Merryn Thomas
Biographic Data
| ID | 4196343 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Merryn Thomas |
| GIVEN NAMES | Merryn |
| FAMILY NAME | Thomas |
| SIGNATURE | THOMAS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cardiff University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8529-8245 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 77 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Intergenerational tabletop game design for exploring the climate emergency
This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this record
No one talks about it”
Higher Education (HE) is, at best, struggling to rise to the challenges of the climate and ecological crises (CEC) and, at worst, actively contributing to them by perpetuating particular ways of knowing, relating, and acting. Calls for HE to radically transform its activities in response to the polycrises abound, yet questions about how this will be achieved are often overlooked. This article proposes that a lack of capacity to express and share …
Collaging to find river connections and stimulate new meanings
This article contributes to work in creative geographies through the lens of river spaces and a multimodal practice among an ensemble of artists/poets/scientists. The collaboration created two collage series with both planned and unplanned visual, textual, and audio-visual media. Orchestrated in a time of global pandemic, learnings from the ensemble's online creative practice are shared and discussed, including: the methodological possibilities o…
‘This funny place’
Saltmarshes are increasingly recognised for the range of benefits they offer, including coastal protection, flood regulation and carbon sequestration. However, much less is known about how people perceive these environments and their importance for non‐material aspects of human well‐being. As climate change and sea‐level rise render these environments increasingly vulnerable, there is a need to better understand how saltmarshes are valued. This i…
Valuing Nature for Wellbeing
Contributing to the cultural ecosystem services literature, this paper draws on the in-depth place narratives of two coastal case-study sites in Wales (UK) to explore how people experience and understand landscape change in relation to their sense of place, and what this means for their wellbeing. Our place narratives reveal that participants understand coastal/intertidal landscapes as complex socio-ecological systems filled with competing legiti…
Reflections from the team
Many migratory fish populations are declining, threatened by human‐induced pressures such as habitat loss and fragmentation caused by dams, roads, land use change, climate change and pollution. However, public awareness of fish migration and associated human pressures remains limited. It is important to communicate about hard‐to‐see and complex environmental topics and issues, such as fish migration, with young people, who stand to be the most af…
Disciplined research in undisciplined settings”
In situ and mobile methodologies are increasingly popular within research into diverse geographies of health and wellbeing. These methodologies include data‐gathering techniques and modes of analysis carried out with research participants as they experience and move through settings with the potential to shape both momentary and longer‐term experiences of health and wellbeing. This methodological development is both a response to and reflection o…
Health risk perception and shale development in the UK and US
In this paper, we examine discourse in public deliberations in pre-development locales in the UK and US about advantages and disadvantages of future shale development (‘fracking’). We aimed to understand how people anticipate potential health effects, broadly construed, of environmental toxicity and disturbance in the context of planned, but not yet implemented, energy development. In day-long deliberations with small, diverse groups in two citie…
A framework linking ecosystem services and human well‐being
The ecosystem services approach is based on the interdependencies between nature and human well‐being. However, while the ecosystem services aspect of this approach is well‐developed, the human well‐being aspect remains unstructured and vaguely defined. An integrated conceptual framework was developed by adapting and linking the UK National Ecosystem Assessment‐Follow On framework with human well‐being domains. As well as benefits, the notion of …
Shale development in the US and Canada
Public and stakeholder engagement with shale development is difficult, but essential. We review 26 engagement processes carried out by US and Canadian companies, alliances, government agencies, academics and activists; systematically exploring who participates, the stage at which engagements take place, aims and methods, provision for multiway engagement, and issues of credibility. We find a multitude of actors carrying out engagement using a var…
Urgency in energy justice
Using role play to explore energy perceptions in the United States and United Kingdom
Public perceptions of hydraulic fracturing for shale gas and oil in the United States and Canada
The United States and Canada have been at the forefront of shale oil and gas development via hydraulic fracturing. Understanding public perceptions is important given the role that they may play in future policy decisions in both North America and other parts of the world where shale development is at a much earlier stage. We review 58 articles pertaining to perceptions, published between 2009 and 2015. Studies report mixed levels of awareness of…
Seeing futures now
Shale development – extraction of oil and gas from shale rock formations using hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ – has become a critical focus for energy debates in the US and UK. In both countries, potential industry expansion into new areas for shale extraction is expected to produce a wide range of environmental and social impacts and to change the configuration of future energy systems. To engage with emergent views on these complex, multi-s…
Expert judgements of sea-level rise at the local scale
Whilst local projections of sea-level rise (SLR) are necessary to facilitate targeted climate change adaptation and communication strategies, downscaling from global climate models can be problematic. Here, we use expert probability judgement to elicit a suite of local projections, and associated uncertainties, for future SLR on the Severn Estuary in the south-west of the UK. Eleven experts from a range of policy and academic backgrounds took par…
Mental models of sea-level change
Global average sea levels are expected to rise by up to a metre by the end of the century. This long-term rise will combine with shorter-term changes in sea level (e.g. high tides, storm surges) to increase risks of flooding and erosion in vulnerable coastal areas. As communities become increasingly exposed to these risks, understanding their beliefs and responses becomes more important. While studies have explored public responses to climate cha…
Public perceptions of hydraulic fracturing for shale gas and oil in the United States and Canada
The United States and Canada have been at the forefront of shale oil and gas development via hydraulic fracturing. Understanding public perceptions is important given the role that they may play in future policy decisions in both North America and other parts of the world where shale development is at a much earlier stage. We review 58 articles pertaining to perceptions, published between 2009 and 2015. Studies report mixed levels of awareness of…
Seeing futures now
Shale development – extraction of oil and gas from shale rock formations using hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ – has become a critical focus for energy debates in the US and UK. In both countries, potential industry expansion into new areas for shale extraction is expected to produce a wide range of environmental and social impacts and to change the configuration of future energy systems. To engage with emergent views on these complex, multi-s…
Disciplined research in undisciplined settings”
In situ and mobile methodologies are increasingly popular within research into diverse geographies of health and wellbeing. These methodologies include data‐gathering techniques and modes of analysis carried out with research participants as they experience and move through settings with the potential to shape both momentary and longer‐term experiences of health and wellbeing. This methodological development is both a response to and reflection o…
Urgency in energy justice
Using role play to explore energy perceptions in the United States and United Kingdom
Collaging to find river connections and stimulate new meanings
This article contributes to work in creative geographies through the lens of river spaces and a multimodal practice among an ensemble of artists/poets/scientists. The collaboration created two collage series with both planned and unplanned visual, textual, and audio-visual media. Orchestrated in a time of global pandemic, learnings from the ensemble's online creative practice are shared and discussed, including: the methodological possibilities o…
Mental models of sea-level change
Global average sea levels are expected to rise by up to a metre by the end of the century. This long-term rise will combine with shorter-term changes in sea level (e.g. high tides, storm surges) to increase risks of flooding and erosion in vulnerable coastal areas. As communities become increasingly exposed to these risks, understanding their beliefs and responses becomes more important. While studies have explored public responses to climate cha…
Expert judgements of sea-level rise at the local scale
Whilst local projections of sea-level rise (SLR) are necessary to facilitate targeted climate change adaptation and communication strategies, downscaling from global climate models can be problematic. Here, we use expert probability judgement to elicit a suite of local projections, and associated uncertainties, for future SLR on the Severn Estuary in the south-west of the UK. Eleven experts from a range of policy and academic backgrounds took par…
Expert judgements of sea-level rise at the local scale
Whilst local projections of sea-level rise (SLR) are necessary to facilitate targeted climate change adaptation and communication strategies, downscaling from global climate models can be problematic. Here, we use expert probability judgement to elicit a suite of local projections, and associated uncertainties, for future SLR on the Severn Estuary in the south-west of the UK. Eleven experts from a range of policy and academic backgrounds took par…
Mental models of sea-level change
Global average sea levels are expected to rise by up to a metre by the end of the century. This long-term rise will combine with shorter-term changes in sea level (e.g. high tides, storm surges) to increase risks of flooding and erosion in vulnerable coastal areas. As communities become increasingly exposed to these risks, understanding their beliefs and responses becomes more important. While studies have explored public responses to climate cha…
Seeing futures now
Shale development – extraction of oil and gas from shale rock formations using hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ – has become a critical focus for energy debates in the US and UK. In both countries, potential industry expansion into new areas for shale extraction is expected to produce a wide range of environmental and social impacts and to change the configuration of future energy systems. To engage with emergent views on these complex, multi-s…
Public perceptions of hydraulic fracturing for shale gas and oil in the United States and Canada
The United States and Canada have been at the forefront of shale oil and gas development via hydraulic fracturing. Understanding public perceptions is important given the role that they may play in future policy decisions in both North America and other parts of the world where shale development is at a much earlier stage. We review 58 articles pertaining to perceptions, published between 2009 and 2015. Studies report mixed levels of awareness of…
Shale development in the US and Canada
Public and stakeholder engagement with shale development is difficult, but essential. We review 26 engagement processes carried out by US and Canadian companies, alliances, government agencies, academics and activists; systematically exploring who participates, the stage at which engagements take place, aims and methods, provision for multiway engagement, and issues of credibility. We find a multitude of actors carrying out engagement using a var…
Urgency in energy justice
Using role play to explore energy perceptions in the United States and United Kingdom
Health risk perception and shale development in the UK and US
In this paper, we examine discourse in public deliberations in pre-development locales in the UK and US about advantages and disadvantages of future shale development (‘fracking’). We aimed to understand how people anticipate potential health effects, broadly construed, of environmental toxicity and disturbance in the context of planned, but not yet implemented, energy development. In day-long deliberations with small, diverse groups in two citie…
A framework linking ecosystem services and human well‐being
The ecosystem services approach is based on the interdependencies between nature and human well‐being. However, while the ecosystem services aspect of this approach is well‐developed, the human well‐being aspect remains unstructured and vaguely defined. An integrated conceptual framework was developed by adapting and linking the UK National Ecosystem Assessment‐Follow On framework with human well‐being domains. As well as benefits, the notion of …
Disciplined research in undisciplined settings”
In situ and mobile methodologies are increasingly popular within research into diverse geographies of health and wellbeing. These methodologies include data‐gathering techniques and modes of analysis carried out with research participants as they experience and move through settings with the potential to shape both momentary and longer‐term experiences of health and wellbeing. This methodological development is both a response to and reflection o…
Valuing Nature for Wellbeing
Contributing to the cultural ecosystem services literature, this paper draws on the in-depth place narratives of two coastal case-study sites in Wales (UK) to explore how people experience and understand landscape change in relation to their sense of place, and what this means for their wellbeing. Our place narratives reveal that participants understand coastal/intertidal landscapes as complex socio-ecological systems filled with competing legiti…
Reflections from the team
Many migratory fish populations are declining, threatened by human‐induced pressures such as habitat loss and fragmentation caused by dams, roads, land use change, climate change and pollution. However, public awareness of fish migration and associated human pressures remains limited. It is important to communicate about hard‐to‐see and complex environmental topics and issues, such as fish migration, with young people, who stand to be the most af…
‘This funny place’
Saltmarshes are increasingly recognised for the range of benefits they offer, including coastal protection, flood regulation and carbon sequestration. However, much less is known about how people perceive these environments and their importance for non‐material aspects of human well‐being. As climate change and sea‐level rise render these environments increasingly vulnerable, there is a need to better understand how saltmarshes are valued. This i…
Collaging to find river connections and stimulate new meanings
This article contributes to work in creative geographies through the lens of river spaces and a multimodal practice among an ensemble of artists/poets/scientists. The collaboration created two collage series with both planned and unplanned visual, textual, and audio-visual media. Orchestrated in a time of global pandemic, learnings from the ensemble's online creative practice are shared and discussed, including: the methodological possibilities o…
No one talks about it”
Higher Education (HE) is, at best, struggling to rise to the challenges of the climate and ecological crises (CEC) and, at worst, actively contributing to them by perpetuating particular ways of knowing, relating, and acting. Calls for HE to radically transform its activities in response to the polycrises abound, yet questions about how this will be achieved are often overlooked. This article proposes that a lack of capacity to express and share …
Intergenerational tabletop game design for exploring the climate emergency
This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this record
Engineering (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Geography (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (7 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics (5 works) · Environmental resource management (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Public relations (5 works)