Staff Profile

I completed my BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Balliol College, Oxford University in 1990 before returning to the North-East of England. In 1993, I was awarded a British Academy studentship to study for a PhD at Newcastle University under the supervision of Peter Jones and Simon Caney. My PhD on 'The metaethical and ethical basis of political theory: a dual standpoint approach' critically examined Thomas Nagel's moral philosophy and attempted to develop a distinctive account of justice. I completed it in 1999 and was awarded the PSA's annual Sir Ernest Barker Prize for the Best Dissertation in Political Theory (1999). I was Leverhulme Special Research Fellow at Newcastle University from 2001-3.  In 2003, I was appointed to a Lectureship in Political Thought at Newcastle University.  In 2006, I was promoted to Senior Lecturer.  In 2012, I became Reader in Environmental Political Theory and in 2014 I was promoted to a Chair in Environmental Political Theory. I have previously been Head of Politics (2005-8; 2015-19), School Postgraduate Director (2008-10), Politics Postgraduate Research and Taught Programmes Director (2008-10), and Politics Research Director (2012-15).  

Research

My research is on environmental and social justice. I am particularly interested in questions about responsibilities for addressing injustices and preventing harms in the Anthropocene. My current project considers the limits of individual responsibilities for global problems, such as climate change.

Postgraduate Supervision

I am happy to supervise students working on environmental and social justice.

I have co-supervised ten students to completion:

Lindsay Palmer - The socio-political and technical dynamics of mine water remediation. (ESRC/NERC funded studentship - completed 2008.)

Karen Scott - Promoting well being: community participation, quality of life indicators and sustainability. (ESRC CASE studentship with Blyth Valley Borough Council - completed 2009).

Martyn Griffin - Defending internal deliberation. (ESRC studentship - completed 2010).

Clare Heyward - Environment and cultural identity: towards a new dimension of climate justice. (AHRC studentship - completed 2010). 

Chi-Lun Huang - Environmental justice in Taiwan: the case of nuclear waste and public participation. (Completed 2012)

Joanne Swaffield - Discourses of climate change: climate champions, corporations and behaviour change. (School funded studentship - completed 2012).

Gillian Nelson - China and Climate Justice (Completed 2015)

Peter Eckersley - Local climate governance in England and Germany (Completed 2016)

Cristina Fernandez-Garcia -  Genetic human enhancement of cognitive and moral capacities: ethical evaluation and assessment of their potential impact on social justice.

Iman Cherkwani - The political thought of Sa'adi

Funding

Procedural Justice and Local Climate Policy in the UK - Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2011, c.£8k. 

Global Justice and Climate Change - AHRC Research Leave. 2007-8. c.£30k

Global Justice and the Environment - AHRC (with Simon Caney, Oxford). 2004-7. c.£259k

Deliberating the Environment - ESRC Science in Society Programme (with Jan Deckers, Tim Gray, Mary Brennan and Nicola Thompson, Newcastle). 2003-4. c.£45k

Citizenship and the Environment - ESRC Seminar Series (with Andrew Dobson, Keele). 2003-5. c.£15k

Political Liberalism and the Environment - Leverhulme Special Research Fellowship. 2001-3. c.£28k

• Articles

  • Carrick J, Bell D, Fitzsimmons C, Gray T, Stewart G. Principles and practical criteria for effective participatory environmental planning and decision-making. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2023, 66(14), 2854-2877.
  • Peeters W, Bell D, Swaffield J. How New are New Harms Really? Climate Change, Historical Reasoning and Social Change. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 2019, 32, 505-526.
  • Bell D, Swaffield J, Peeters W. Climate ethics with an ethnographic sensibility. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 2019, 32, 611-632.
  • Clough E, Bell D. Just fracking: a distributive environmental justice analysis of unconventional gas development in Pennsylvania, USA. Environmental Research Letters 2016, 11(2), 025001.
  • Scott K, Bell D. Trying to measure local wellbeing: indicator development as a site of discursive struggles. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 2013, 31(3), 522-539.
  • Bell D, Gray T, Haggett C, Swarfield J. Revisiting the 'social gap': public opinion and relations of power in the local politics of wind energy. Environmental Politics 2013, 22(1), 115-135.
  • Huang CL, Gray TS, Bell D. Environmental justice of nuclear waste policy in Taiwan: Taipower, government and local community. Environment, Development and Sustainability 2013, 15(6), 1555-1571.
  • Bell D. Coming of age? Environmental Politics at 21. Environmental Politics 2013, 22(1), 1-15.
  • Bell D. Climate Change and Human Rights. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 2013, 4(3), 159-170.
  • Swaffield J, Bell D. Can 'climate champions' save the planet? A critical reflection on neoliberal social change. Environmental Politics 2012, 21(2), 248-267.
  • Bell D. Global Climate Justice, Historical Emissions and Excusable Ignorance. Monist 2011, 94(3), 391-411.
  • Bell D. Does Anthropogenic Climate Change Violate Human Rights?. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 2011, 14(2), 99-124.
  • Palmer L, Gray T, Bell D. Lessons for community-based management approaches to mine water pollution problems: a comparative study of four cases in northeast England. Local Environment 2010, 15(4), 341-356.
  • Thompson N, Bell DR. Articulating political knowledge in deliberation. Contemporary Politics 2006, 12(3-4), 287-300.
  • Bell DR, Gray TS, Haggett C. The 'social gap' in wind farm siting decisions: Explanations and policy responses. Environmental Politics 2005, 14(4), 460-477.
  • Gray TS, Haggett C, Bell DR. Offshore wind farms and commercial fisheries in the UK: A study in stakeholder consultation. Ethics, Place and Environment 2005, 8(2), 127-140.
  • Bell DR. Environmental learning, metaphors and natural capital. Environmental Education Research 2005, 11(1), 53-69.
  • Bell DR. Environmental Refugees: What Rights? Which Duties?. Res Publica 2004, 10(2), 135-152.
  • Bell DR. Environmental justice and Rawls' difference principle. Environmental Ethics 2004, 26(3), 287-306.
  • Bell DR. Creating green citizens? Political liberalism and environmental education. Journal of Philosophy of Education 2004, 38(1), 37-53.
  • Bell DR, Gray TS. The Ambiguous Role of the Environment Agency in England and Wales. Environmental Politics 2002, 11(3), 76-98.
  • Bell DR. How can political liberals be environmentalists?. Political Studies 2002, 50(4), 703-724.

• Authored Books

  • Davoudi S, Bell D. Justice and fairness in the city: A multi-disciplinary approach to 'ordinary' cities. Policy Press, 2016.
  • Bell DR, Dobson A. Environmental Citizenship: Getting from Here to There. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: MIT Press, 2006.

• Book Chapters

  • Davoudi S, Bell D. Understanding justice and fairness in and of the city. In: Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Policy Press, 2016, pp.1-20.
  • Woolner P. The school in the city. In: Davoudi, S; Bell, D, ed. Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Bristol: Policy Press, 2016, pp.49-68.
  • Davoudi S, Bell D. Spatial justice and the right to the city. In: Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Policy Press, 2016, pp.103-106.
  • Bell D, Davoudi S. Social justice and life course. In: Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Policy Press, 2016, pp.209-212.
  • Bell D, Davoudi S. Participation, procedural fairness and local decision making. In: Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Policy Press, 2016, pp.167-170.
  • Davoudi S, Bell D. Local environmental justice. In: Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Policy Press, 2016, pp.21-24.
  • Laing K, Mazzoli Smith L, Todd L. Educating urban youth: fair or foul?. In: Davoudi,S; Bell,D, ed. Justice and Fairness in the City: A multi-disciplinary approach to 'ordinary' cities. Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2016, pp.231-248.
  • Bell D, Davoudi S. A fairer city: Towards a pluralistic, relational and multi-scalar perspective. In: Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Bristol: Policy Press, 2016, pp.265-280.
  • Bell D. Justice on one planet. In: Gardiner, S;Thompson, A, ed. Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. In Press.
  • Bell D. Environmental citizenship: global, local and individual. In: Harris, P, ed. Routledge Handbook of Global Environmental Politics. London, UK: Routledge, 2013, pp.347-58.
  • Bell D. Climate Duties, Human Rights and Historical Emissions. In: Harris, P, ed. China's Responsibility for Climate Change: Ethics, Fairness and Environmental Policy. Bristol: Policy Press, 2011, pp.25-45.
  • Bell D. Justice and the Politics of Climate Change. In: Lever-Tracy, C, ed. Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society. London: Routledge, 2010, pp.423-441.
  • Bell D. Carbon Justice? The Case Against a Universal Right to Equal Carbon Emissions. In: Wilkes, S, ed. Seeking Environmental Justice. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008, pp.239-257.
  • Bell DR. Sustainability through Democratization? The Aarhus Convention and the Future of Environmental Decision-Making in Europe. In: Barry J, Baxter B; Dunphy R, ed. Europe, Globalisation and Sustainable Development. London: Routledge, 2004, pp.94-112.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

  • Bell DR. Liberal environmental citizenship. In: General Sessions of the European Consortium of Political Research. 2005, Uppsala, Sweden: Environmental Politics: Routledge.

• Edited Book

  • Davoudi S, Bell D, ed. Justice and Fairness in the City, A multi-disciplinary approach to ‘ordinary’ cities. Bristol: Policy Press, 2016.

• Note

  • Bell DR. Rawls and research on cognitively impaired patients: A reply to Maio. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 2003, 24(5), 381-393.