Philip Johnstone

I am a Research Fellow working on a three-year project on the Governance of Discontinuity in Technological Systems (DiscGo). Stemming from research on socio-technical transitions this project studies the under-examined ‘flip side’ to innovation – how technology governance can address the crucial task of disengaging from well-established socio-technical systems. The project is in collaboration with colleagues at the INRA in Paris, TSG in Dortmund and led by Stefan Kuhlmann in Twente. The Sussex case study is civilian nuclear energy, where the governance patterns of France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK will be examined.

I am also the Tyndall Centre Coordinator for the University of Sussex, a leading research network on climate change and sustainability involving several Universities in the UK as well as one in China. Prior to joining SPRU I completed an MSc in Environmental Governance with Distinction at the University of Manchester, before completing a PhD on Public Engagement with Nuclear Power in the UK. Whilst writing up I worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher on the ESRC Biosecurity Borderlands project, and then the ESRC Visualising Climate Change project also at Exeter.