Rebecca Fisher PhD Researcher The Global Sustainability Institute; Anglia Ruskin University; Research Fellow of the Schumacher Institute, Royal Society for the Arts and the Cambridge Philosophical Society

Thesis title Exploring and evaluating the (non-economic) impact of sustainability education using the Eden Project as a case study.

“The volume of education has increased and continues to increase, yet so do pollution, exhaustion of resources, and the dangers of ecological catastrophe. If still more education is to save us, it would have to be education of a different kind: an education that takes us into the depth of things.” E F Schumacher (written 1974, published 1997)

Research Questions Research aim What unique contributions does informal sustainability education make in meeting sustainability challenges? Research Questions How is the (non-economic) impact of informal sustainability education currently measured and reported? What impacts do organisations that create informal sustainability education experiences aspire to? What are the observed and reported experiences of those who engage with informal sustainability education? What impacts do they feel these experiences have on them? How can a framework to measure the (non-economic) impact of informal sustainability education be utilised to enable organisations to meet their aspirations in this field?

Method An autoethnographic investigation combining: Research Question 1  Eden Project’s document analysis Academic literature review Research Question 2 Focus groups at the Eden Project’s staff at the “gathering” Interviews with staff members and senior management at the Eden Project Observation and experience-based fieldwork with team members at the Eden Project

Method 2 Research question 3 Research Question 4 Observation and experience-based fieldwork with visitors Short emergent interviews with visitors Short follow up Interviews with visitors – 2 weeks later Research Question 4 Test the created framework

Institutional and Subject Excellence Breaking boundaries Informal Education Impact and evaluation developing policy Public engagement Widening participation

For the love of a PHD

Rebecca Fisher PhD Researcher The Global Sustainability Institute; Anglia Ruskin University; Research Fellow of the Schumacher Institute, Royal Society for the Arts and the Cambridge Philosophical Society Email: rebecca.fisher@pgr.anglia.ac.uk; rfisher@edenproject.com @Reb_Fisher linkedin.com/in/rebecca-fisher-49059839/