Andy Ruck

My PhD research is linked to the Polli:Nation project, which aims to engage pupils from over two hundred schools across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the active transformation of their school grounds into pollinator-friendly habitats. If successful in its aims, the project will serve both to stem the decline of bee populations, and to “create a network of knowledgeable and enthused young conservationists”, with an improved responsiveness to both local and global environmental issues. The project is unique in its scale, as well as in its diverse attempts to incorporate practical conservation and citizen science into school curricula. Through a number of ethnographically-informed case studies, my research addresses the question: which processes within the Polli:Nation project appear significant in terms of young peoples’ response-making to environmental issues? It also considers the types of learning that emerge from these processes, and the implications of this for environmental education practice.