Profile
Biography
Steve Cinderby, PhD in Participatory GIS methods, MSc in Remote Sensing and BSc in Geography. Steve has over 30 years of professional experience working in developing country and European research projects. He has worked at SEI-York since 1991 was Deputy Director from 1996 to 2014. He co-led the Transforming Governance research theme which examined how governance processes could become more effective, inclusive and accountable. He is now a Senior Researcher focussed on community resilience, urbanisation issues (including green infrastructure and mobility) and their links to well-being. He co-leads the SEI City Health & Wellbeing initiative which has investigated how rapidly growing cities are affecting the well-being of residents, and how this interacts with the overall health of city systems. He also develops and evaluates creative methods to more effectively engage vulnerable groups in planning and decision making.
Key skills
Community resilience building and pro-environmental behavioural change; Co-design and co-investigation of environmental management; Participatory Geographic information systems application and training; GIS (ESRI Arc GIS and Q-GIS); qualitative research methods including qualitative research software (NVivo), research ethics.
Career
- PhD (Environmental Science), University of York
- MSc (Applied Remote Sensing and Image Processing, Cranfield Institute of Technology)
- BSc (Geography, Anglia Polytechnic University)
- 2014 - Present Senior Researcher, Stockholm Environment Institute (University of York centre), York, UK.
- 1996 - 2014 Deputy Director, Stockholm Environment Institute (University of York centre), York, UK.
- 1991 – 1996 Research Associate, Stockholm Environment Institute at York, York, UK.
- 1990-1991 Remote Sensing Laboratory Technician, Cranfield Institute of Technology
Departmental roles
- Ethics Committee Member
- ESRC Impact Acceleration Account 'Sustainable Societies' Theme Leader
Research
Overview
Steve specialises in the use of geographic information systems (GIS), participatory methods and behaviour change initiatives. His Participatory GIS methods have been applied in developing countries assessing natural resource use and agriculture water management and the in the UK investigating environmental concerns including flood management, rural inequalities and urban redevelopment.
Steve has been involved in a number of behaviour change initiatives including a personalised marketing campaign to change travel behaviour. Currently, he has been working with Foundation Industries in the UK to identify transformational changes in their industries that could enable them to move towards Net Zero targets. He has worked on an initiative trying to build community resilience and sustainability in a social housing community in York. He has also evaluated the behaviour change impacts of green infrastructure on businesses, visitors and residents in terms of wellbeing, economics and consumption patterns.
He has extensive experience of project management and has provided training and capacity building institutes in diverse locations including Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Indonesia, the Netherlands, China, Ivory Coast and India.
Projects
(2021-2024) Transforming Foundation Industries Research and Innovation hub (Engineering and Physical Sciences)
Collaboratively with communities around FIs, we will identify the potential for co-located initiatives (district heating, market gardening etc.). This research will highlight issues of equality, diversity and inclusiveness, investigating the potential from societal, environmental, technical, business and governance perspectives
(2020-2022) Hight Volume Transport - Inclusive Climate Resilient Transport Planning in Africa (Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office)
Working with UN Environment Share the Road Programme, the project will raise awareness of the needs of low-income disadvantaged user groups and the effects of climate change on transport infrastructure. It aims to enhance capacity of transport planners to assess the mobility needs of disadvantaged groups in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zambia, and Uganda.
(2020-2023) Harvesting the sun twice: Enhancing livelihoods in East African agricultural communities through innovations in solar energy (Economic and Social Research Council)
Solar power is seen as a key way of addressing East Africa’s energy challenges, but the solution is not as simple as installing traditional solar panels across large areas of land. Agrivoltaic energy systems, however, can combine the delivery of solar electricity, crop production, and rainwater harvesting on the same land area. Instead of being mounted close to the ground like traditional solar power arrays, agrivoltaic systems are constructed several meters high, with gaps between the arrays, enabling crops to be grown underneath. We are using user journey approaches with farms in Kenya and Tanzania to explore the impacts of agrivoltaic systems on crop production, livelihoods and co-benefits.
(2019-2023) Equitable Mobility for City Health and Wellbeing (British Academy)
This project is working in two Kenyan cities, Nairobi and Mombasa. It is developing stakeholder-led solutions to achieve sustainable and equitable mobility, grounded in a better understanding of the issue and the health impacts it causes. We will collect participatory maps, digital stories and physiological measurements of journeys from vulnerable stakeholders exploring the benefits and challenges of mobility in both cities. This will inform co-design workshops to explore potential solutions.
(2017-2019) Implementing Creative Methodological Innovations for Inclusive Sustainable Transport (I-CMiiST) (British Academy)
Building upon a completed GCRF network grant (CMIIST) that explored with artists, practitioners, planners and policy makers the potential benefits of using more creative methods to co-design urban infrastructure to enhance mobility, the project compares the outcomes of deploying such approaches on: inclusion; co-benefits including unexpected improvised opportunities; and outcomes – with current standard planning practices. It also evaluates the longer term learning legacy encouraged by this interdisciplinary action research on key decision makers to assess if belief changes have occurred.
(2018-2023) City Health and Wellbeing Initiative (SEI – Sida)
Rapidly growing cities represent unique challenges and opportunities. Unplanned growth often outpaces infrastructure development and occurs at the expense of a city’s ecological foundations, undermining residents’ wellbeing and the city’s sustainability.
The SEI Initiative on City Health and Well-being uses novel approaches to investigate how evolving cities are affecting the well-being of residents and how this interacts with the overall health of city systems: What makes a city healthy for its residents? Could citizens be actively engaged in monitoring the health of their city? These are some of the central questions informing our initiative case study activities in Asia and Africa.
The research is contributing to a rethink of urban development practices. The knowledge generated through this action research and boundary partner engagement will inform sustainable and participatory planning for urban environments.
(2016-2017) Creative Methodological Innovations for Inclusive Sustainable Transport (CMiiST) (Global Challenge Research Fund - Arts & Humanities Research Council)
This network building grant developed a workshop which took place over 5 days in April 2017 in Nairobi Kenya. It brought together UK and East African experts in creative methods along with transports experts and professionals to share knowledge and explore the potential of using CMs to help meet the SDGs related to transport issues.
(2013-2016) Mobility, Mood and Place (Funder: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, UK)
The three-year research project funded by the EPSRC through the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Cross-Council Programme, builds on evidence that how we experience environments influences our mood and, in turn, our willingness to be active. Bringing together experts from the Universities of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, York and King’s College London, the research is partnered by a network of stakeholder bodies and involves co-design with a range of participants, including stroke survivors and people with dementia, as well as innovative mobile neural imaging methods to explore real-time emotional responses to place. Working with the Lothian Birth Cohorts of people in their 70s and 90s, our research is the first to consider the influence of local environments in which people have lived from childhood.
(2013-2016) Co-Motion - mobility and well-being (Funder: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, UK)
The Co-Motion project is investigating the links between mobility and well-being among older people. We all experience major changes in our lives, particularly as we grow older, and these changes can make a difference to mobility and well-being. The project will work with older people in York, Leeds and Hexham who have experienced such changes. This will lead to intensive co-design workshops with older people to create policies and tools to make this easier, as well as work with national and local stakeholders.
Supervision
PhD Students
- Sarah Foster, PhD Environmental Science 1/01/22 → … – Joint Supervisor
- Ying Wang, PhD Environmental Science 1/10/21 → … – Joint Supervisor
- Sagarmoy Phukan, PhD Environmental Science 1/10/20 → … – Joint Supervisor
- Yasmeen Alazmi, PhD Environmental Science 1/10/19 → … – Joint Supervisor
- Christine Gemmell, PhD Environmental Science 1/10/18 → … – Joint Supervisor
- Sitong Mu PhD, Environmental Science 24/09/18 → … – Joint Supervisor
- Guido Rutten, PhD Environmental Science “Understanding complexity in nature-based and human-dominated river delta ecosystems” 1/10/13 → 22/10/21 (Successful Completion)
- Gabor Makrai, PhD Computer Science “Reducing the Errors in High Resolution Environmental Modelling” 1/10/14 → 24/02/18 (Successful Completion)
- Lena Jeha, PhD Environmental Science “Equity, Sustainability and Incentive-Based Conservation Measures. Community Reflections from Mt. Elgon, Uganda” 1/10/13 → 1/03/16 (Successful Completion)
- Gabor Makrai, PhD Computer Science (Ongoing) “Decision support tools” – Joint Supervisor
