Human energy consumption and its direct link to global climate change is among the most defining and challenging issues of our time. The original Material Cultures of Energy project (MCE, conducted in 2014-2017) examined how copiously consumed energy transformed daily life during the 20th century. The MCE project successfully revealed that consumers have shaped the diverse patterns of energy consumption in accordance with distinctively local, regional and national energy cultures. This follow-on project will build on the successes of MCE and its intervention into today's energy issues by directly engaging with the process of communicating energy-related knowledge and information. This approach presents a unique opportunity for arts and humanities research to directly influence professional practices that have important bearings on energy users' behaviour, knowledge and attitude. This project will explore methods for improving communication about energy-related information and knowledge to the public. The project will mobilise the MCE project's legacy assets and engage with a new community of stakeholders: 'energy communicators' such as museum curators; public relations and communication officers in business, government offices, NGOs, community energy groups. By collaborating with the key mediators of energy-related information, the project seeks to deliver the original project's research findings-in the broader context of today's energy communication-to stakeholders and the public effectively and immediately. Simultaneously, the project aims to benefit communication experts by creating new collaborative partnerships and a network of research institutions, the cultural industry and the energy sector. Using public museums of the Science Museum Group as the main site of dialogue and public events, the project will conduct five interrelated activities to address the Five Challenges for Energy Communication: Challenge 1. Object-based communication Challenge 2. Behavioural intervention Challenge 3. Visual media communication Challenge 4. Participatory communication Challenge 5. Community engagement These challenges form the bases of the project's five activities that are designed to foster a multidisciplinary dialogue, co-creation process and cross-fertilisation of expertise in the field of energy communication. The five activities and their main objectives are as follows: - Five Challenges Knowledge Exchange Sessions will create a sustained dialogue within the core project group, a multidisciplinary group of energy communicators working in research and practice. - The project's public events at regional science festivals will combine the insights from both the MCE project and the follow-on KE sessions in a tangible form. - An Energy Communication Conference will be organised to expand the project's scope, incorporating a wider community of communication experts within and outside of the UK. - The Energy Communication Network will perpetuate a close working relationship among energy communicators by establishing an online-based professional network and hub of information. The network will operate via the project website and is expected to continue beyond the life of the project. - The Energy Communication Toolkit will make available the collective knowledge and insights of energy communicators in an open-access format, intended as a reference and as learning material for communication experts and students. Our project partners represent diverse areas of energy communication, including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Behavioural Insights Team, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), the Community Energy England and the Carbon Co-op. By working closely with these partners, the follow-on project is expected to activate a dialogue across different fields of energy communication in a concerted effort to tackle major challenges for energy communication.

It is critically important to provide social science insights to support the transition to a sustainable and biodiverse environment and a net zero society. We are in a biodiversity crisis, with profound implications for humanity and nonhuman nature. Severe cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are urgently needed to restrict global temperature increases. This multi-faceted crisis, alongside disruptions such as COVID-19, demands the skills, insights and leadership of social scientists in relation to research, policy-making and action. However, environmental solutions are often framed as technological or ecological fixes, underestimating social dimensions of policy and practice interventions. Social science research is rarely agile and responsive to societal needs in very short time frames, and there is an urgent need for stronger community organisation and coordination. We need to increase the accessibility, agility and use of social science, as well as to further develop the skills necessary to contribute to interdisciplinary research, enabling the co-production of knowledge and action. Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science (ACCESS) is a team of world-leading social science and interdisciplinary experts led by the Universities of Exeter and Surrey with the Universities of Bath, Leeds & Sussex and the Natural Environment Social Research Network (Natural Resources Wales, NatureScot, Natural England, Environment Agency and Forest Research). The ACCESS core team is complemented by a wider network of expertise drawn from academic and stakeholder partners across UK devolved nations and internationally: Strathclyde University, Queens University Belfast, Cardiff University, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Manchester University, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, University of Sydney and stakeholder partners including the Welsh Government, Scottish and Southern Energy, the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, National Trust, Academy for Social Sciences, Community Energy England, Winchester Science Centre and Devon and Surrey County Councils. ACCESS is structured around three cross-cutting themes (Co-production; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Sustainability and Net Zero) that underpin four work packages: 1. Map, assess and learn from the past experiences of social scientists in climate and environment training, research, policy and practice; to develop and test new resources to impact interdisciplinary education, research and knowledge mobilisation, catalysing change in policy culture, institutions, businesses and civil society (Work Package (WP)1); 2. Empower environmental social scientists at different learning and career stages by providing training and capacity building, including masterclasses, placements, mentoring and collegiate networks to enhance leadership and knowledge exchange skills (WP2); 3. Innovate by creating new ideas and testing new approaches; scope future transformative social science and enable rapid and timely deployment of social science capacity in response to key events or emergencies (WP3); 4. Champion and coordinate environmental social scientists across the UK and internationally by providing an accessible knowledge/data hub and innovative public engagement tracker; building new networks, enabling coordination and collaboration; supporting policy and decision-making (WP4). ACCESS' depth and breadth of expertise coupled with the range of innovative resources produced will deliver transformational leadership and coordination of environmental social science. ACCESS will become the key trusted source of environmental social science for UK governmental and non-governmental agencies, business and civil society. In so doing, ACCESS will ensure that social science insights become more visible, valued and used by non-social science academics and stakeholders, supporting the transition to a sustainable and biodiverse environment and a low carbon society.