Rosie completed a BSc in Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia and worked in private sector research and local government before returning to academia. She gained an MSc in Social Research Methods from the London School of Economics, followed by a PhD in 2004 from the Department of Geography at University College London (Public perceptions of air pollution and health in social and geographical contexts). She was awarded a one year ESRC postdoctoral fellowship at UCL, and then took up a post as research fellow at the Department of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow in 2005, working within the Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice. Rosie joined the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at Birmingham in August 2007.

Research groups

• Society, economy and environment
• Resilience and urban living

Research interests

• Environmental inequalities
• Energy vulnerabilities and fuel poverty
• Ageing, environmental change and environmental policy
• Environmental health geographies

Current / recent research

Interdisciplinary Cluster on Energy Systems, Equity and Vulnerability (InCluESEV)

(ESRC / EPSRC funded 2009-2011 PI Karen Bickerstaff, Kings College London)

Work Package leader: WP2 Exploring the Diversity of Energy Vulnerabilities

This cluster brings together academics and non-academics in various activities over three years in a range of activities to further understanding of issues connected to social equity and vulnerability in relation to energy supply and consumption.

Visit the InCluESEV cluster website

Thermal management practices of older people during winter: accounting for the contextual dynamics

R Day and R Hitchings (Dept Geography UCL) 2008-9 funded by the Nuffield Foundation

This project uses in-depth qualitative interviews and photo diary methods to examine how older people at different levels of affluence manage their thermal comfort as they pass through the winter, using heating systems, movements, technologies and other material objects such as clothing. By focussing upon everyday practices and on how particular behaviours come to seem sensible and routine with regard to staying warm, it aims to provide a detailed understanding of the factors that structure this seasonal adaptation, including economic resources, physical infrastructures, age-related biophysical changes and cultures of ageing. The wider aim is to use findings to inform debate about thermal management behaviours within ageing societies such as ours and make timely contributions to policy agendas that promote both winter wellbeing for older people today and more sustainable forms of domestic consumption in the future.

Download the full report on Older people and their winter warmth behaviours: Understanding the contextual dynamics (PDF - 3.87MB)

Older People, Environment and Wellbeing

R Day, 2005-2007, funded by the Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice

This project is a comparative study of three differing urban neighbourhoods in the West of Scotland, using qualitative techniques to work in depth with older residents. It addresses issues of how older people use and experience their local outdoor environment, how they feel it affects their health and wellbeing, and different types of barriers to outdoor activities they may encounter. Through the exploration of different neighbourhoods the work reflects on environmental equity concerns to do with the spatial distribution of key environmental qualities, the means by which older residents may be especially affected by certain neighbourhood environmental features and dimensions, and the extent to which older people feel able to participate in decision-making regarding their local environments.

Download the full final report from the Older People, Environment and Wellbeing project (PDF - 570KB) or the Older People, Environment and Wellbeing summary findings (PDF - 103KB)

Administrative Responsibilities

Year 2 Tutor, Environmental Science / Environmental Management

Key Publications since 2001

Day R, Wager F (2010) Parks, streets and ‘just empty space’: the local environmental experiences of children and young people in a Scottish study. Local Environment, in press

Wager F, Hill M, Bailey N, Day R, Hamilton D and King C (2010) The impact of poverty on children and young people’s use of services. Children and Society 24.4

Day R, Hitchings R (2009) Older People and their Winter Warmth Behaviours: Understanding the Contextual Dynamics (PDF - 3.87MB) School of Geography, University of Birmingham / Dept Geography, UCL.

Day R (2008) Local environments and older people’s health: dimensions from a comparative qualitative study in Scotland. Health and Place, 14(2), p299-312

Day, R. (2008) Local Urban Environments and the Wellbeing of Older People. Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice, Dept. Urban Studies, University of Glasgow.

Day R (2007). Place and the experience of air quality. Health and Place 13 (1) p249-260.

Wager F, Bailey N, Day R, Hamilton D, Hill M, King C. (2007) Serving Children? The impact of Poverty on Children’s’ Experiences of Public, Private and Voluntary Services. Save the Children, Edinburgh.

Day R (2006). Traffic-related Air Pollution and Perceived Health Risk: Lay Assessment of an Everyday Hazard. Health, Risk and Society 8.3 p305-322.

Davies G, Day R and Williamson S. (2004) Editorial: The Geography of Health. Knowledge/s. Health and Place 10.

Burgess J, Chilvers J, Clark J, Day R, Hunt J, King S, Simmons P, Stirling A. (2004) Citizens and Specialists Deliberate Options for Managing the UK’s Legacy Intermediate and High Level Radio- active Waste: a Report of the Deliberative Mapping Trial, June-July 2004. Report for DEFRA

Langford I, Skourtos M, Kontogianni A, Day R, Georgiou S and Bateman I. (2001) Use and Non-Use Values for Conserving Endangered Species: The Case of the Mediterranean Monk Seal. Environment and Planning A 33 p2219-2233.

Langford I and Day R (2001). Poisson Regression, in A Leyland and H Goldstein (eds.) Multilevel modelling of health statistics Chichester: Wiley.