Lara Santos Ayllón’s research is rooted in a simple but far‑reaching question: how can energy transitions be designed around justice rather than technology or efficiency alone? Framed through the lenses of energy justice and just transitions, her work explores the values, assumptions, and priorities shaping contemporary energy systems, asking whether alternative approaches could better address not only climate change, but also long‑standing social and environmental injustices linked to energy and resource extraction.
Based in Scotland’s Orkney Islands, Lara examined wave and tidal energy and green hydrogen production in a place widely regarded as a renewable energy success story. In parallel, she also explored how visions of energy futures for the archipelago interact with imaginaries of emergent technologies and considerations of justice more broadly.
Prior to starting her PhD, Lara was living in Orkney and working at the European Marine Energy Centre, giving her a front‑row seat to how energy futures are actively being tested and assembled. This inspired research into whether it is possible to anticipate justice risks and opportunities in emerging energy technologies and in future energy systems more broadly, before these become fully embedded.
Lara developed “Justice by Design,” an anticipatory framework that brings together energy justice and Responsible Research and Innovation to explore potential justice issues and opportunities in technologies undergoing R&D and planned energy transitions. Through interviews and workshops across multiple islands, Lara’s findings reveal a complex picture involving layered systems of power, economic structures, value systems and imaginaries.
Her findings identify different spaces which influence potential energy (in)justice: structural systems shaped by capitalism, power relations, and existing infrastructures; within everyday experiences of energy in relation to issues of energy security, employment, and consultation processes; and within imagined futures, where visions, assumptions, and innovation-driven narratives shape expectations of future energy systems. Her work reiterates how future making processes are multi-dimensional and non-linear, as are their dynamics of justice. From a practical perspective, and despite the challenges, it spotlights how collective dialogue and reflection can begin to untangle issues of justice and give way to practical, alternative energy transition pathways.
Conducting research in a small island community brought both practical and ethical challenges. Beyond weather disruptions and logistical constraints, Lara had to navigate the sensitivities of working in a place where people, institutions, and conflicts are deeply interconnected and interdependent. This experience reinforces her commitment to ethics as an ongoing practice, shaping not only how data is collected, but how findings are written and shared.
After completing her PhD, Lara moved into a postdoctoral role at the University of Edinburgh with ClimateXChange, embedded within the Scottish Government. There, she is developing a monitoring and evaluation framework for a just transition to a net‑zero, climate‑resilient Scotland – translating justice concepts into practical tools for policy and decision‑making. The shift from solo doctoral research to collaborative, policy‑oriented work has been intense but deeply rewarding, offering a new perspective on how academic insights can inform real‑world change.
Empowered Futures has been an important anchor for Lara’s work. As a remote PhD researcher, the programme provided space for interdisciplinary exchange, critical discussion, and connection across institutions and countries. Field courses, collaborative projects, conferences, and everyday conversations all helped shape her ideas and supported her development as a researcher. The relationships built through Empowered Futures continue to inform how she approaches energy transitions research – as a collaborative, place‑based practice grounded in dialogue and shared learning.
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