Name and Contact Details

Jon Fairburn
Business School
Brindley Building
Staffordshire University
Leek Road
Stoke-on-Trent
ST4 2DF
+44 (0) 1782 294094
jon.fairburn@staffs.ac.uk

Research Interests

Jon's main areas of work are environmental justice, populations at risk, energy, and applications of GIS. He is now an Enterprise Reader in the Business School.

Current Research Projects

• Renewable Energies Transfer System (RETS). EU INTERREG IVC project encouraging regional and local use of renewable energies...view project
• Low Carbon Industry Affiliation. HEIF4 project encouraging businesses to save money by using renewable energy ...view project
• Good Practices in Regional Innovation (GPrix). An EU Framework 7 project looking at best practice in traditional industries around Europe...view project

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Past Projects

• Environmental justice in South Yorkshire for the Environment Agency...view project
• A series of projects for the Health and Safety Executive including production of a National Population Database and earlier work on assessing populations at risk from fireworks storage...view project
• A carbon footprint for the M6 Toll (UK) for Midland Express Limited.
• Environmental justice in Scotland for SNIFFER...view project
• Air quality index for the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004 and 2007
• Environmental justice in England and Wales for the Environment Agency...view project
• Monitoring and evaluation of recycling schemes in Staffordshire for Staffordshire County Council.
• Social ecological mapping for the Medical Research Council...view project
• Green Arc Partnership Project. Design and build a GIS to aid feasibility studies, awarding of grants and monitoring of change around the M6 Toll Road.
• Supporting SMEs with Growth and Diversity project 2003-2004 with Groundwork and involving work placement of students in local SMEs.
• “PREMICE” 2001-2002- Partnership with Environment Agency, Groundwork Stoke, Staffordshire Business Environment Network, Envirowise working with the local ceramics industry to reduce wastes and energy use and save money. Six students placed with local ceramics firms.

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Presentations

• ‘Addressing environmental justice: a UK perspective.’ (Invited speaker) Inégalités environnmentales et risques sanitaires. AFSSET, and Sciences PO Paris. 10 April 2008. Conference transcript
• 'Industrial pollution and social deprivation.' (Invited speaker) IXth International Conference: Chemical and Environmental Hazards: Working together, protecting communities. Health Protection Agency, Manchester May 2008.
• 'Research Strategies and analysis methods in the EU' (Invited speaker) Symposium “Environmental Justice: Social Distribution of Health-Relevant Environmental Hazards” ( Harnack-Haus, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany) German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt) and the Berlin Environmental Agency (Bundesamt für Umwelt Berlin) October 27-28, 2008.
• 'Towards a toolkit to assess the social impacts of environmental measures’ – Methodological workshop: Integrating the social dimension into environmental actions. EUROPEAN COMMISSION Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities DG, Brussels 23 February 2009.
• 'Overview of approaches in response to the challenge’ (Invited speaker) Better Lives, Better Environments conference, Birmingham, the Environment Agency, 27 February 2009.
• 'Environmental justice: poor people in poor environments?’ Keele University, Geography Research Seminar Series, March 2009.
• 'Social inequalities in environmental risks associated with housing and residential location’ Environment and Health Risks: the influence and effects of social inequalities, World Health Organisation, Bonn, Germany, 9-10 Sept 2009.

Selected Publications

• Gidlow, Christopher; Cochrane, Thomas; Davey, Rachel C.; Smith, Graham; and Fairburn, Jon (2010) Relative importance of physical and social aspects of perceived neighbourhood environment for self-reported health. Preventive Medicine, 51:157-163.
• Braubach, Matthias and Fairburn, Jon (2010) Social inequalities in environmental risk associated with housing and residential location – a review of evidence. European Journal of Public Health, 20:36-42.
• Cochrane, Thomas; Davey, Rachel C.; Gidlow, Chris; Smith, Graham R.; Fairburn, Jon; Armitage, Christopher J.; Stephansen, Hilde and Speight, Svetlana (2009) Small area and individual level predictors of physical activity in urban communities: a multi-level study in Stoke on Trent, England. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 6(2): 654-677.
• Fairburn, Jon, Butler, Bridget and Smith, Graham (2009) Environmental justice in South Yorkshire: locating social deprivation and poor environments using multiple indicators. Local Environment, 14:139–154.
• Fairburn J and Smith G (2008) Environmental justice in South Yorkshire: working towards a better quality of life. Available from Environment Agency Publications.
• Smith, Graham and Fairburn, Jon (2008) Updating and improving the National Population Database to National Population Database 2. Health and Safety Executive, Research Report 678.
• Pugh G and Fairburn J (2008) Evaluating the effects of the M6 Toll Road on industrial land development and employment. Regional Studies, 42:977-990.
• Davey, Rachel C; Cochrane, Thomas; Gidlow, Christopher; Fairburn, Jon and Smith, Graham (2008) Design of a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial: Ecological approach to increasing physical activity in an urban community. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 29: 774-782.
• Fairburn J, Arnot C & Balmforth H (2005) Estimating populations at risk. Geoinformatics, 8:42-45.
• Walker G, Mitchell G, Fairburn J & Smith G (2005) Industrial pollution and social deprivation: evidence and complexity in evaluating and responding to environmental inequality. Local Environment, 10:361-377.
• Fairburn J, Walker G, Mitchell G & Smith G (2005) Investigating Environmental Justice In Scotland: Links Between Measures Of Environmental Quality And Social Deprivation. Report produced for Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research. Read report
• Turton B, Boast R & Fairburn J (2004) Transport and travel in North Staffordshire: The view from the business community. Report produced for North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
  
  
• Walker G, Fairburn J & Fay H (2002) Analysis of Impact of Proposed Changes to Separation Distances for Mode A Registered Premises Holding HT4 Fireworks. Health and Safety Executive, Research Report 041. Read report
  
  
• Walker G and Fairburn J (2001) Survey of Explosive Stores and Impact of Proposed Changes to Separation Distances. Health and Safety Executive, Contract Research Report 354. Read report
  
  
• Walker G P, Fairburn J and Bickerstaff K., (2001) Ethnicity and risk: the characteristics of populations in census wards containing major accident hazards in England and Wales, Occasional Papers, Series A: Geographical Research, Department of Geography, Staffordshire University.
  
  

Membership of Organisations and Networks

• August 2003 – current. Appointed to the Board of Governors for Groundwork Stoke on Trent - a regeneration/environment NGO.
  
  
• Member of the Steering Group for the North Staffordshire Integrated Transport Study – funded between AWM, local authorities and the Highways Agency.
  
  
• Member of the Open Rights Group which exists to protect civil liberties wherever they are threatened by the poor implementation and regulation of digital technology.
  
• Member of the steering group for Rural Economy and Land Use Programme Combining Socio-Economic and Environmental Data for Rural Areas York University ESRC/NERC.