Message from the Chair 
Angus Nurse
Anglia Ruskin University
Cambridge, United Kingdom 
Division Chair 2024-2026

Dear E&T Community,

Going into Summer 2026 and towards the end of my term as Environment and Technology Division Chair I find myself again reflecting on the interesting times facing SSSP and the Division.  Here in the UK, stories of mass redundancies in the Higher Education Sector and the closure of academic programmes often only implemented after hard fought campaigns and considerable effort by staff are commonplace. The job market has also contracted and opportunities for career progression or even to get that first academic job (permanent or otherwise) have become much harder. Across the sector attacks on academic expertise, the value of higher education, on scholarship, on the development of new knowledge and critical inquiry and on the publication and funding of research that challenges ÔpreferredÕ narratives and ideologies have recently intensified. Media stories questioning whether getting a degree is Ôworth itÕ and routinely highlighting the difficulties for graduates in getting a job having spent so much on university tuition are also commonplace. 

Despite these challenges, IÕm delighted to see that the Environment and Technology Division remains vibrant. In this newsletter youÕll see details of some of the scholarship taking place within Division including the excellent work being carried out by the DivisionÕs graduate students. SSSP continues to provide an amazing space for critical environmental scholarship that highlights inadequacies in current environmental protection and challenges the continued exploitation of the environment. This includes cutting-edge work highlighting the marginalization of vulnerable communities and exposing the nature and full extent of corporate environmental harms.

We have developed a couple of scholarship initiatives during my term as Chair and are producing an edited book collection showcasing the DivisionÕs work that should be published late in 2026 or early in 2027.  We have also commenced work on a special environmental issue of the Social Problems journal scheduled for publication in late Summer of 2027.  I hope we can continue with these and other initiatives that get the DivisionÕs scholarship out there.  

Huge thanks to everyone who organised or proposed a session for the 2026 New York annual meeting.  Thanks also to those who volunteered to serve on the paper committee or to serve as a presider or discussant for the New York meeting. IÕd like to encourage all E & T members to attend our sessions at the annual meeting.  ItÕs a great way to meet other members of the division and fellow SSSP members. If there isnÕt a session that weÕve organized that meets what you do or if you see a gap in the programme for your area of work, please get involved in programme development for 2027.

As I said at the beginning, my term as Chair ends in 2026 and our new Chair will take over after the August 2026 New York meeting. IÕm delighted to welcome in Marko Salvaggio as our new Chair and look forward to seeing Marko take the Division forward.  

I hope everyone is doing well and wish you well for the coming academic year. 
Angus Nurse

Introducing our New Division Chair Ð Marko Salvaggio

We are delighted to announce that the new Environment and Technology Division Chair 2026 Ð 2028 is Marko Salvaggio PhD from Tulane University. Dr. Marko Salvaggio is Professor of Practice in the Social Sciences Program at the Tulane School of Professional Advancement (SoPA). He is also Director of the Tulane SoPA College in Prison at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW).  Marko is a sociologist who specializes in areas including: the sociology of climate change; urban and community studies; theories of race, ethnicity, and Indigeneity; environmental justice; global inequality; and mobilities studies. MarkoÕs main areas of research include: (1) climate- and water-related urban issues and (2) ecotourism development. MarkoÕs work identifies how communities cope with perceived insecurity arising from increasing floods and droughts, as well as the lack of access to safe water and sanitation. Dr. Salvaggio has designed and taught several social sciences courses that draw from his areas of specialization. At Tulane SoPA, he regularly teaches Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations (PASO 2100) and Environment & Society (PASO 2200).Ê

We welcome Marko to the DivisionÕs leadership.

2026 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award 

ÒThe Dead River is Killing UsÓ: Environmental Risk and Reproductive Decision-Making in ColombiaÕs Caribbean Coast, by Maria Ximena D‡vila, PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin

The Division is pleased to announce the winner of the 2026 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award.  The paper offers a temporal theory of environmental temporal risk by examining how water contamination transforms womenÕs relationship to reproduction and motherhood in rural Columbia.  The paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork in ColombiaÕs Caribbean Coast and in-depth interviews with women living near contaminated water sources. The study examines how environmental harm and gendered meanings of reproduction become entangled through three temporal processes: bodily documentation of pollution, anticipatory reproductive decision-making, and navigation of conflicting temporal demands between immediate survival and long-term well-being.  The study demonstrates how womenÕs bodies become sites where environmental risk is perceived, interpreted and managed through reproductive practices. It demonstrates how toxic environments create sophisticated forms of gendered risk navigation.

The award panel thought the paper was empirically robust and is a compelling fit for the Division award both thematically and conceptually. The winning paper sits squarely at the intersection of environment and technology by examining reproductive risk through water contamination and adds considerably to scholarship on the gendered nature of environmental harms.

The panel would also like to thank our other finalists for this year, Saman Seyfi and Thomas Zenkl. All three papers were well written and represent the best types of scholarship that the DivisionÕs Graduate Student Paper seeks to encourage. 

2026 SSSP 76th Annual Meeting, Resisting Colonization of Lifeworlds
August 6-9, 2026, Westin New York at Times Square, New York City, NY

Our Environment and Technology Division has two sessions scheduled at the annual meeting.  Division members are encouraged to attend these sessions which are as follows:

SESSION TITLE: Algorithmic Injustices: Effect of AI on Vulnerable (Marginalized) Communities 
ORGANIZERS: Miltonette Olivia Craig, Marko Salvaggio
CO-SPONSORED WITH CRIME AND JUSTICE DIVISION AND CRITICAL RACE AND ETHNIC STUDIES DIVISION

This session explores how AI technologies impact marginalized communities and the environment. It may include analyzing how algorithmic bias arises in the criminal legal system, such as predictive policing, crime risk assessments, and surveillance monitoring, as well as in environmental injustices like biased resource management and insufficient environmental resource allocation in low-income areas. Using sociological theory, social research methodologies, and case studies, papers should analyze the connection between AI technologies, marginalized groups, and environmental issues, while suggesting solutions for algorithmic accountability.

SESSION TITLE: WORKS IN PROGRESS: Environment, Inequality, and Marginalized Knowledge  
1. ORGANIZERS: Tanesha Thomas and Nicole M. Butkovich Kraus 
CO-SPONSORED WITH POVERTY, CLASS AND INEQUALITY DIVISION

Environment, inequality, and marginalized knowledge are deeply interrelated aspects of social and ecological life, yet inequality shapes who bears the burden of environmental harm and who enjoys its benefits. Indigenous peoples and low-income communities of color are disproportionately exposed while wealthier populations have greater ability to influence policy. Marginalized and indigenous knowledge plays a crucial role in challenging these dynamics. This inclusive session is designed to foster intellectual and community-based connections and encourage ongoing and newer projects.

2027 SSSP 77th Annual Meeting, Building Communities for Radical Change, August 5-8, 2027, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago

The 2027 annual meeting takes place in Chicago. The conference theme notes that sociology remains embattled and aims to collectively imagine something beyond sociology as currently constituted, to consider a sociology after sociology. The conference asks:ÔCan we build a radically reconstructive project from the rubble of the old discipline? What would that look like? 

These are questions that members of the Environment and Technology Division are ably situated to answer. We encourage Division members to think about ideas for panels, individual papers or roundtable discussions that will contribute to the conference theme and showcase some of the excellent work being undertaken by our membership. 

New Research of Interest

ThereÕs an impressive amount of recent research scholarly from E & T members.  Here are the highlights of recent scholarship notified to the Environment and Technology Division leadership:

Budd, Kristen M., Heather E. Dillaway, David C. Lane, Manjusha Nair, Marko Salvaggio, and Jason A. Smith, eds. 2026. Global Agenda for Social Justice 3. Bristol, UK: Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781447380856.

Cannon, C. E. B., First, J., & Houston, B. (2026). Sociodemographic characteristics predicting psychological and physical intimate partner violence in the United States over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.ÊTraumatology, 32(1), 115Ð123.Êhttps://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000536 

Bozhidar T. Chakalov, Clare E.B. Cannon, Michelle J. Ko (2026). ÔBridging the gap: Addressing healthcare disparities among foreign-born SGM and racial/ethnic minority populationsÕ, Social Science & Medicine, 404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119530.

Contreras, S., Cannon, C.E.B. & Barajas, J.M. (2026). Beyond research delays: science funding disruptions limit community participation in climate and infrastructure planning.Ênpj Urban Sustainability,Ê6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-026-00374-5

Huang, H. and Harrison, J. A. (2025). ÔRoots or recreation: staying in place after a wildfire disasterÕ,ÊEnvironmental Sociology, pp. 1Ð16. doi: 10.1080/23251042.2025.2590859.

Laura McKinney,ÊRob Clark,ÊJohn M. Shandra (2026). If Inequality Increases, Does It Make a Sound?:ÊIncome Inequality, Wealth Inequality, and Forest Loss in a Cross-National Perspective.ÊSociology of DevelopmentÊ1-24. https://doi.org/10.1525/sod.2026.2872174

Nurse, A., and Doornbos, E. (2026). Chapter 10: Critical Perspectives on the Loss of Nature. InÊLegacies of the Lost in Criminology, Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. available from: <Êhttps://doi.org/10.51952/9781529260083.ch010>

Nurse, A. (2025). Slow Activism and the Criminalisation of Contemporary Environmental Protest. InÊNew Forms of Civic Resistance and ActivismÊ(pp. 21-38). Routledge.

Thomas, T.A. (2026). The Brothers: a movement for environmental justice.ÊEnvironmental Sociology, pp.1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2026.2613984 

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

1. Please send through any information youÕd like included in the next Division newsletter.  Recent job moves, details of any new publications or research, details of any new courses and teaching initiatives are all welcome.  WeÕd also welcome short articles on topics of interest to the division membership for our newsletters.  Please feel free to contact Marko Salvaggio if you have an idea for an article. 

2. If you have not already done so, donÕt forget to renew your membership for the 2026 calendar year and for 2027 when the reminder comes through.

3. Please also consider gifting a SSSP membership perfect for friends, students, and colleagues alike or support us with an online donation. Your donations are tax deductible and help support the SSSPÕs vital work. Together, we can make a difference.