Biography

Dr Abby Muricho Onencan is an Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences and serves as Foundation Year Director, Widening Participation Academic Lead (WPAL), and ENV Placement Director. Her research and teaching explore how the design of environmental interventions can strengthen the governance of sustainable communities. Abby has a strong interest in citizen science and participatory methods, which she uses to engage communities in co-creating knowledge and shaping more just environmental futures.

Her research includes work on environmental justice in PFAS pollution, the climate–water–energy–food nexus, and the use of scenario planning to make complex environmental challenges tangible through storytelling. She has led and collaborated on international research projects including ENRGISED, ImProDiReT, and iTRACK, and contributed to the development of future scenarios such as Nile by 2050 and Land Grabbing in Africa, aimed at supporting policy decisions in climate-vulnerable regions.

Abby is also the lead in widening participation in environmental science, where she focuses on designing inclusive learning pathways for students from underrepresented backgrounds. She leads faculty-wide efforts to increase access, continuation, success, and progression into degree programmes across Environmental Sciences, Geography, Geology, and Ecology. This work includes leading Environmental Science in Action, a Royal Society-funded outreach partnership with Norfolk and Suffolk secondary schools, leading the Student of Colour Ambassador Programme (SOCA) within ENV, and authoring the School's Access and Participation Plan Implementation Roadmap (2025/26–2028/29).

Areas of Expertise

Abby's work sits at the intersection of environmental governance, sustainable communities, and climate justice, with a particular interest in how intervention design can support more inclusive and effective responses to environmental challenges. She's published on topics ranging from PFAS pollution and the role of grey literature in environmental decision-making to the use of participatory research and citizen science in environmental governance.

Her research often explores how communities co-create environmental futures—whether through scenario-based work like the Nile by 2050 and Land Grabbing in Africa projects, or through hands-on citizen science initiatives linked to local climate resilience. She's also been involved in international projects such as ENRGISED, iTRACK, and ImProDiReT, which have explored everything from energy transitions to disaster risk reduction. Alongside this, Abby is passionate about widening access to environmental science and regularly leads work on science communication, inclusive education, and pathways into higher education for underrepresented students.

Teaching Interests

• ENV-3002B Communicating Critical Environmental Topics (module organiser)
• ENV-4003A Sustainability Challenges and Solutions
• ENV-5051B Research Practice
• ENV-5032Y Year in Industry (placement portfolio oversight)
• ENV-6021Y Independent Project (dissertation supervision)

Administrative Posts

• Foundation Year Director, School of Environmental Sciences (2025 –) 
• Widening Participation Academic Lead, School of Environmental Sciences (2024 – ) 
• ENV Placement Director, School of Environmental Sciences (2025 – )
• SOCA ENV Lead, School of Environmental Sciences (2026 – ) 
• Admissions Committee Member (2024 – )
• Commuter Students Working Group Member (2024 – )

Career

• 2024 – Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences, UEA
• 2020 – 2024: Principal Researcher, PFAS Project, Erasmus University Rotterdam
• 2014 – 2020: Researcher, System Engineering and Intervention Design, Delft University of Technology