Message from the Chair 
Angus Nurse
Anglia Ruskin University
Cambridge, United Kingdom 

Dear E&T Community,

As we go into 2026 this is a good opportunity to reflect on the current state of the Environment and Technology Division and our opportunities to continue our work in social-justice informed scholarship and activism.  In this newsletter youÕll see details of some recent scholarship by Division members.  ItÕs an impressive list of publications which IÕm sure is only a snapshot of the work that is going on in these (clearly) challenging times.  Attacks on 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. Many conversations that I have with colleagues in the US, UK, and across Europe paint a picture of continual difficulties with research funding, in funding for conference attendance, and the challenge of job insecurity.

The technology and environment field is a particularly challenging area. ÔBig TechÕ has its own agenda which sometimes conflicts with the ideals of social justice and critical scholarship that raise the need for regulatory controls or a restriction on an absolute free market approach.  Environmental scholarship that highlights inadequacies in current environmental protection and challenges the continued exploitation of the environment often contradicts short-term thinking and anthropocentric approaches that see the environment as a resource to be exploited for human use.  Funding for work that threatens the status quo or challenges received wisdom risks becoming difficult to obtain, if indeed it isnÕt already.

Despite the increasing nature of these challenges there is cause to be optimistic. SSSP creates an amazing space for us to do our work and the evidence I see of work across the Division reminds me that E & T has a range of committed scholars consistently advocating for social change and providing support for colleagues and communities in a range of settings.  When I took over as Division Chair, one of the things I hoped we could do is develop the visibility of our scholarship. We have an edited collection showcasing the DivisionÕs work that should be published in 2026.  We also have work on a special issue of a journal in its early stages.  I hope we can continue with these and other initiatives that get the DivisionÕs scholarship out there.  

The Division has proposed several sessions for the 2026 annual meeting taking place in New York in August 2026. I hope that E & T members find the scheduled sessions exciting and relevant, and we have several interesting collaborations with other divisions. The conference theme is Resisting Colonization of Lifeworlds, and our proposed panels are designed to reflect several of the multiple crises we face in contemporary society at global, national, and local levels.  These include the problems we face in higher education, social movements and in the way that our communities and practice are affected by global capitalism, and systems based on logics of profit, domination, and coercion.  

Huge thanks to everyone who organised or proposed a session for the 2025 Chicago meeting.  Thanks also to those who proposed a session for New York, 2026 and who have 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 look at the proposed sessions and to submit an abstract to present at the conference.  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 let me know and get involved in programme development for 2027.

My term as Chair ends in 2026 and by the time you see this newsletter we have hopefully had (or are having) an election for the new Chair who will take over after the August 2026 New York meeting. I look forward to welcoming in the new Chair.  

Finally, please encourage your students to submit their work to the graduate student paper award. A suggestion from a faculty member might go some way to letting your students know that their work is good enough for consideration and might help encourage them to submit to the paper award.

I hope everyone is doing well. Feel free to reach out to me if there is anything else you would like me to pursue in the coming year.
Angus Nurse

2025 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award Ð Honorable Mention

The Division did not make an award for the 2025 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award winner.  However, an honourable mention goes to Kate Thomas of New York University for her paper ÒCountering the Current: Flood Risk and Uneven Patterns of Immobility.Ó The award panel thought the paper was empirically robust and contributes well to the current literature on climate risk and residential mobility.  It fits well with the work of the Environment and Technology Division and the type of scholarship we are keen to encourage and support within the Division.  The paper was unfortunately ineligible for the award as it was not included in the conference program as the rules required.  But the award panel wished to acknowledge the paper.

2026 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award

Deadline: January 31, 2026

The Environment and Technology Division is pleased to announce its 2026 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award. This award honors the late Brent MarshallÕs (1965-2008) personal and professional commitment to the Division and encouragement of student engagement in academic scholarship and research. Papers will be considered in the areas of environmental sociology, including, but not limited to political economy of the environment, global environmental issues, social movements and the environment, technology and society, natural disasters and society, and risk perception. The winner of the Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award will receive a plaque, a complimentary SSSP student membership, SSSP conference registration, and a cash award.

To be eligible, the paper must meet the following criteria:
* the paper must have been written in 2025;
* the paper must be authored by one or more students and not co- authored by faculty or a colleague who is not a student;
* manuscripts should be limited to fewer than 10,000 words (inclusive of notes, references, and tables) and the paper must not be published or accepted for publication.

Students should send their submissions to each member of the award committee: Angus Nurse (angus.nurse@aru.ac.uk ), Marko Salvaggio (msalvaggio@tulane.edu ), Jonathan Tollefson (jonathan_tollefson@brown.edu ) and Tanesha Thomas (tthomasta@montclair.edu ).

Please note that students may submit to only one Division for a student paper award. Authors should ensure that they receive a confirmation of receipt for their submission. To be considered for the Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award, applicants are required to submit their papers through the annual meeting Call for Papers, and it is a condition of eligibility for the award that the paper must be included in the conference programme.  Please note that we are unable to award the prize to papers that do not meet this criteria. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Angus Nurse (angus.nurse@aru.ac.uk ).

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

The Call for Papers is available online and the deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time) on January 31, 2026.

Our Environment and Technology Division has several sessions at the annual meeting and division members are encouraged to submit papers to these and other sessions.  Our sessions 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: The Colonisation of Environmental Protection
ORGANIZER: Angus Nurse

This session welcomes papers that explore colonial-era patterns of exploitation and the extent to which neoliberal thinking has taken control over management, protection and exploitation of natural resources and indigenous lands.ÊThe session considers how free market thinking and an anthropocentric approach to environmental resources might weaken environmental protections to favour certain interests, markets or to protect certain sectors.ÊWe welcome papers that examine varied conceptions on the idea of colonisation and contemporary debates on the challenges of maintaining and strengthening environmental protection.

SESSION TITLE: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Criminalising Dissent: Legal Action Against Environmental Human Rights and Political Activists 
ORGANIZERS: Tanesha Thomas and Angus Nurse
CO-SPONSORED WITH LAW AND SOCIETY DIVISION

This session invites papers on how law is used to silence or intimidate environmental activists. We welcome work addressing the criminalisation of climate protest, oppressive policing, restrictions on political demonstrations, and broader patterns of legal violence. Submissions may focus on any region, movement, or form of resistance..

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.

New Research of Interest

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

Cannon, Clare E. B.,ÊKevin Gotham, Katie Lauve-Moon, and Brad Powers. 2026. ÒSubjectivities ofÊbroken windows: Assessing the relationship among crime perceptions, sociodemographic factors, and built environment on neighborhood vacancy perceptions in New Orleans,ÓÊJournal ofÊUrban Affairs. 1Ð19.Êhttps://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2025.2543313
Ê
Cannon, Clare E. B.Êand Eric Chu. 2025.ÊÒExperiments in Nature-based Solutions: Pursuing Conservation, Climate Action, and Land Use Planning in California,ÓÊnpj Climate Action, 4(1), 1-9.Êhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-025-00267-w
Ê
Chu, Eric, Asiya Natekal, Gemma Waaland, andÊClare E.B. Cannon. 2025.ÊÒAn evaluation of U.S. cities' efforts to further distributive justice in climate adaptation planning.ÓÊnpj Urban Sustainability, 5(1), 41.Êhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00237-5
Ê
Cannon, Clare E. B.Ê2025. ÒA feminist community-based participatory action research approach to advance climate justice.ÓÊInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. Advanced online publicationÊhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105631

McInturff, Alex, Peter Alagona,ÊClare E. B. Cannon, & David Pellow.Ê2025.ÊÒThe Socio-Ecological Niche.ÓÊPeople & NatureÊ7(5), 1185-1197.Êhttp://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70032
Ê
Cannon, Clare E. B.,ÊRegardt Ferreria, and Fred Buttell. 2025. ÒAfter Katrina: Disaster and Intimate Partner Violence Research,ÓÊTraumatology. Advance online publication.Êhttps://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000564

Lisa-Jo Van Den ScottÕs book,ÊWalled-In: Arctic Housing and a Sociology of WallsÊ(Lexington Books/Bloomsbury), has been awarded an honorary mention for the Canadian Sociological Association Book Award.Ê The Canadian Sociological Association posted details of the 2025 award recipients at: https://www.csa-scs.ca/2025-recipients and
https://www.csa-scs.ca/2025-laureats-et-laureates

About the Book - Walls profoundly shape the spaces we live in and the places we move through, impinge on our everyday lives, and entangle power relations, identity, and hierarchies.ÊWalled-In: Arctic Housing and a Sociology of WallsÊexplores these effects in the context of Arviat, Nunavut. Lisa-Jo van den Scott lays out the social processes inherent to their experience, arguing that walls, in addition to concealing colonial power relations, are boundary objects, cultural objects, and technological objects. Van den Scott's ethnography ofÊArviammiut's (people of Arviat's) contemporary lived experiences reveals the ways in whichÊArviammiutÊare living in a foreign space, how this impacts their experiences, and how they exercise agency in navigating and reinventing these spaces in resilient and heterogeneous ways.ÊWalled-InÊwas recognized with Honourable Mention for the 2025 Canadian Sociological Book Award. 

Huang, Haisu, and Claire W. Herbert. recently published an article on living in RVs as a post-disaster housing strategy. The paper is: Huang, Haisu, and Claire W. Herbert 2025. ÒÔLong-Term TemporaryÕ Disaster Recovery Housing: Living in RVs Post-Wildfire.ÓÊRural SociologyÊ90(3):e70019. doi:10.1111/ruso.70019.

Williams, C.,ÊN. Paulson, J. Sweat, M. Paulson, M. Maniaci, R. Rutledge, and C. Burger. 2024. ÒEquity and Inclusion in Hospital at Home: Exploring Social Predictors of Patient Outcomes.ÓÊPopulation Health ManagementÊdoi:Ê10.1089/pop.2023.0297
Ê
Paulson, N., M. Paulson, M. Maniaci, R. Rutledge, S. Inselman, and S. Zawada. 2023. ÒWhy U.S. Patients Declined Hospital-at-Home during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study.ÓÊJournal of Patient ExperienceÊdoi:10.1177/23743735231189354
Ê
Zawada, S.,ÊN. Paulson, M. Paulson, M. Maniaci, and B. Demaerschalk. 2024. ÒA Pathway for High-Value Home Hospital Care in the United States.Ó InÊDigital Health Care outside of Traditional Clinical Settings: Ethical, Legal, and Regulatory Challenges and Opportunities, edited by I.G. Cohen, D.B. Kramer, J. Adler-Milstein, and C. Shachar. Cambridge University Press.

Markovska, A., Serdiuk, O., Nurse, A., Soldatenko, I. (2025). Environmental Crimes in Ukraine Under War Conditions. In: van Uhm, D., Siegel, D. (eds) Global Green Crime and Ecojustice. Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-91557-4_19

Nurse, A. (2025). Greening Justice: Ecojustice and Remedying Environmental Harm. In: van Uhm, D., Siegel, D. (eds) Global Green Crime and Ecojustice. Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-91557-4_3

Nurse, A., & Doornbos, E. (2025). Insect Trafficking: A Green Criminological Perspective.ÊLaws,Ê14(5), 74. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws14050074

Nurse, A. (2025). 6: Policing the Ecological Crisis: Public Order Policing, Human Rights and Environmental Activism. InÊPolicing in Crisis?, Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. available from: <Êhttps://doi.org/10.51952/9781529244076.ch006>

Emiline Smith and Angus Nurse 2025ÊRepression over responsibility: sanctioning of environmental activism, Environmental Research Letters, 20(08). DOIÊ10.1088/1748-9326/adef6b

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

1. Submit a paper for the 2026 Annual Meeting Resisting Colonization of Lifeworlds, to be held August 6-9, 2026, Westin New York at Times Square,
New York City, NY.  The Call for Papers is open, the deadline to submit is 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time) on January 31, 2026.

2. Apply for the 2026 Brent K. Marshall Graduate Student Paper Award. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2026.

3. 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 Angus Nurse if you have an idea for an article. 

4. If you have not already done so, donÕt forget to renew your membership for the 2026 calendar year.

5. 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.