Next steps
Congratulations! You have now completed this Water Practices Analytical Toolkit. You should now be more familiar with Social Practice Theories and mixed methods data and how to apply these ideas to your work.
We hope that engaging in this training will expand your understanding of household water demand. If you are interested in exploring this further, please contact Artesia who can support you to work with these ideas in future projects via our Social Science Service.
Social Science Service
Our social science offer operationalises social practice theories to address water industry challenges.
We work with clients to commission bespoke projects which apply social science concepts and combine them with data analytics to enhance understanding of customer behaviour.
Our service aims to improve water resource planning and the creation of effective water efficiency strategies to reduce household water demand and create sustainable water futures.
Projects can include:
1) Water Efficiency Analysis Service – applying social science concepts and data to plan, create and evaluate water efficiency strategies and interventions for different communities. This can help support water companies to deliver effective and lasting water efficiency programmes to their customers.
2) Advanced Household Water Demand Modelling – Using social science concepts and data to enhance demand modelling techniques. This can help water companies build an enhanced understanding of customer behaviour into their forecasting and water resource planning activities, helping improve resilience to water resource pressures.
3) Policy and Regulatory Service – Using our social research knowledge and skills to help policy and regulatory planning and evaluation be more inclusive of the diverse ways people use water.
4) Wider Consultancy – Using our social research knowledge and skills to support the delivery of broader industry agendas such as improvements in customer engagement, increased awareness of customer behaviours in managing wastewater, delivering Net Zero etc.
Please contact: Tom Andrewartha or Dene Marshallsay for more information.
University of Manchester – Water Practices Research and Consultancy
Dr Alison Browne and Dr Claire Hoolohan work closely with industry, policy and third sector partners to bring the insights from social sciences research and methods into the UK water sector and beyond.
They and their interdisciplinary teams deliver thought-provoking presentations and seminars, as well as co-designing and delivering workshops (e.g. Change Points). They are experienced in maintaining engagement through rapid research and longer consultancy and large-grant funded research projects. There are also opportunities for student exchanges and researcher secondments, supervision of Masters and PhD projects co-funded by industry and non-academic partners.
Their work covers everyday practices; water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash); water-energy demand management and modelling; water-energy-food-waste nexus; Net Zero and Low Carbon water; infrastructures and technologies including Digital Water and Sanitation; social practice informed design thinking and intervention design (Change Points). Their work has global reach with projects in the UK, Europe, Australia, China and Hong Kong and PhD researchers and colleagues working on projects in Malawi, Ghana, Liberia, India, China, and beyond.
For all academic related enquires and potential collaborations please contact Alison Browne alison.browne@manchester.ac.uk and Claire Hoolohan claire.hoolohan@manchester.ac.uk. For more detail on the various ways you could collaborate with the team at the University of Manchester see: Business engagement services | The University of Manchester
Wider Reading
There are lots of relevant resources and existing projects which you can engage with on these topics. We have listed a handful of publications we believe will set you on the right path to explore these topics further.
If you are interested in continued professional development on these themes, please contact the teams at Artesia and University of Manchester to discuss your bespoke training needs.
Alda-Vidal, C., Smith, R., Lawson, R., and Browne, A. L. (2020). Understanding changes in household water consumption associated with Covid-19. Artesia Consulting.
Browne, A. L., Pullinger, M., Medd, W., and Anderson, B. (2014). Patterns of practice: a reflection on the development of quantitative/mixed methodologies capturing everyday life related to water consumption in the UK. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 17(1), 27–43.
Cahill, J. Hoolohan, C. Cecinati, F. Gibbons, A. Gough, D. Lawson, R. Rogerson, S. Spey, A. Browne, A. (2023) Water Practices Analytical Toolkit: Stage 2 primary research insights [online] Artesia.
Hoolohan, C., and Browne, A. L. (2016) Reframing Water Efficiency: Determining Collective Approaches to Change Water Use in the Home. British Journal of Environment and Climate Change, 6(3), 179-191.
Pullinger M, Browne, A.L., Anderson, B., and Medd W. (2015) New directions in understanding household water demand: a practices perspective. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology—AQUA. 62(8), 496-506.
Artesia Consulting (2021) The impact of COVID-19 on water consumption during February to October 2020.
Browne, A.L. (2015). Insights from the everyday: Implications of reframing the governance of water supply and demand from ‘people’ to ‘practice’. Wires Water, 2 (4), 415-424.
Pullinger, M., Anderson, B., Browne, A.L., & Medd, W. (2014). New directions in understanding household water demand: a practices perspective. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology – AQUA 62 (8 ), 496–506.
Orr, P., Papadopoulou, L., and Twigger-Ross, C. (2018). Water Efficiency and Behaviour Change Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA). Defra research project WT1562, for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
