Dr Alix Dietzel is a lecturer in Global Ethics at the School for Sociology, Politics, and International Studies (SPAIS) where she has worked since finishing her PhD in 2015. She is a climate justice and climate policy expert, who also sits on the Bristol Advisory Committee for Climate Change. Focusing both on the global and local scale, Alix is interested in how just the response to climate change is and how we can ensure a just transition. Her work has had policy impact on the city of Bristol, where she is working with a number of community groups and organizations on improving their decision-making processes around climate change and just transition.

In her role as Associate Director for Impact and Innovation, Alix is planning to help the Cabot Institute and its members be more reflexive about what kind of impact is most important to us. In a context of climate emergency, she believes impact cannot be narrowly defined in terms of business relationships, grant money, citations, and metrics like the Overton Index or REF, although these are of course important to drive forward research. Instead, Alix will help the Cabot Institute’s members consider their role in transitioning away from fossil fuels and towards a fairer society, using our expertise to not only inform but transform policy at the local, national, and international level. Alix wants the Cabot Institute to be known as a place that is pushing the boundaries of interdisciplinary research, focusing on long-term policy impact and does most for those who have least power.

“Alix has always been an active member of the Cabot community and is currently a co-lead for the Environment Change theme. I am delighted to welcome Alix into her new role as Associate Director for Impact and Innovation and the vision she brings to push interdisciplinary research boundaries and support the community with long -term policy impact” – Professor Guy Howard, Director for the Cabot Institute for the Environment.