Rebecca Newman

Rebecca joined SEI’s York Centre in 2021 as a research associate for the Sensors for Clean Water project, where she is contributing to investigating how local stakeholders can effectively engage in the distribution and implementation of technology for water quality monitoring.

Rebecca completed her undergraduate studies at the University of York with a degree in Environmental Science.  She went on to achieve an MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of Leeds. In 2017 she completed her second MSc in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management at York before starting her PhD on “Integrating Insights from Social-Ecological Interactions into Sustainable Land Use Change Scenarios for Small Islands in the Western Indian Ocean”.

Rebecca’s research interests centre on understanding how environmental challenges in developing contexts are experienced by communities, alongside how people respond and the overall implications for livelihood sustainability. Previously she has explored the challenges and benefits of beekeeping as an alternative livelihood activity. More recently she has focused on addressing inequities in sustainable scenario’s development using participatory methods. Her projects have primarily been focused on East Africa with fieldwork based in rural Kenya and Zanzibar.