Staff Profile

After completing her PhD at Newcastle University in 2012, Jo accepted a Postdoctoral Research Associate position at the University of Manchester, working on the ESCR funded project, ‘Households, Retailers and Food Waste Transitions’ (ref: ES/L00514X/1).

In 2016, Jo returned to Newcastle as a Research Excellence Academy (REA) fellow in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology. She worked collaboratively on the project 'Individual Responsibility for Human Rights', exploring the (justifiable) limitations of action on climate change. This was followed by a postdoctoral position at Cardiff University, working in association with the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) and looking at household water use behaviours, technology adoption and drought (2021-2023).

Jo is currently back at Newcastle University (NUBS), working on several different projects that explore sustainability and technology with a focus on water and energy use in the home.

Alongside her publication record (2012-2023), Jo has produced two children (21 months of maternity leave in total).

Jo's current research focuses on the acceptance, adoption and effectiveness of sustainable technologies. She is working on three projects that explore these areas with a focus on water and energy use in the home. This work is being conducted alongside a research team at NUBS and with project partners, including Northumbrian Water, Northern Gas Networks, National Energy Action and Procter and Gamble.

Jo has previous research experience on household water use behaviours with a specific focus on sustainable technologies (e.g., smart shower sensors, smart water meters), alongside a broad range of other issues related to drought and water management in the UK. These include individual perceptions of water use, levels of concern and perceptions of future management options (e.g., pricing, restrictions).

Alongside her work on climate change mitigation (sustainable technology and behaviour change), Jo is interested in individual and societal adaptation to a changing climate. Specifically, the impact that extreme heat will have on everyday behaviours such as water and energy use.

• Articles

  • Peeters W, Bell D, Swaffield J. How New are New Harms Really? Climate Change, Historical Reasoning and Social Change. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 2019, 32, 505-526.
  • Bell D, Swaffield J, Peeters W. Climate ethics with an ethnographic sensibility. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 2019, 32, 611-632.
  • Welch D, Swaffield J, Evans D. Who's Responsible for Food Waste? Consumers, Retailers and the Food Waste Discourse Coalition in the UK. Journal of Consumer Culture 2018, (ePub ahead of Print).
  • Swaffield J, Evans D, Welch D. Profit, reputation and ‘doing the right thing’: convention theory and the problem of food waste in the UK retail sector. Geoforum 2018, 89, 43–51.
  • Evans D, Welch D, Swaffield J. Constructing and mobilizing ‘the consumer’: Responsibility, consumption and the politics of sustainability. Environment and Planning A 2017, 49(6), 1396-1412.
  • Swaffield J. Freebies, freedom and fundamental change: resistance to neoliberal environmentalism in large ‘green’ corporations. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 2016, 22(5), 553-567.
  • Swaffield J. After a decade of critique: neoliberal environmentalism, discourse analysis and the promotion of climate-protecting behaviour in the workplace. Geoforum 2016, 70, 119-129.
  • Bell D, Gray T, Haggett C, Swarfield J. Revisiting the 'social gap': public opinion and relations of power in the local politics of wind energy. Environmental Politics 2013, 22(1), 115-135.
  • Bell D, Gray T, Haggett C, Swaffield J. Re-visiting the ‘social gap’: public opinion and relations of power in the local politics of wind energy. Environmental Politics 2013, 22, 115-135.
  • Swaffield J, Bell D. Can 'climate champions' save the planet? A critical reflection on neoliberal social change. Environmental Politics 2012, 21(2), 248-267.

• Book Chapter

  • Evans D, Welch D, Swaffield J. Supermarkets, the ‘consumer’ and responsibilities for sustainable food. In: T. Marsden, ed. The SAGE Handbook of Nature. London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd, 2018.