All Outputs (46)

Young people responding to multiple "crises": intersecting precarities and everyday life in an informal settlement in Kenya. (2025)
Book Chapter
MUELLER-HIRTH, N. and VERTIGANS, S. 2025. Young people responding to multiple crises: intersecting precarities and everyday life in an informal settlement in Kenya. In Eriksson, S. and Buettgen, A. (eds.) Young people in times of crises: global revelations and social change. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing [online], pages 43-68. Available from: https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-0364-4711-3

Informal settlements, while being home to about 1 in 8 people worldwide, face many interconnected challenges relating to housing, services, health, employment, ecological vulnerabilities and legal marginalisation. Young people living in informal cont... Read More about Young people responding to multiple "crises": intersecting precarities and everyday life in an informal settlement in Kenya..

Resilience and responses to interconnecting crises in informal settlements. [Video recording] (2025)
Digital Artefact
MUELLER-HIRTH, N. and VERTIGANS, S. 2025. Resilience and responses to interconnecting crises in informal settlements. [Video recording]. Hosted on YouTube [online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbhCZ8MLO4&t=1s

This film is part of a research project, led by Dr Natascha Mueller-Hirth (Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, Scotland) and Professor Stephen Vertigans, that examines how community-based organisations in a number of informal settlements in Nairobi, K... Read More about Resilience and responses to interconnecting crises in informal settlements. [Video recording].

Conceptions of sustainability and their impact on practices in oil and gas corporations operating in the Niger Delta. (2025)
Book Chapter
RICHARD-OSU, O.J. and BUCKLER, S. 2025. Conceptions of sustainability and their impact on practices in oil and gas corporations operating in the Niger Delta. In Idowu, S.O. and Vertigans, S. (eds.) Sustainability in global companies: theory and practice. Cham: Springer [online], pages 261-277. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-77971-8_12

Sustainability is a slippery term which can mean different things to different people. This slipperiness creates challenges in organisations that seem to want to adopt sustainable business practices but make little headway in actually doing so, or at... Read More about Conceptions of sustainability and their impact on practices in oil and gas corporations operating in the Niger Delta..

Geothermal cooling solutions for rural communities at Homa Bay, Kenya: a CFD modelling study. (2025)
Journal Article
HOSSAIN, M., LASSALE, M., VERTIGANS, S., DEVECI, G., ELYAN, E., BURGESS, K. and OKOWA, M. 2025. Geothermal cooling solutions for rural communities at Homa Bay, Kenya: a CFD modelling study. International journal of sustainable engineering [online], 18(1), article number 2480095. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/19397038.2025.2480095

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling study has been presented to analyse the cooling impact of a geothermal cooling system based on the Earth-Air-Tunnel-Heat-Exchanger (EATHE) concept to provide passive cooling to heat-stressed vulnerable p... Read More about Geothermal cooling solutions for rural communities at Homa Bay, Kenya: a CFD modelling study..

Forced to live: controlled forced feeding of political prisoners and the challenge to nation-states' civilising processes. (2025)
Journal Article
VERTIGANS, S., CONNOLLY, J. and DOLAN, P. [2025]. Forced to live: controlled forced feeding of political prisoners and the challenge to nation-states' civilising processes. British journal of sociology [online], Early view. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.13196

Since the nineteenth century, struggles between state power and political prisoners' right to die have aroused considerable interest. State enforcement to 'make live' through force-feeding also raises important questions concerning processes that in... Read More about Forced to live: controlled forced feeding of political prisoners and the challenge to nation-states' civilising processes..

Food in/securities and mutual interdependencies in a Kenyan "slum": a study of the social impacts of an urban farming programme. (2024)
Book Chapter
VERTIGANS, S. and MUELLER-HIRTH, N. 2024. Food in/securities and mutual interdependencies in a Kenyan "slum": a study of the social impacts of an urban farming programme. In Lever, J., Smith Maguire, J. and Kapek-Goodridge, A. (eds.) Towards an Eliasian understanding of food in the 21st century: established foundations and new directions. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan; Springer [online], chapter 10, pages 183-200. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65774-0_10

Drawing upon fieldwork undertaken in a "slum" in Nairobi, this chapter explores how experiences of food in/securities contribute to mutual interdependencies. The longitudinal research commenced in March 2020, immediately prior to Covid being identifi... Read More about Food in/securities and mutual interdependencies in a Kenyan "slum": a study of the social impacts of an urban farming programme..

A study on the factors and mechanisms facilitating renewable energy development and access in Togo. (2024)
Thesis
KANSONGUE, N. 2024. A study on the factors and mechanisms facilitating renewable energy development and access in Togo. Robert Gordon University, PhD thesis. Hosted on OpenAIR [online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-2571142

Energy demand is continually increasing due to population growth, improved standard of living, as well as the widespread emergence of industries. This high demand for energy must be met by production with a reasonable reserve margin for sufficiency.... Read More about A study on the factors and mechanisms facilitating renewable energy development and access in Togo..

Theorising political legitimisation: from stasis to processes. (2023)
Journal Article
DOLAN, P., VERTIGANS, S. and CONNOLLY, J. 2024. Theorising political legitimisation: from stasis to processes. European journal of social theory [online], 27(1), pages 22-40. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/13684310231184600

Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a... Read More about Theorising political legitimisation: from stasis to processes..

Borders for peace: controls within a Kenyan informal settlement during political conflict. (2023)
Book Chapter
VERTIGANS, S., GIBSON, N. and MUELLER-HIRTH, N. 2023. Borders for peace: controls within a Kenyan informal settlement during political conflict. In Zaman, Q.M. and Hall, G.G. (eds.) Border urbanism: transdisciplinary perspectives. Cham: Springer [online], chapter 8, pages 151-164. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06604-7_8

During periods of heavily contested elections, accompanying political tensions are often most prevalent within informal settlements. Consequently, the prolonged political tensions experienced in Kenya during 2017 were expected to have the most advers... Read More about Borders for peace: controls within a Kenyan informal settlement during political conflict..

A PESTEL and SWOT impact analysis on renewable energy development in Togo. (2023)
Journal Article
KANSONGUE, N., NJUGUNA, J. and VERTIGANS, S. 2023. A PESTEL and SWOT impact analysis on renewable energy development in Togo. Frontiers in sustainability [online], 3, article 990173. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.990173

Like most developing countries, Togo continues to rely on the use of traditional forms of biomass energy which causes tremendous socio-economic, environmental and health hazards. In addition, the imbalanced distribution and use of electricity, petrol... Read More about A PESTEL and SWOT impact analysis on renewable energy development in Togo..

Children in peace-building and violence during political instability in a Kenyan informal settlement. (2022)
Book Chapter
VERTIGANS, S. and MUELLER-HIRTH, N. 2022. Children in peace-building and violence during political instability in a Kenyan informal settlement. In Children, peace and security. Nairobi: Save the Children International; International Peace Support Training Centre [online], chapter 10, pages 170-187. Available from: https://www.ipstc.org/index.php/downloads-publications/publications?download=226:book-project

Despite increasing attention to a wide range of actors in conflict in the scholarly literature, the roles and experiences of children have been largely considered only in terms of their victimhood. Similarly, in global policy discourses, children and... Read More about Children in peace-building and violence during political instability in a Kenyan informal settlement..

Women's gendered experiences of political instability: Kibera during the 2017 Kenyan elections. (2022)
Journal Article
MUELLER-HIRTH, N., VERTIGANS, S. and GIBSON, N. 2023. Women's gendered experiences of political instability: Kibera during the 2017 Kenyan elections. Women's studies international forum [online], 96, article 102668. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2022.102668

This study examines how residents of Kibera, an multi-ethnic informal settlement and opposition stronghold in Nairobi, Kenya, understood and negotiated political instability in the run up to, and during, the contested elections of 2017. Much of the s... Read More about Women's gendered experiences of political instability: Kibera during the 2017 Kenyan elections..

An assessment of renewable energy development in energy mix for Togo. (2022)
Journal Article
KANSONGUE, N., NJUGUNA, J. and VERTIGANS, S. 2022. An assessment of renewable energy development in energy mix for Togo. International journal of sustainable energy [online], 41(8), pages 1037-1056. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2021.2023150

The Togolese government plans to achieve 100% electrification to all by 2030, to meet the Millennium goals. The Delphi method is used with the experts drawn from policymakers, academic institutions, financial institutions, non-governmental institutio... Read More about An assessment of renewable energy development in energy mix for Togo..

Resilience in a Kenyan informal settlement during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2021)
Journal Article
VERTIGANS, S., MUELLER-HIRTH, N. and OKINDA, F. 2021. Resilience in a Kenyan informal settlement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Acta academica [online], 53(2): pandemic politics, pages 122-142. Available from: https://doi.org/10.18820/24150479/aa53i2/7

Informal settlements have been identified as locations both where the spread of COVID-19 has generally been slower than within the Global North and measures to restrain the pandemic have further intensified local peoples’ marginality as income decrea... Read More about Resilience in a Kenyan informal settlement during the COVID-19 pandemic..

Empowering Kibera during political change: a case study through a Freirean lens. (2021)
Journal Article
GIBSON, N., VERTIGANS, S. and MUELLER-HIRTH, N. 2023. Empowering Kibera during political change: a case study through a Freirean lens. International social work [online], 66(2), pages 399-404. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/00208728211010215

Empowerment is an often used concept and the work of Paulo Freire has helped to define the application and outcomes of approaches. The researchers visited Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, during periods of political activity which had previously resulted in... Read More about Empowering Kibera during political change: a case study through a Freirean lens..

Rational and emotional tension balances in the organization of political hunger strikes. (2021)
Journal Article
CONNOLLY, J., DOLAN, P. and VERTIGANS, S. 2023. Rational and emotional tension balances in the organization of political hunger strikes. Sociological research online [online], 28(1), pages 3-20. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804211003592

This paper is concerned with the relationship between the organization of political hunger strikes, rational calculations and actions and emotions. Drawing from the theoretical formulations of Norbert Elias, we examine how rational–emotional balances... Read More about Rational and emotional tension balances in the organization of political hunger strikes..

CSR, local content and taking control: do shifts in rhetoric echo shifts in power from the centre to the periphery? (2021)
Book Chapter
BUCKLER, S. 2021. CSR, local content and taking control: do shifts in rhetoric echo shifts in power from the centre to the periphery? In Vertigans, S. and Idowu, S.O. (eds.) Global challenges to CSR and sustainable development: root causes and evidence from case studies. Cham: Springer [online], pages 87-104. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62501-6_5

In the current climate of increasing rhetoric around protectionism, nationalism and border security versus free movement, transnational corporations are having to negotiate some particularly tricky issues. One of these is the increasing prevalence of... Read More about CSR, local content and taking control: do shifts in rhetoric echo shifts in power from the centre to the periphery?.

Global challenges to CSR and sustainable development: root causes and evidence from case studies. (2021)
Book
VERTIGANS, S. and IDOWU, S.O. (eds.) 2021. Global challenges to CSR and sustainable development: root causes and evidence from case studies. Cham: Springer [online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62501-6

This book examines and analyzes the challenges programmes for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development are facing in global management practice. It looks at the dichotomy of a general and popular demand for responsible and re... Read More about Global challenges to CSR and sustainable development: root causes and evidence from case studies..

Global challenges of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development: an introduction. (2021)
Book Chapter
VERTIGANS, S. and IDOWU, S.O. 2021. Global challenges of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development: an introduction. In Vertigans, S. and Idowu, S.O. (eds.) Global challenges to CSR and sustainable development: root causes and evidence from case studies. Cham: Springer [online], pages ix-xiv. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62501-6

Over recent years, the concepts, and associated practices, of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development have been subject to considerable challenges. These challenges range from basic questions concerning their purpose and organizat... Read More about Global challenges of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development: an introduction..

Elaborating a people-centered approach to understanding sustainable livelihoods under climate and environmental change: Thang Binh District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. (2020)
Journal Article
MABON, L., NGUYEN, S.T., PHAM, T.T., TRAN, T.T., LE, H.N., DOAN, T.T.H., HOANG, T.N.A., MUELLER-HIRTH, N. and VERTIGANS, S. 2021. Elaborating a people-centered approach to understanding sustainable livelihoods under climate and environmental change: Thang Binh District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Sustainability science [online], 16(1), pages 221-238. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00861-3

This paper explores the maintenance of livelihoods under climate, environmental, and economic development pressures, through the case of Thang Binh District in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. Within widespread recognition of the need to link sustainable... Read More about Elaborating a people-centered approach to understanding sustainable livelihoods under climate and environmental change: Thang Binh District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam..