wales/coastal-community-capacity-building-evidence-synthesis-report

Rewilding

Rewilding is a longstanding research interest, which I have published widely on. As a social scientist I am interested in the socio-cultural influences behind rewilding, as well as the reasons for conflict surrounding it. Most recently I have been working with the IUCN CEM Rewilding Thematic Group | IUCN to develop their Guiding Principles for Rewilding principles_of_rewilding_cem_rtg.pdf (iucn.org). We also developed this short article to share some of our key learning on the social dimensions of rewilding. Rewilding: four tips to let nature thrive (theconversation.com) I discuss some of these points as part of the Zoological Society of London's podcasts on rewilding in a changing climate https://www.zsl.org/zsl-wild-science-podcast

My work has particularly focused on the development and difficulties surrounding rewilding in a Welsh context, where I have worked with rewilding practitioners and stakeholders to evaluate current projects, assessing values, wellbeing, and processes of change. This includes projects which have evolved to take a different approach, whilst still adopting some core principles and inspiration from rewilding like https://www.cambrianwildwood.org/ and https://tircanol.cymru/

I have also worked to bring academic insights and stakeholders together across Europe to explore the potential for rewilding through a Ser Cymru grant on ‘Rewilding in a Changing Europe: Opportunities, Threats and Shifting Geographies of Land-Use’ https://rewildinglandscapes.wordpress.com/

Sustainable Agriculture

Strategies for Circular Agriculture to reduce GHG emissions within and between farming systems (CircAgric-GHG) - CoI ERA-NET Cofund (SusAn, FACCE ERA-GAS, ICT-AGRI-FOOD and SusCrop) This project is designed to unravel mechanisms by which farming systems can enhance circularity, reduce GHG emissions, and provide ecosystem services at multiple scales. It involves 17 world-leading researchers from 8 countries with expertise in livestock, cropping systems, farm and landscape modelling, LCA and ecosystem services.  The consortium will draw upon state-of-the-artknowledge, research methods and models to assess how circular practices can deliver sustainable food systems. https://www.circagric.org/

Additional Contact Information

s.wynne-jones@bangor.ac.uk

01248 382639

Room F24 Thoday Building

http://bangoruniversity.academia.edu/SophieWynneJones

twitter @SWynneJ

Teaching and Supervision

Governing Society and Environment (course leader)

Introducing Human Geography

Critical Thinking in Geography

Becoming a Researcher

Environmental Data and Analysis

Geography Field Study

Agriculture and the Environment

Social Issues in Forest Management

I also supervise student projects at undergraduate, Masters and PhD level.

Postgraduate Project Opportunities

1) Net Zero and Sustainable Agriculture: behavioural insights on farmer decision-making and practice; land-use policy and governance changes; collaborations and partnership. 3) Rural/Environmental Knowledge controversies: how different stakeholders interact and agree on appropriate strategies for landscape futures, including proposals for tree planting and rewilding. 2) Human-Nature relations: e.g. for rewilding; understanding their more-than-human geographies, socio-cultural underpinnings and political-ecological implications.

Publications

2023

  • PublishedFinding common ground: Co-producing national soil policy in Wales through academic and government collaboration.
    Sanchez-Garcia, C., Button, E., Wynne-Jones, S., Porter, H., Rugg, I. & Hannam, J. A., 24 Jun 2023, In: Soil Security. 11, 100095.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • Published“It's opened my eyes to what's out there”: How do nature-based interventions influence access to and perceptions of the natural environment?
    Gittins, H., Dandy, N., Wynne-Jones, S. & Morrison, V., 2023, In: Wellbeing, Space & Society. 4, 100125.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedPolicy fellowship schemes as a vehicle for co-production - insights from Welsh Government fellowships
    de Vito, L., Wynne-Jones, S., Heins, E. & Verfuerth, C., 16 Jun 2023, (Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy Working Papers).
    Research output: Working paper
  • PublishedSocial Return on Investment of Nature-Based Activities for Adults with Mental Wellbeing Challenges
    Hartfiel, N., Gittins, H., Morrison, V., Wynne-Jones, S., Edwards, R. T. & Dandy, N., 2 Aug 2023, In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 20, 15, 13 p., 6500.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • Published“You don't have to perform for the trees”: The longer-term effects of nature-based interventions on wellbeing
    Gittins, H., Dandy, N., Wynne-Jones, S. & Morrison, V., 1 Dec 2023, In: Wellbeing, Space & Society. 5, 100160.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2022

  • PublishedGoverning like a forest: achieving diachronic integrity or emergency carbon sequestration through post-Brexit forest policy?
    Wynne-Jones, S., Dandy, N., Bodner, T. & Healey, J., 3 Nov 2022, Rural Governance in the UK: Towards a Sustainable and Equitable Society. Attrop, A., McAreavey, R. & Heron, S. (eds.). Routledge, (Routledge Studies in Sustainability).
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
  • E-pub ahead of printRewilding: An emotional nature
    Wynne-Jones, S., 16 Jun 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Area.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedRewilding—The farmers’ perspective. Perceptions and attitudinal support for rewilding among the English farming community.
    Mikołajczak, K., Jones, N., Sandom, C., Wynne-Jones, S., Beardsall, A., Burgelman, S., Ellam, L. & Wheeler, H., 1 Dec 2022, In: People and Nature. 4, 6, p. 1435-1449
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedThe politics of the rural and relational values: Contested discourses of rural change and landscape futures in west wales
    Holmes, G., Clemoes, J., Wynne-Jones, S. & Marriot, K., 3 Jul 2022, In: Geoforum. 133, p. 153-164
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2021

  • PublishedGuiding principles for rewilding
    Carver, S., Convery, I., Hawkins, S., Beyers, R., Eagle, A., Kun, Z., Van Maanen, E., Cao, Y., Fisher, M., Edwards, S. R., Nelson, C., Gann, G. D., Shurter, S., Aguilar, K., Andrade, A., Ripple, W. J., Davis, J., Sinclair, A., Berkoff, M. & Noss, R. & 13 others, Foreman, D., Pettersson, H., Root-Bernstein, M., Svenning, J.-C., Taylor, P., Wynne-Jones, S., Featherstone, A. W., Flojgaard, C., Stanley-Price, M., Navarro, L. M., Aykroyd, T., Parfitt, A. & Soule, M., Dec 2021, In: Conservation Biology. 35, 6, p. 1882-1893
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedIdentifying barriers to routine soil testing within beef and sheep farming systems
    Rhymes, J., Wynne-Jones, S., Williams, P., Harris, I., Rose, D., Chadwick, D. & Jones, D. L., 15 Dec 2021, In: Geoderma. 404, 115298.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedImportance of building bridging and linking social capital in adapting to changes in UK agricultural policy
    Arnott, D., Chadwick, D., Wynne-Jones, S., Dandy, N. & Jones, D. L., 1 Apr 2021, In: Journal of Rural Studies. 83, p. 1-10
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedVulnerability of British farms to post-Brexit subsidy removal, and implications for intensification, extensification and land sparing.
    Arnott, D., Chadwick, D., Wynne-Jones, S. & Jones, D. L., Aug 2021, In: Land Use Policy. 107, 104154.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2020

  • PublishedAre policies for decentralised forest governance designed to achieve full devolution? Evidence from Eastern Africa
    Hockley, N., Magessa, K. & Wynne-Jones, S., 1 Mar 2020, In: International Forestry Review. 22, 1, p. 83-100
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedCollaboration for Sustainable Intensification: The Underpinning Role of Social Sustainability
    Wynne-Jones, S., Hyland, J., Williams, P. & Chadwick, D., Jan 2020, In: Sociologia Ruralis. 60, 1, p. 58-82 25 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedDoes Tanzanian participatory forest management policy achieve its governance objectives?
    Magessa, K., Wynne-Jones, S. & Hockley, N., Feb 2020, In: Forest Policy and Economics. 111, February 2020, 102077.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedExploring perceptions of marine biosecurity interventions: insights from the commercial marina sector.
    Vye, S., Wynne-Jones, S., Masterson Algar, P. & Jenkins, S., Aug 2020, In: Marine Policy. 118, 104027.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedRewilding – Departures in Conservation Policy and Practice? An Evaluation of Developments in Britain
    Wynne-Jones, S., Strouts, G., O'Neil, C. & Sandom, C., Apr 2020, In: Conservation & Society. 18, 2, p. 89-102 14 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedWhat is rewilding, how should it be done, and why? A Q-method study of the views held by European rewilding advocates
    Holmes, G., Marriott, K., Briggs, C. & Wynne-Jones, S., Jun 2020, In: Conservation & Society. 18, 2, p. 77-88
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2019

  • PublishedRewilding a country: Britain as a study case
    Sandom, C. & Wynne-Jones, S., 28 Feb 2019, Rewilding. Pettorelli, N., Durant, S. & DuToit , J. T. (eds.). Cambridge University Press, (Ecological Reviews).
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
  • PublishedRewilding Forestry
    Dandy, N. & Wynne-Jones, S., Dec 2019, In: Forest Policy and Economics. 109, 101996.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2018

  • PublishedAbandoning or Reimagining a Cultural Heartland? Understanding and Responding to Rewilding Conflicts in Wales - the case of the Cambrian Wildwood.
    Wynne-Jones, S., Holmes, G. & Strouts, G., 1 Aug 2018, In: Environmental Values. 27, 4
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedAsian Indigeneity, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and Challenges of the 2030 Agenda
    Buenavista, D. P., Wynne-Jones, S. & McDonald, M., 31 Dec 2018, In: East Asian Community Review. 1, 3-4, p. 221-240
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedAssembling Payments for Ecosystem Services in Wales
    Wynne-Jones, S. & Vetter, T., 2018, Agri-Environmental Governance as an Assemblage. Forney, J., Rosin, C. & Campbell, H. (eds.). Routledge, p. 19-37 (Earthscan Food and Agriculture).
    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

2017

  • PublishedThe more-than-economic dimensions of cooperation in food production
    Emery, S., Wynne-Jones, S. & Forney, J., Jul 2017, In: Journal of Rural Studies. 53, p. 229-238
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial
  • PublishedUnderstanding Farmer Co-operation: Exploring practices of social relatedness and emergent affects.
    Wynne-Jones, S., Jul 2017, In: Journal of Rural Studies. 53, p. 259-268
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2016

  • PublishedBeekeepers’ knowledges and participation in pollinator conservation policy
    Maderson, S. & Wynne-Jones, S., 25 Mar 2016, In: Journal of Rural Studies. 45, June 2016, p. 88-98
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedFlooding and media storms - controversies over farming and upland land-use in the UK.
    Wynne-Jones, S., 15 Dec 2016, In: Land Use Policy. 58, December, p. 533–536 3 p., 58.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

2014

  • PublishedReading for difference’ with Payments for Ecosystem Services in Wales
    Wynne-Jones, S., 10 Mar 2014, In: Critical Policy Studies. 8, 2, p. 148-164
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Projects

  • Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership (Rural Wales LPIP Phase 2)

    01/01/2024 – 15/01/2027 (Active)

  • Welsh Government Environment and Rural Affairs ESRC Policy Fellowship

    01/01/2022 – 24/04/2024 (Finished)

  • Summit to Sea / O’r Mynydd i’r Môr Project

    01/08/2019 – 31/01/2021 (Finished)

  • Rewilding in a changing Europe: opportunities, threats and shifting geographies of land-use

    01/05/2017 – 01/08/2018 (Finished)

    Description

    Rewilding has become a hot topic in recent years, sparking passionate debate across society. For many rewilding presents an exciting possibility to restore our environment and reconnect with the natural world. For others, it is more threatening – in terms of the potential impacts on agriculture and rural heritage. The conference provided an opportunity for academics and practitioners across Europe to come together to set a research agenda to evaluate the opportunities and threats that rewilding poses. These were connected to NRN LCEE priority themes by exploring how rewilding intersects with questions of sustainable land-use transition, food security, rural development and community resilience.

    Links:

    • https://rewildinglandscapes.wordpress.com/
  • KESS II PhD project with Woodland Trust BUK292

    01/10/2016 – 01/08/2022 (Finished)

    Links:

    • https://www.bangor.ac.uk/natural-sciences/research/environment-natural-resources-and-geography/students/gittins_heli.php.en

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