Professor Jon Ensor

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Publications

Biography

Jon is a social scientist with research interests in processes that can lead to increasingly equitable human development. Frequently this translates into work alongside marginalised communities focussing on disaster risk reduction and environmental change, the governance and politics of technology and infrastructure, and how processes of contestation and learning can account for power and social justice in ‘resilient’ development. Jonathan has a background in human rights development practice that informs his work and his research interests remain applied and, as such, frequently interdisciplinary.

Jon is Director of the Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre (IGDC) at the University of York and Co-Editor for the journal Climate and Development.

Selected publications

Books

Ensor, J. E. Resilience Realities: Resilience and Development Practice in Vanuatu. Oxfam, Australia , 2016.

V Castán Broto, J Ensor, E Boyd, D Macucule (2014) ‘Participatory urban planning for climate compatible development in Maputo, Mozambique’, UCL Press

J Ensor, R Berger, S Huq (eds.) ‘Lessons from Community Based Adaptation’ Practical Action Publishing, Rugby 2014.

Book chapters

V Castán Broto, E Boyd and J Ensor & S. Juhola. 'Partnerships for climate change in Maputo, Mozambique' in Retrofitting Cities: Priorities, Governance and Experimentation. Hodson, M. & Marvin, S. (eds.). London: Earthscan from Routledge, p. 232 250 2014

J Ensor, E Boyd, S Juhola and V Castán Broto ‘Building adaptive capacity in the informal settlements of Maputo: lessons for development from a resilience perspective’ in: Inderberg, T H, Eriksen, S, O’Brien, K and Sygna, L (eds.) Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices. Routledge 2014.

V Castán Broto, E Boyd and J Ensor ‘Governance of sustainable infrastructure in the context of climate change in cities in the Global South? The case of Maputo, Mozambique’ in: M Hodson and S Marvin (eds) Retrofitting Cities Taylor and Francis 2014.

J Ensor ‘Emerging lessons for community based adaptation’ in: J Ensor, R Berger, S Huq (eds.) ‘Lessons from Community Based Adaptation’ Practical Action Publishing, Rugby 2014

R Berger, J Ensor, K Wilson, I Phukan, S Dasgupta ‘Adaptive Capacity’ in Ayers, J., Schipper, L., Reid, H., Huq, S., and Rahman, A Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Scaling it up. Routledge, 2014.

Reports

Hope, M., Filippi, M. E., Ensor, J., Pelling, M. & Comelli, T. (2023). Future visioning for pro-poor disaster risk reduction in tomorrow's cities: activities toolbox. Tomorrow's Cities Publications.

Journal papers

Hoddy, E., Halliday, S., Ensor, J., Wamsler, C. & Boyd, E. (2023). Legal culture and climate change adaptation: an agenda for research. WIREs Climate Change.

Vorbach, D. & Ensor, J. (2022). Autonomous change processes in traditional institutions: lessons from innovations in village governance in Vanuatu. International Journal of the Commons.

Zurek, M., Ingram, J., Sanderson Bellamy, A., Goold, C., Lyon, C., Alexander, P., Barnes, A., Bebber, D. P., Breeze, T. D., Bruce, A., Collins, L. M., Davies, J., Doherty, B., Ensor, J., Franco, S. C., Gatto, A., Hess, T., Lamprinopoulou, C., Liu, L., Merkle, M., & 7 others. (2022). Food system resilience: concepts, issues, challenges. Annual Review of Environment and Resources.

Shrestha, A., Poudel, D. & Ensor, J. (2022). Inclusive policies, exclusionary practices: unfolding the paradox of prolonged urban informality debates in urbanising Nepal. New Angle: Nepal Journal of Social Science and Public Policy.

McDermott, R., Fraser, A., Ensor, J., & Seddighi, H. (2022). The role of forensic investigation in systemic risk enquiry: reflections from case studies of disasters in Istanbul, Kathmandu, Nairobi, and Quito. Progress in Disaster Science.

Ensor, J. & de Bruin, A. (2022). The role of learning in farmer-led innovation. Agricultural Systems.

Freja Schipper, E. L., Ensor, J., Mukherji, A., Mirzabaev, A., Fraser, A., Harvey, B., Totin, E., Garschagen, M., Pathak, M., Antwi-Agyei, P., Tanner, T. & Shawoo, Z. (2021). Equity in climate scholarship: a manifesto for action. Climate and Development.

Ensor, J. E., Mohan, T., Forrester, J., Khisa, U. K., Karim, T. & Howley, P. Opening space for equity and justice in resilience: a subjective approach to household resilience assessment. Global Environmental Change.

Ensor, J., Tuhkanen, H., Boyland, M., Salamanca, A., Johnson, K., Thomalla, F. & Lim Mangada, L. (2021). Redistributing resilience? Deliberate transformation and political capabilities in post-Haiyan Tacloban. World Development.

Ensor, J., & Hoddy, E. (2021). Securing the social foundation: a rights-based approach to planetary boundaries. Earth System Governance.

Pfeifer, C., Morris, J., Ensor, J., Ouédraogo-Koné, S., Mulatu, D. W., Wakeyo, M. (2020). Designing sustainable pathways for the livestock sector: the example of Atsbi, Ethiopia and Bama, Burkina Faso. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability.

Morris, J., Ensor, J., Pfeifer, C., Marchant, R., Mulatu, D. W., Soka, G., Ouédraogo-Koné, S., Wakeyo, M. B., & Topi, C. (2020). Games as boundary objects: charting trade-offs in sustainable livestock transformation. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability.

Massarella, K., Sallu, S. M., & Ensor, J. E. (2020). Reproducing injustice: why recognition matters in conservation project evaluation. Global Environmental Change.

Ensor, J. E., Wennsström P., Bhatterai, A., Nightingale, A. J., Eriksen, S., & Sillmann, J. (2019). Asking the right questions in adaptation research and practice: seeing beyond climate impacts in rural Nepal. Environmental Science and Policy.

Doherty, R., Ensor, J., Heron, T., Prado Rios, P. A. D. (2019). Food Systems Resilience: Towards an Interdisciplinary Research Agenda. Emerald Open Research.

Ocean, N., Howley, P., & Ensor, J. Lettuce be happy: A longitudinal UK study on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and well-being. Social Science & Medicine.

Freja Schipper, E. L. & Ensor, J. (2019), The next decade of Climate and Development. Climate and Development.

Ensor, J. , Forrester, J. and Matin, N. (2018), Bringing rights into resilience: revealing complexities of climate risks and social conflict. Disasters. doi:10.1111/disa.12304

Thomalla, F., Boyland, M., Johnson, K., Ensor, J., Tuhkanen, H., Swartling, Å. G., Han, G., Forrester, J. & Wahl, D. (2018) Transforming development and disaster risk. Sustainability, 10(5). 1458. 10.3390/su10051458

Matin, N.,Forrester, J. & Ensor, J. E. (2018) What is equitable resilience? World Development, 109. 197–205. ISSN 0305-750X. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.04.020

Massarella, K., Sallu, S. M., Ensor, J. E. & Marchant, R. (2018) REDD+, hype, hope and disappointment: The dynamics of expectations in conservation and development pilot projects.

World Development, 109. 375–85. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.006

Ensor, J. E., Abernethy, K., Hoddy, E. T., Aswani, S., Albert, S., Vaccaro, I., Benedict, J. & Beare, D. Variation in perception of environmental changes in nine Solomon Islands communities: implications for securing fairness in community-based adaptation. (2017) Regional Environmental Change. DOI: 10.1007/s10113-017-1242-1

Ensor, J. E., Park, S. E., Attwood, S. J., Kaminski, A. M. & Johnson, J. E. Can community-based adaptation increase resilience?
15. 2016 Climate and Development. DOI:10.1080/17565529.2016.1223595

Ensor, J., Harvey, B., 2015. Social learning and climate change adaptation: evidence for international development practice. WIREs Climate Change doi:10.1002/wcc.348

J Ensor, S Park, E Hoddy, B Ratner ‘A rights-based perspective on adaptive capacity’ Global Environmental Change 31, 2015: 38–49. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.12.005

V Castán Broto, E Boyd, J Ensor ‘Participatory urban planning for climate change adaptation in coastal cities: lessons from a pilot’ Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 13, 2015: 11-18. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2014.12.005

V Castán Broto, D A Macucule, E Boyd, J Ensor ‘Building collaborative partnerships for climate change action in Maputo, Mozambique’ Environment and Planning A 47, 571–587. doi:10.1068/a140070p