Empowered futures conference 2026: Controversies of energy transitions in an age of crises and opportunities
As preparedness concerns reshape energy policy and planning, difficult questions are emerging about sustainability, justice and competing priorities. Join researchers, policymakers and practitioners for a day of discussion on the challenges and opportunities shaping today's energy transitions.
The Empowered Futures Conference 2026 is organised by alumni of Empowered Futures, NMBU's research school on the social and political dimensions of energy transitions. Bringing together researchers, practitioners and policymakers, the conference explores the controversies, challenges and possibilities shaping contemporary energy transitions.
Featuring presentations from current Empowered Futures members and alumni, alongside keynote talks and researcher-practitioner panel discussions, the conference addresses themes including critical minerals and green extractivism, energy justice, state governance, urban climate adaptation, community-led energy initiatives, industrial decarbonisation and the uneven geographies of sustainability transitions.
Join us for a day of dialogue on the power relations, opportunities and trade-offs embedded in energy transitions, while exploring pathways to more just, democratic and socio-ecologically sustainable futures.
The conference is free to attend and includes refreshments and a light lunch.
Keynotes:
- Dr Gisa Weszkalnys (London School of Economics)
- Dr Anna-Sophie Hobi (Empowered Futures alumna)
Presentations:
- Caroline Buus Ponthieu (Norwegian University of Science & Technology – NTNU)
Challenges to decolonising energy transition mineral supply chains in Kanaky-New Caledonia - Daniel Molin (University of Oslo)
State of Charge: From Petrol Stations to Charging Networks: The Spatial Transformation of Norway's Automotive Energy System, 1993-2025 - Greg Grant (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) & Erin Rizzato Devlin (Lund University)
Stealing from the Wind: Moving from a Corporate-Led to Community-Led Transition in Scotland’s Rural Peripheries - Håkon da Silva Hyldmo (Norwegian University of Science & Technology – NTNU)
Green Industrial Development in the Global South: Challenges from the Lithium and Nickel Industries in Chile and Indonesia - Janina Jasper (University of Stavanger)
Who Can Participate? Distributed Capacity and Energy Transition Controversies in Urban Flexibility Governance - Karen Waneska de Jesus (Norwegian University of Life Sciences)
The Hidden Cost of Green Cities: Aluminium Extraction and Green Colonialism from Norway to Brazil - Sharayu Shejale (University of Geneva)
How Urban Communities Face the Heat: Insights from Mumbai, India - Tafadzwa Maukazuva (University of Stirling)
Where the Earth Bleeds Light: Sacrificial Geographies and Everyday Struggles for Energy Justice in Zimbabwe's Lithium Frontier