Gareth Hughes BA (Hons) MSc (Oxon) MPhil (Cantab)

Doctoral Student

Gareth's PhD research focuses on the connection between post-positivist concepts of environmental risk assessment and their on-the-ground implementation. His work is based on the field of agricultural pesticide spraying in the UK.

Biography

Qualifications

PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (2005-present)
MPhil Geographical Research Department of Geography, University of Cambridge (2004-2005)
MSc Nature, Society and Environmental Policy, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
BA (Hons) Geography, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford

Biography

Research

As a greater appreciation of the indeterminate and potentially catastrophic nature of modern risks becomes evident, so the concept of risk has shifted from the periphery of scientific consideration to the centre. This has led to a strong emphasis on formal methods of risk assessment, used in informing environmental policies that seek to safeguard human health and safety. However, the growth in the importance of risk has been paralleled by an emergence of post-modern values in society and an associated lack of confidence in expert institutions charged with risk regulation. The surfacing of post-positivist risk discourses, which fundamentally embrace the value in contextual and subjective experience, has consequently led to considerable debate between technical expertise and non-technical laypersons over the legitimacy of knowledge types used in informing risk assessments.

Gareth's current work builds upon the research conducted in his previous MSc and MPhil degrees and concentrates on the extent to which this post-positivist shift in academic and social discourse has translated into strategies for informing environmental risk assessment. His research concentrates on examining the structural and agency-based limitations to effective and representative forms of risk assessment, including, for example, financial and time constraints on consultations, concerns over representation in participation and institutional inertia towards expert decision-making.

Gareth is also interested in ascertaining how current participatory strategies influence public perceptions of the specific environmental risks, the institutions charged with risk regulation and participation as a democratic option. How these perceptions might be integrated into current risk assessment processes provides a further avenue of interest.

Gareth is looking specifically at the UK risk context of agricultural pesticide spraying. This is a highly contentious field with considerable debate between institutional experts and the general public over the legitimacy of claims over causal links with public health impacts. Risk assessment processes have been criticised due to over-emphasis on expert knowledge and lack of appraisal of causal uncertainty, both of which propagate academic and societal concern over their value in informing decision-making for risk regulation.

Publications

Brent, C., Bull, P., Hughes, G.J.A., Morgan, R. & Sagovsky, A. (in press) 'The Transfer and Persistence of Trace Particulates: Experimental studies using clothing fabrics.' (Publication due in 2006 in 'Science and Justice, Journal of the Forensic Science Society' Volume 46)

Teaching

Course Co-ordinator for visiting Singaporean A-Level students through Reach Cambridge (2007)
Supervisor, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge - Geographical Tripos Part 1A: Aspects of Risk (2004-present)
Private Tutor - GCSE Geography (2004-present)

External activities

Royal Geographical Society Postgraduate Fellow
Geographical Frontiers Society Secretary - Worcester College, University of Oxford (2001-2002)