Staff profile

Sandra Bell is an environmental anthropologists working on energy related issues and biodiversity conservation. She has previously published on religion and conducted research on the development of Buddhism in Britain for her PhD. Sandra is interested in interdisciplinary research and with Prof Veronica Strang has devised a workshop and associated publication to facilitate research across disciplines (The Institute of Advanced Study).

In 2013 Dr. Bell was awarded the university’s award for Excellence in Doctoral supervision.

Research Projects

• 2016-2019: PEOple-centred developments and approaches in Practical Learning Environments (PEOPLE)
• 2016-2017: Forging Pathways to warm and healthy homes for vulnerable households in the London Borough of Haringey
• 2015-2018: Power from the People? Driving forces and hindrances to becoming a prosumer of electricity in Norway
• 2014-2015: Energy Savings: from regulation to realisation (Norway)
• 2010-2013: Co-investigator Customer Led Network Revolution: Smartgrid electricity and new energy practices. Funded by Ofgem.
• 2011-2012: Co-investigator ESRC Impact Award: Assessing energy vulnerability and equity at the community-scale: developing lessons with communities and stakeholders.
• 2009-2012: Work Package Leader for Whole-systems Equity Analysis of Building Integrated Photovoltaics for IncluESEV - Interdisciplinary Cluster on Energy Systems, Equity and Vulnerability. Bringing together expertise and research activity from across a diversity of energy, climate change and environment funding programmes.
• 2004 - 2008: Social ScienceWork Package Leader for an EU Sixth Framework Programme project - EuMon: EU Wide Monitoring Methods and Systems of Surveillance for Species and Habitats of Community Interest. Working with ecologists and managing social science teams in UK, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia to research the role of volunteers in biodiversity monitoring across EU members states.
• 2004 – 2005: Principle Investigator Calming Troubled Waters: Making Interdisciplinarity Work funded by the UK ESRC’s Rural and Land Use Programme.
• 2001-2004: EU Fifth Framework Funded Project Integrated Management of European Wetlands (IMEW). Principle Investigator for this international multidisciplinary project located in the Danube Delta, Romania; the Nemunas Delta, Lithuania; the Saamai Lakes, Finland and Kerkini Lake, northern Greece. 

• Environmental anthropology
• European wetlands
• Interdisciplinarity
• Socio-technical systems of energy
• Western Buddhism

Chapter in book

• Bell, S. (2016). Community Energy in the UK. In R. Heffron, & G. Little (Eds.), Delivering energy law and policy in the EU and the US : a reader (562-566). Edinburgh University Press
• Bulkeley, H., Powells, G., & Bell, S. (2014). Smart grids and the governing of energy use: Reconfiguring practices?. In Y. Strengers, & C. Maller (Eds.), Social practices, interventions and sustainability : beyond behaviour change (112-126). Routledge
• Adams, C., Bell, S., Taylor, P., Alimisi, V., Hutchinson, G., Kumar, A., & Turner, B. R. (2013). Equity across borders: a whole-system approach to micro-generation. In K. Bickerstaff, G. Walker, & H. Bulkeley (Eds.), Energy justice in a changing climate : social equity and low carbon energy (91-115). Zed Books Ltd
• Bell, S., Marzano, M., & Podjed, D. (2010). Inside Monitoring: a comparison of bird monitoring groups in Slovenia and the United Kingdom. In A. Lawrence (Ed.), Taking stock of nature: Participatory biodiversity assessment for policy, planning and practice (232-250). Cambridge University Press
• Carss, D., Bell, S., & Marzano, M. (2009). Competing and Coexisting with Cormorants: Ambiguity and change in European wetlands. In S. Heckler (Ed.), Landscape, Power and Process: Re-evaluating traditional environmental knowledge. Berghahn Journals
• Bell, S., & Reinert, H. (2009). On the Outside Looking In: Biodiversity and the algebra of life. In J. Repic, A. Bartulovic, K. Sajovec Altshul, & E. Pasanovic (Eds.), MESS and RAMSES II, Vol. 7, Mediterranean Ethnological Summer School (327-342). Ljubljana : Znanstvena zalozba Filozofske fakultete
• Bell, S. (2002). Scandals in Emerging Western Buddhism. In C. Prebish, & M. Baumann (Eds.), Westward Dharma : Buddhism beyond Asia (230-242). University of California Press
• Bell, S., & Sobo, E. (2001). Celibacy in Cross-Cultural Perspective: An Overview. In E. Sobo, & S. Bell (Eds.), Celibacy, culture and society : the anthropology of sexual abstinence (3-26). University of Wisconsin Press
• Bell, S. (2001). Nature and Gender in Theravada Buddhism. In A. Low, & S. Tremayne (Eds.), Women as sacred custodians of the earth ? women, spirituality, and the environment (175-192). Berghahn Journals
• Bell, S. (2000). A Survey of Engaged Buddhism in Britain. In C. Queen (Ed.), Engaged Buddhism in the West (397-422). Boston: Wisdom
• Bell, S., & Coleman, S. (1999). The Anthropology of Friendship: Enduring Themes and Future Possibilities. In S. Bell, & S. Coleman (Eds.), The Anthropology of Friendship (1-20). Berg

Edited book

• Sobo, E., & Bell, S. (Eds.). (2001). Celibacy, Culture and Society: The anthropology of sexual abstinence. University of Wisconsin Press

Journal Article

• Waters, S., El Harrad, A., Bell, S., & Setchell, J. M. (2022). Decolonising Primate Conservation Practice: A Case Study from North Morocco. International Journal of Primatology, 43(6), 1046-1066. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-021-00228-0
• Waters, S., El Harrad, A., Bell, S., & Setchell, J. M. (2019). Interpreting People’s Behaviour Toward Primates Using Qualitative Data: A Case Study from North Morocco. International Journal of Primatology, 40(3), 316-330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-019-00087-w
• Waters, S., Watson, T., Bell, S., & Setchell, J. M. (2018). Communicating for Conservation: Circumventing Conflict with Communities over Domestic Dog Ownership in North Morocco. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 64(6), Article 69. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-018-1230-x
• Astbury, J., & Bell, S. (2018). Assessing and addressing energy vulnerability at the community scale: An interpretive case study. People, Place and Policy, 12(1), 29-46. https://doi.org/10.3351/ppp.2018.2435834443
• Winther, T., & Bell, S. (2018). Domesticating In Home Displays in Selected British and Norwegian Households. Science & Technology Studies, 31(2), 19-38. https://doi.org/10.23987/sts.56791
• Waters, S., Bell, S., & Setchell, J. M. (2018). Understanding Human-Animal Relations in the Context of Primate Conservation: A Multispecies Ethnographic Approach in North Morocco. Folia Primatologica, 89(1), 13-29. https://doi.org/10.1159/000480079
• Waters, S., El Harrad, A., Chetuan, M., Bell, S., & Setchell, J. M. (2017). Dogs disrupting wildlife: Domestic dogs harass and kill Barbary macaques in Bouhachem forest, North Morocco. African primates (Atlanta, Ga.), 12, 55-58
• Chase Grey, J., Bell, S., & Hill, R. (2017). Leopard diets and landowner perceptions of human wildlife conflict in the Soutpansberg Mountains, South Africa. Journal for Nature Conservation, 37, 56-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2017.03.002
• Setchell, J., Fairet, E., Shutt, K., Waters, S., & Bell, S. (2017). Biosocial conservation: integrating biological and ethnographic methods to study human-primate interactions. International Journal of Primatology, 38(2), 401-426. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-016-9938-5
• Constant, N., & Bell, S. (2016). Governance, participation and local perceptions of protected areas: Unwinding traumatic nature in the Blouberg Mountain Range. Environmental Values, 26(5), 539-559. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327117x15002190708100
• Powells, G., Bell, S., Judson, E. P., Lyon, S. M., Wardle, R., Capova, K. A., & Bulkeley, H. (2016). Fostering active network management through SMEs’practises. Energy Efficiency, 9(3), 591-604. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-015-9382-y
• Bulkeley, H., Powells, G., & Bell, S. (2016). Smart grids and the constitution of solar electricity conduct. Environment and Planning A, 48(1), 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x15596748
• Adams, C., & Bell, S. (2015). Local energy generation projects: assessing equity and risks. Local Environment, 20(12), 1473-1488. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2014.909797
• Constant, N., Bell, S., & Hill, R. (2015). The impacts, characterisation and management of human-leopard conflict in a multi-use land system in South Africa. Biodiversity and Conservation, 24(12), 2967-2989. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0989-2
• Bell, S., Judson, E., Bulkeley, H., Powells, G., Capova, K., & Lynch, D. (2015). Sociality and electricity in the United Kingdom: The influence of household dynamics on everyday consumption. Energy Research and Social Science, 9, 98-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.08.027
• Judson, E. P., Bell, S., Bulkeley, H., Powells, G., & Lyon, S. M. (2015). The co-construction of energy provision and everyday practice: integrating heat pumps in social housing in England. Science & Technology Studies, 28(3), 26-53
• Powells, G., Bulkeley, H., Bell, S., & Judson, E. (2014). Peak electricity demand and the flexibility of everyday life. Geoforum, 55, 43-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.04.014
• Fairet, E., Bell, S., Remanda, K., & Setchell, J. (2014). Rural emptiness and its influence on subsistence farming in contemporary Gabon: A case study in Loango National Park. Social biology and human affairs, 78(1-2), 39-59
• Knight, D., & Bell, S. (2013). Pandora's Box: photovoltaic energy and economic crisis in Greece. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 5(3), Article 033110. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4807477
• Adams, A., Taylor, P., & Bell, S. (2012). Equity Dimensions of Micro-generation: A whole systems approach. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 4(5), Article 053122. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4759454
• van Assche, K., Bell, S., & Teampau, P. (2012). Traumatic Nature of the Swamp: Concepts of Nature in the Romanian Danube Delta. Environmental Values, 21(2), 163-183. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327112x13303670567297
• Bell, S., Reinert, H., Cent, J., Grodzińska-Jurczak, M., Kobierska, H., Podjed, D., & Vanzinskaite, D. (2011). Volunteers on the political anvil: citizenship and volunteer biodiversity monitoring in three post communist countries. Environment and planning. C, Government and policy, 29(1), 170-185. https://doi.org/10.1068/c0872
• Bell, S., Marzano, M., Cent, J., Kobierska, H., Podjed, D., Vandzinskaite, D., Reinert, H., Armaitiene, A., Grodzinska-Jurczak, M., & Mursic, R. (2008). What Counts? Volunteers and their organisations in the recording and monitoring of biodiversity. Biodiversity and Conservation, 17(14), 3443-3454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9357-9
• Bell, S., Hampshire, K., & Tonder, M. (2008). Person, Place and Knowledge in the Conservation of the Saimaa Ringed Seal. Society & Natural Resources, 21(4), 277-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920701860516
• Bell, S., Hampshire, K., & Topalidou, S. (2007). The Political Culture of Poaching: A case study from Northern Greece. Biodiversity and Conservation, 16(2), 399-418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-3371-y
• Marzano, M., Carss, D., & Bell, S. (2006). Working to Make Interdisciplinarity Work: Investing in Communication and Interpersonal Relationships. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 57(2), 185-197. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-9552.2006.00046.x
• Hampshire, K., Bell, S., Wallace, G., & Stepukonis, F. (2004). 'Real' poachers and predators: shades of meaning in local understandings of threats to fisheries. Society & Natural Resources, 17(4), 305-318. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920490278656
• Bell, S. (2000). Being Creative with Tradition: Rooting Theravada Buddhism in Britain
• Bell, S. (1998). British Theravada Buddhism: Otherworldly Theories and the Theory of Exchange. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 13(2), 149-170
• Bell, S. (1998). 'Crazy Wisdom', Charisma and the Transmission of Buddhism in the United States. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 2(1), 55-76
• Bell, S. (1994). Practice Makes Perfect: Symbolic Behaviour and Experience in Western Buddhism. DISKUS, 2(2),