The aim of Empowered Futures is to significantly strengthen the societal and professional relevance of doctoral education by addressing the social and environmental controversies of low-carbon energy transitions. In this PhD school, key research environments in Norway join forces to educate scholars of the future in energy social science.

The Faculty of Landscape and Society at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) will work together with multiple academic and societal partners to form an innovative, collaborative and international state-of-the art research school.

Empowered Futures enables a coordinated and unique platform for collaboration, knowledge sharing, joint courses and activities with governance and business partners. The School targets a broad range of social scientific PhD candidates with a specific interest in building careers (in research, business, consultancy and the public sector) geared to both critically explore and empower energy transitions, and to enable workable and just pathways through the controversies they generate.

Join Empowered Futures

Benefits of membership include fully funded PhD courses, workshops, internships, policy roundtables, field trips & co-publishing opportunities. Travel grants are available along with access to a strong network of industry, academic & societal partners and engagement with a close-knit community of energy researchers.

Who can apply?

PhD Fellows in the first 18 months of their PhD fellowship, whose research interests are within energy / renewable energy and/or low-carbon energy transition.

Benefits of membership

PhD courses, training workshops on communication and impact assessment, internships, practica, policy roundtables, and study tours. All of the activities are fully financed by Empowered Futures. Grants will be made available to members of the School to assist with funding travel and accommodation.

Members join a network of PhD and postdoc fellows as well as national and international faculty and partners associated with the PhD School. We will help to facilitate continued contact between members as an alumni network. We will actively respond and promote the interests and output of all members. Opportunities will be created for candidates to write and co-publish together, and where when feasible, with the experts connected to the school.

Membership is for a period of 3 years or until the doctoral degree is awarded if within the 3-year term. Members are encouraged to participate in 3 Empowered Futures activities during their term.

Selection criteria

The committee will select candidates based on the following criteria: (1) thematic fit to the scope of the researcher school, (2) the potential benefit to the applicant of participation in the researcher school, and (3) academic quality of the submitted material.

Deadlines

Applications for this year are now closed. There will be a new call in autumn 2026.

2025 Cohort

The fourth cohort of new members to the Empowered Futures research school has now been selected. Congratulations to the 11 new candidates for 2025. The candidates come from Italy, Iran, Finland, USA, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, and Zimbabwe. They are affiliated to the following institutions: University of Adger; University of Sydney/University of Glasgow; University of St. Andrews; NMBU – Norwegian University of Life Sciences; University of Stavanger; University of Bergen; University of Stirling.

2024 Cohort

The third cohort of new members to the Empowered Futures research school has now been selected. Congratulations to the 12 new candidates for 2024. The candidates come from Denmark, Paraguay, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Singapore, and Bangladesh. They are affiliated to the following institutions: NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Autonomous University of Barcelona; Fafo Research Institute; Lund University; University of Bergen; University of Helsinki; University of Adger; University of Amsterdam; University of Exeter; NMBU – Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

2023 Cohort

The second cohort of new members to the Empowered Futures research school has now been selected. Congratulations to the 12 new candidates for 2023. The candidates come from Scotland, Austria, India, Japan, Norway, Canada, Finland, Germany, Chile, and Brazil. They are affiliated to the following institutions: University of the Highlands and Islands; University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU); University of Geneva; University of Manchester; Fridtjof Nansen Institute; University of Agder; Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador; Glasgow Caledonian University; University of Stavanger; University of Edinburgh; Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).

• Field Excursion & Communications Workshop
  Bergen & Solstrand, Norway
  14-17 April 2026
  
  This event brings together the 2024 and 2025 PhD cohorts for a Bergen excursion followed by a two‑day communications workshop at Solstrand Hotel. Participants will explore research writing and publishing for academic and non‑academic audiences, engage with EF partners, and connect across cohorts. The programme includes site visits in Bergen, expert‑led writing workshops, peer‑review training, and PhD project presentations, with plenty of time for networking in Solstrand’s scenic environment.
  

• PhD Course
  Porto, Portugal, 13-17 October 2026
  
  More information to follow.

• Practica
  
  Practica will be organized in collaboration with local government and private sector partners. The aim is to help you as a PhD candidate to develop vital skills and confidence for your projects and future work. Through field labs and experiments, the practica will develop and test monitoring and regulation methods and technologies and discuss implications through PhD group work, as well as testing methodological and theoretical approaches which has value for local governments in energy development contestations.
  
  Financing is available to cover travel and accommodation for PhD School Members.
  
  If you are interested in practica with any of our societal partners, enquire through ingunn.andersen@nmbu.no.

• Internships
  
  The school will facilitate PhD candidates to gain practical experience in the business and governance of energy development and planning, with at least 3 annual internships in local government, energy companies, government regulatory bodies and consultancy companies. This can benefit you as a PhD candidate by offering the potential to develop research exchange with our wider international network. It will also aid recruitment, work-life relevance and the co-production of relevant and tested skills and knowledge.
  
  Financing is available to cover travel and accommodation for PhD School Members.
  
  If you are interested in internships with any of our societal partners, enquire through ingunn.andersen@nmbu.no.

Activities archive

06 Nov 2025

Social & Environmental Impact Assessment workshop

UiT, Tromsø

The workshop at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø brought together scholars, practitioners, and community representatives, focusing on the critical intersections of impact assessment, Indigenous rights, and energy transitions.

24 Oct 2025

Publications workshop for climate and energy social science researchers

Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation, University of Bergen

The workshop focused on improving academic writing in climate and energy social science. Participants worked on crafting strong arguments, clear theoretical frameworks, and effective analyses for high-impact publications. Andy Stirling, Professor at the University of Sussex, shared insights on writing and publishing. The session included hands-on work with participants’ manuscripts to strengthen them for submission to leading journals.

23 Sept 2025

Policy Roundtable - Energy Transitions

On 23 September, our partners at Oslo’s Fridtjof Nansen Institute hosted a policy roundtable on energy transitions as part of the Nansen Climate and Energy Seminar 2025.

The event brought together leading voices from research and policy to tackle ethical dilemmas, governance challenges, and practical solutions in today’s shifting global energy landscape. Highlights included insights from Jan Rosenow (Director, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University) and Mette High (Director, Centre for Energy Ethics, University of St Andrews).

23 Apr 2025

PhD course
Prefigurative politics and the changing rhythms of just energy transitions

Oslo (Fridtjof Nansen Institute & Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo) & field excursion to Rjukan

The PhD course explored the evolving dynamics of energy systems under transition, focusing on the interaction between electrification, digitalization, and low-carbon energy systems, while examining the challenges and opportunities these transitions present and the prefigurative politics associated with these changing energy systems.

01 Apr 2025

Field course to the Orkney Islands

Coordinated by UiA
The Empowered Futures field course in Orkney explored the impact of small-scale renewable energy projects on local communities, contrasting these initiatives with larger market-driven developments, and included visits to key sites like the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). Participants engaged with topics such as energy justice, contested landscapes, and the role of energy in local development through lectures, field visits, and group work.

13 Mar 2025

Policy Roundtable  

This Empowered Futures roundtable examined low-carbon mobility transitions, focusing on governance challenges and planning shifts away from automobility. Professors Brita Hermelin and Karolina Isaksson shared research on Swedish transport reforms and transformative planning. The discussion highlighted multi-level governance tensions in sustainable transport planning.

28 Nov 2024

Roundtable on the Social Justice Implications of Smart Energy and Low Carbon Urban Mobility  

This roundtable at Kollektivtrafikkkonferansen 2024 discussed the social justice and inequality impacts of urban energy transitions, emphasizing smart, energy-efficient, and low-carbon mobility solutions, as well as changes in the built environment, informed by ongoing research and stakeholder insights.

27 May 2024

Empowered Futures PhD Course: Theory and practice for equitable and just transformations to sustainability

The course explored the challenges and difficulties in linking theories and practices of achieving equitable and just transformations to sustainability, focusing on urban development, mobility, and consumption. It examined different approaches to sustainability transformations and used concrete examples from policymaking and business to gain theoretical insights from practical implementation.

22 Apr 2024

Excursion & communications workshop, Lisbon, Portugal

Meeting and getting to know key figures from the community and academia involved in the role out and testing of PV technologies within different urban settings.

16 Oct 2023

Roundtable discussion, Cafe Opera, Bergen, Norway

Roundtable on the roles that academics play in sustainability transformation

25 Aug 2023

Social & Environmental Impact Assessment workshop, Nome, municipality, Telemark, Norway

Social and environmental impact assessment workshop exploring the conflicts and controversies that commonly accompany impact assessment.

21 Aug 2023

PhD course, Rjukan, Norway

Exploring and Communicating Competing Narratives of Energy Production Across Time and Space. Hosted by Rjukan Solarpunk Academy.

14 Aug 2023

Policy roundtable at Arendalsuka, Arendal, Norway

The battle for land between energy and nature: which knowledge counts? UiA tent, Arendalsuka, Arendal, Norway

25 May 2023

Excursion to Stavanger / Sola Kommune, Norway

Field excursion to learn about Sola kommune's plans for a different energy future

23 May 2023

Communications workshop, Bjørnafjorden Hotell, Bergen, Norway

Meet and greet and academic writing masterclass with Benjamin Sovacool

02 Dec 2022

Energy transitions and controversies

NMBU Global Development Studies Lecture 2022

01 Oct 2022

Internship at NVE

The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate

29 Sept 2022

Kick off Seminar

16:30-18:30h Vitenparken, NMBU

Who owns the wind?
Read member Angela Antle's commentary on how the renewable energy approaches of Scotland’s Orkney Islands raises questions of renewable energy benefits for communities in Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador.

Can St. John’s learn a climate lesson from a city in Norway?
Analysis by member, Angela Antle, on 'Climate Budgets' as an effective policy tool to reduce GHG emissions, developed in Norway and now being used by municipalities worldwide including Edmonton, Saskatoon and Montreal. Photo: TomasEE, CC BY 3.0

Risks the same fate as wind power: The demand for progress in the extraction of rare earth species is a pitfall for the Norwegian mineral industry.
Op-ed by members Håkon da Silva, Anna-Sophie Hobi & Lara Santos Ayllón in Adresseavisen.

Indigenous Peoples in the Renewable Energy Transition: Protest, Contestation, and the Potential of Improved Deliberation
PRIO policy brief by Anna-Sophie Hobi and John Andrew McNeish.

Portugal’s energy poverty paradox
Analysis by member Angela Antle examining the disparities in Portugal's renewable energy revolution.

Rare earths, geopolitics and a village called Ulefoss
Op-ed by members Anna-Sophie Hobi, Lara Santos Ayllón & Håkon da Silva in Social Europe

Norway and the Geopolitics of Battery Minerals
Blog post by Anna-Sophie Hobi, PRIO Blog

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In this digital story, Neil Gordon Davey reflects upon his PhD research that explores visual experiences of energy development in the Orkney Islands. In doing so, he highlights digital storytelling as a viable means of communicating research results to a wide audience.

Ayllón, L. M. S., & Jenkins, K. E. (2023). Energy justice, Just Transitions and Scottish energy policy: A re-grounding of theory in policy practice. Energy Research & Social Science, 96, 102922.

The article examines how justice is addressed in Scottish energy policy, using energy justice and Just Transitions frameworks. It identifies four key themes: affordability, recognition, political decision-making, and the Just Transition, based on interviews and policy documents from 2010–2020.

Ayllon, L. M. S. (2025). Debates on the future of energy justice: Re-grounding the triumvirate. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & POLICY, 167.

The article critically examines the evolving framework of energy justice, especially the tension between universal and pluralistic approaches. It proposes a re-grounded model that retains the core tenets of distributional, procedural, and recognition justice, while reconnecting with environmental justice roots and challenging anthropocentric biases in cosmopolitan justice.

Ayllón, L. M. S., Jenkins, K. E., & Kerr, S. (2025). Justice by Design: Integrating energy justice and responsible research and innovation (RRI) to deliver just energy futures. Energy Research & Social Science, 125, 103998.

This paper introduces Justice by Design, a framework combining energy justice and responsible research and innovation to proactively address justice in future low-carbon energy systems. It shifts focus from retrospective harm mitigation to anticipating and designing just transitions, offering practical guidance for evaluating energy technologies, projects, and system changes.

da Silva Hyldmo, H., Rye, S. A., & Vela-Almeida, D. (2024). A globally just and inclusive transition? Questioning policy representations of the European Green Deal. Global Environmental Change, 89, 102946.

The paper critiques the European Green Deal for promoting a “just transition” while relying heavily on resource extraction from the Global South. Analyzing 195 EU policy documents, it reveals how official discourse downplays the negative external impacts, creating contradictions that challenge the legitimacy of the Green Deal and offer opportunities for more equitable policy reform.

da Silva Hyldmo, H., Wardhani, I. S., Kurniawan, N. I., Cahayati, D. D., Rye, S. A., & Vela-Almeida, D. (2025). Urgent transition, urgent extraction? Global decarbonization, national governance, and local impacts in the Indonesian nickel industry. Environmental Research Letters, 20(5), 054003.

This paper examines how Indonesia’s nickel governance has been restructured in response to rising demand for energy transition materials. Focusing on Sulawesi, it shows that centralization has dramatically increased extraction but also intensified social and environmental harms. The study highlights the shrinking space for local participation and calls for policies that balance urgent material needs with just transition principles.

Rizzato Devlin, E. (2024). Powering Justice: Sketches for a New Ethos in Energy Policy. Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts, 4(1), 1-32.

The paper argues for cosmotechnical pluralism — embracing diverse worldviews and technologies — as a path to global energy justice. It explores the ethical dimensions of energy and technology through cosmology, epistemology, and morality, ultimately offering policy suggestions for more inclusive and morally grounded energy politics.

Flaget, V. U., Vasstrøm, M., & Overvåg, K. (2024). Myr mellom lokal og nasjonal planlegging og styring–planlegging av fjelldestinasjonen Turufjell. Kart og Plan, 117(2), 276-295.

This paper explores how national peatland preservation policies influence local land-use planning in Norwegian mountain municipalities, especially regarding second home development. Despite peatland’s rising importance, development continues—often under the guise of preservation. The study conceptualizes peatland as an institutional layer and reveals tensions between national environmental priorities and local planning practices. (In Norwegian)

Fernández, C. F. (2025). Beyond extractivist logic? Contested dynamics of lithium frontier expansion in Chile. Energy Research & Social Science, 122, 104029.

This paper analyzes Chile’s expansion of lithium extraction beyond the Salar de Atacama using Sovacool’s “4Es” framework. It highlights how processes of enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment risk deepening historical injustices. The study calls for ongoing scrutiny of extractive policies to ensure equitable and sustainable transitions in resource-rich economies.

Flores Fernández C & Alba R (2023). Water or mineral resource? Legal interpretations and hydrosocial configurations of lithium mining in Chile. Frontiers in Water, 5, p.51.

The article examines how Chile’s legal classification of lithium-rich brines affects the environmental oversight of mining in the Andean salt flats. It reveals that a legal loophole allows brines to be treated as mining resources, enabling extractive practices with significant socioecological impacts. The authors propose alternative legal interpretations that could better protect ecosystems and align with indigenous perspectives

Grabher, H. F., Pichler, M., & Rau, H. (2024). Social practices, gender, and materiality: Women's agency in bioenergy-dependent households and communities in the central Ethiopian Rift Valley. Energy Research & Social Science, 117, 103736.

This study explores how women's agency influences rural energy practices in bioenergy-dependent communities in Ethiopia. It finds that while energy-efficient technologies offer benefits, social norms often limit women's ability to change energy-related behaviors. A practice-centered understanding of agency is essential for designing equitable and sustainable energy policies.

Grabher, H. F.; Erb, KH; Singh, S.; Haberl, H. (2023). Household energy systems in the Global South: Tracing material flows from source to service. Ecological Economics (217).

This study analyzes biomass use in rural Ethiopian households using a source-to-service approach. It finds that biomass is the dominant energy source, with significant health and environmental impacts. Improved cookstoves can reduce energy use, but comprehensive data and understanding of biomass flows are needed to inform sustainable energy policies and innovations.

Grabher, H. F.; Rau, H.; Ledermann, S.T.; Haberl, H. (2023). Beyond cooking: An energy services perspective on household energy use in low and middle income countries. Energy Research & Social Science (97).

This study shifts the focus from “cooking” to a broader energy services perspective in rural Ethiopian households. It shows that biomass-based energy is used for multiple, interconnected purposes, and that improved cookstoves reduce energy use but limit service combinations. Understanding actual energy needs is key to designing effective and sustainable energy solutions.

Hobi, A. S. (2025). On industrial pasts and futures: Imagining a large-scale battery industry in Norway. The Extractive Industries and Society, 22, 101591.

This ethnographic study explores how Norway’s emerging battery industry, exemplified by Morrow Batteries in Arendal, is legitimized through historical narratives. Local actors invoke industrial figures like Sam Eyde and Arne Rettedal to frame the battery sector as a morally responsible and socially beneficial path toward a post-oil future.

Jepma, M., Savini, F., & Coppola, A. (2025). Property and values: the affordability, accessibility, and autonomy of collaborative housing. International Journal of Housing Policy, 25(1), 170-192.

This paper compares eight collaborative housing projects in Milan and Amsterdam, identifying four types—common, self-promoted, co-managed, and developer-led—based on tenure and project initiator. It finds that while trade-offs in affordability, accessibility, and autonomy persist, the first three types can better support these values when they are explicitly prioritized, unlike developer-led models.

Koga, H., Bouzarovski, S. and Petrova, S., 2024. Unsettling mainstream academic debates on community-based energy governance: Exploring the Japanese experience. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 207 (January), p.114994.

This paper reviews Japanese debates on community-based energy governance (CEG), highlighting how the Fukushima disaster reshaped local energy dialogues. Unlike Western models, Japan’s CEG emphasizes endogenous development and energy autonomy as responses to centralized, “colonial” energy systems. The study offers a valuable alternative lens for understanding CEG globally.

Koga, H., Bouzarovski, S., & Petrova, S. (2025). Energy democratisation through agrivoltaics? The territorialisation dynamics of community-based energy governance in Japan. Sustainability Science, 1-17.

This study examines how agrivoltaics influences community-based energy governance (CEG) in Japan. Using interviews and a case study, it shows that while agrivoltaics can support democratic energy transitions, its spatial and technological characteristics may also limit transformative potential. The research highlights the need to consider how specific technologies shape energy governance dynamics.

Koga, H., Petrova, S. and Bouzarovski, S., 2024. Community-based energy governance and the political: Towards a post-foundational energy democracy. Progress in Environmental Geography, p.27539687241307955.

This paper critically examines how the concept of “community” is mobilized in community-based energy governance (CEG), arguing that romanticized views can undermine its transformative potential. Drawing on Jean-Luc Nancy’s philosophy of “being-with,” the authors reconceptualize CEG as a disruptive political force rather than a fixed institution, offering a deeper framework for energy democracy.

Kohl U & Andersen J (2022). Copenhagen’s Struggle to Become the World’s First Carbon Neutral Capital: How Corporatist Power Beats Sustainability. Urban Planning, 7(3), 230-241. [5].

Copenhagen’s carbon-neutral goal is being compromised by corporate influence. The article shows how a waste-to-energy plant was approved despite increasing emissions, revealing how sustainability can be used to advance private interests. It argues that green coalitions need broader alliances and strategic planning to resist such pressures

Lefstad, L., & Rivadeneira, N. R. (2025). From the Rainforest to the Fjords: examining equity in carbon capture and storage climate policy. Climate Policy, 1-15.

The article examines how Brazil and Norway justify their carbon capture and storage (CCS) policies in light of equity concerns. While CCS is seen as a key climate mitigation tool, the study finds that its current design can lead to unjust outcomes and reinforce fossil fuel dependence. However, CCS also has potential beyond fossil fuels, which could enhance its role in addressing climate change.

Mohammed, L. I. (2024). Saved by the snowy owl: An intersectional analysis of indigenous rights and biodiversity in the Kvalsund wind power project in Norway. Energy Research & Social Science, 118, 103758.

This paper presents an intersectional analysis of a rejected wind power application in Northern Norway, highlighting how indigenous and biodiversity concerns influenced the decision. It finds that while biodiversity was prioritized, indigenous input lacked sufficient weight, revealing structural bias. The study calls for clearer, more transparent energy decision-making that fully integrates intersectional justice considerations.

Nygaard, B. (2025). The tale of a new energy adventure? The evolution of offshore wind power storylines in times of shock. Energy Research & Social Science, 127, 104206.-15.

This paper analyzes how three major shocks—Covid-19, the energy crisis, and the war in Ukraine—shaped public narratives around offshore wind in Norway. Using newspaper coverage, it identifies two dominant storylines: offshore wind as a green opportunity and as a threat. The study shows that shocks can initiate change but also reinforce incumbent interests, limiting transformative potential.

Rainard, M., Büchs, M., Jenkins, K., & Middlemiss, L. (2025). Intersectionality in good faith: Beyond normative claims and towards practical integration in energy justice research. Energy Research & Social Science, 119, 103823.

This paper explores how intersectionality theory can enrich energy justice research by integrating diverse justice perspectives, such as feminist, anti-racist, and Indigenous theories. While conceptually promising, its methodological application remains complex. The authors advocate for explicit integration of intersectionality and propose recommendations to guide a more politicized and radical energy justice research agenda.

Shejale, S., Zhan, M. X., Sahakian, M., Aleksieva, R., Biresselioglu, M. E., Bogdanova, V., ... & Schibel, K. L. (2025). Participation as a pathway to procedural justice: A review of energy initiatives across eight European countries. Energy Research & Social Science, 122, 103982.

This study analyzes 378 energy initiatives and 81 interviews across eight European countries to assess how citizen engagement contributes to energy justice. It identifies three types of initiatives—demand-side, supply-side, and political action—and finds that collective and political engagement offers greater potential for procedural, distributional, and recognitional justice. However, inclusive representation remains a challenge.

Shokrgozar, S., & Sareen, S. (2025). ‘Fine, you made your energy, but how much did we have to pay for this?’Embracing situated energy ecologies for pluriversal Futures. Geo: Geography and Environment, 12(2), e70020.

This ethnographic study critiques the dominant naturalist worldview in global energy transitions, using solar energy development in Rajasthan, India, as a case. It introduces Situated Energy Ecologies, a framework that emphasizes energy sufficiency, ontological recognition, and autonomous practices to better reflect local lifeways and foster pluralistic, emancipatory energy-society relations.

Shokrgozar, S., & Sareen, S. (2025). “Mitti se Sona [Gold from Dirt]?”: Solar India and colonial modernity in Agropastoral Rajasthan. World Development, 192, 107028.

This ethnographic study critiques the dominant naturalist worldview in global This paper critically examines India’s solar energy expansion, focusing on Rajasthan as a case study. While the country positions itself as a leader in low-carbon transitions, the rollout of Solar India has caused socio-ecological harm, especially to agropastoral communities. The study argues that these impacts stem from a regime rooted in colonial modernity, which imposes industrial lifeways on indigenous populations.

Shokrgozar, S., Naik, A., & Shrestha, S. (2025). “This will destroy Jeev and Jantu”: infrastructures of modernity across water, energy, and land in Jaisalmer, India. Sustainability Science, 1-17.

This paper investigates the socioecological harms of water and energy infrastructure development in Jaisalmer, India, arguing that these projects perpetuate colonial modernity by transforming agropastoral lands into extractive frontiers. Drawing on fieldwork, it highlights how national environmental politics reproduce historical injustices, undermining local lifeways and onto-epistemologies in the name of development.

Solli, H. (2025). Oslo’s climate shift in urban planning: from tradition to innovation. Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy, 3(1), 179-196.

This paper examines Oslo’s climate-focused land-use planning, which prioritizes green mobility, climate resilience, carbon preservation, and sustainable construction. It highlights the city’s leadership in expanding legal interpretations of the Planning and Building Act to regulate emissions and integrate climate goals into urban development. Success has hinged on strong municipal competencies and collaboration across governance levels and sectors.

Valenzuela, N. S. (2025). The Chilean energy transition through energy justice as a policy assessment approach. In Energy Justice in Latin America (pp. 123-145). Routledge.

This book chapter assesses Chile’s rapid renewable energy expansion in the Biobío and Araucanía regions through an Energy Justice lens. Using interviews and official data, it examines procedural, distributional, and recognition-based justice outcomes. The study reveals significant social tensions and cumulative impacts, offering insights for more equitable energy transitions across Latin America.

Academic partners:

• Faculty of Landscape and Society (Norwegian University of Life Sciences)
• INCLUDE Research Centre for Socially Inclusive Energy Transition (University of Oslo)
• Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (University of Bergen)
• Sustainability Transformation programme area (University of Stavanger)
• Department of Global Development and Planning (University of Agder)

Societal Partners:

• Multiconsult Norge AS
• Energi Norge
• Fred Olsens Renewables AS
• Norges Naturvernforbund
• Statkraft AS
• Vestlands Fylkeskommune
• Sola Kommune
• Nordic Edge AS
• Fridtjof Nansen-stiftelsen
• Norges Vassdrags og Energidirektorat (NVE)
• Rjukan Solarpunk Academy

Advisory board:

• Benjamin Sovacool, University of Sussex, UK
• Adrian Smith, University of Sussex, UK
• Gisa Weszkalnys, London School of Economics, UK
• Gordon Walker, Lancaster University, UK
• Ingmar Lippert, Brandenburgiche Technische Universität - Berlin, Germany
• Timothy Moss, Humbolt University - Berlin, Germany
• Lina Dencik, Cardiff University
• Mette High, St. Andrews University, Scotland, UK
• Nathalie Ortar, ENTPE France
• Simone Abram, Durham University, UK
• Lars Kåre Grimsby, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
• Erling Holden, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
• Samuel Adamarola, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
• Laura Tolnev Clausen, University of Agder, Norway
• Kjell Overåg, University of Agder, Norway
• Hans Kjetil Lysgård, University of Agder, Norway

Alice Tomaselli

Italy

University of Adger

PhD programme: Social Sciences - Specialisation in Public Administration

PhD project: What resilience narratives when sustainability is the adversity? 
The project investigates how organizations in the energy sector, considered hybrid organizations with a high level of publicness, combine stability and change to navigate sustainability transition demands. This combination is framed using the concept of resilience.

PhD programme: Science and Environmental Technologies

PhD programme: Arts and Social Sciences

Avery Newell

Norway

University of St. Andrews

PhD programme: Social Anthropology

PhD project: The Legacy of Gender and Coal: The future energy imaginaries of women in the anthracite region of Appalachian Pennsylvania

My PhD project will focus on gendered legacies in coal mining regions of Pennsylvanian Appalachia. My project seeks to identify women’s connection to coal both as miners and as individuals living in an extractive landscape as well as the ethical implications of women working in fossil fuels.

PhD programme: Urban and Regional Planning

Janina Jasper

Germany

University of Stavanger

PhD programme: Social Sciences (Just Energy Systems - Politics and Society)

PhD project: Flexible Lives, Just Transitions: A Multi-sited Ethnography of Energy Governance in Japan and the Netherlands
This project explores how policies promoting flexible energy consumption shape everyday life and energy justice in European and non-European contexts. Using multi-sited ethnography, it examines how energy transitions create new forms of inclusion and exclusion across different governance settings.

Kjersti Sollund

Norway

University of Bergen

PhD programme: Human Geography

PhD project: The transformative potential of urban climate governance.
My research examines the role of climate budgets as governance tools within Nordic cities, with particular attention to their implications for transformative change. Through the ECOBUDGETS project, we seek to identify ways for making sustainability budgeting more actionable, thereby influencing administrative and political decision making.

Laura Campagna

Italy

Norwegian University of Science & Technology - NTNU

PhD programme: Industrial Economics and Technology Management

PhD project: Is small beautiful and strong? Decentralisation, flexibility, and security of supply in Nordic and European electricity systems.
My PhD examines how decentralised energy systems reshape governance, authority, and participation. It critically assesses whether decentralisation in Scandinavian energy systems actually leads to more democratic and just energy transitions.

Rory Daniel Antonuik

Netherlands

Norwegian University of Science & Technology - NTNU

PhD programme: Science and Technology Studies

PhD project: The 'Nature' of Re-Politicization and Participation in Norwegian Energy Transitions. 
Through tracing the circulation and productive effects of emergent framings of nature across interconnected sites, Rory's project develops a relational, multi-scalar analysis of participation in Norwegian energy transitions.  In doing so, it critically maps how the current participatory ecology opens up and constrains opportunities for contestation and re-politicization.

PhD programme: Politics

Caroline Buus Ponthieu

France/Denmark/
Norway

Norwegian University of Science & Technology - NTNU

PhD programme: Social Sciences - Specialisation on Energy Transition Studies

PhD project: A justice approach to critical minerals for the European Union’s energy storage systems. 
My project revolves around developing a better understanding of the impacts of EU green energy storage system policies in the race for critical minerals. My aim is to contextualise the growing European demand for nickel, lithium and cobalt for batteries. While this growing demand is necessary to transition away from our current fossil-dominated system, and shows the first steps towards a decarbonised Europe, it is imperative to rethink our current patterns of extractivism, both in terms of social and environmental impacts and geopolitical consequences. The current EU discourse revolves around the idea that competing with Chinese prices is not a reality, but that there is an opportunity for European investors and mining companies to have a 'sustainable competitiveness’. Considering the oligopolistic nature of the aforementioned critical minerals, I ask the question: From a social justice perspective, what are the opportunities and consequences of the European agenda for batteries, used to feed its power-hungry energy system?

Guillermo Achucarro

Paraguay

Autonomous University of Barcelona

PhD programme: Science and Environmental Technologies

PhD project: Limits and contradictions of the energy transition in the Global South. The case of Paraguay.  
This doctoral thesis examines the Paraguayan context, exploring the dynamics of energy colonialism, the global consensus on decarbonization, and the legal reforms initiated since the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Ingrid Altamirano

Mexico/Sweden

Lund University

PhD programme: Human & Economic Geography

PhD project: Energy landscapes across space, labor, and gendered dynamics: A social reproduction analysis of the lithium supply chain from Antofagasta to Skelleteå.
I study the lithium and copper supply chains embedded in the European Union´s battery production for electric automobility and the correspondent dynamics of social reproduction of labor.

PhD project: Shaping the Future of Work: The Role of Collective Labour Agency in the Offshore Wind Industry in Norway and Scotland

The PhD project explores how the emerging offshore wind industry in Norway and Scotland is reshaping collective labour agency, and this process’ implications for a just energy transition and future labour agency.

Janne Katharina
Thomsen

Germany

University of Bergen

PhD programme: Natural Resource Management

PhD project: My PhD project, grounded in social-ecological systems research and building up on the 2022 IPBES values assessment, explores the potential of nature valuation to guide sustainable land-use planning in the Nordhordland UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Norway. Through an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach, the research examines the impacts of large-scale infrastructure developments (such as wind farms, power lines, and road expansions) on the diverse values people ascribe to nature. Additionally, I adopt an environmental justice perspective to analyze the diverse planning processes associated with these developments.

Janne Venæs

Norway

Norwegian University of Science & Technology - NTNU

PhD programme: Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture

PhD project: Building capacity for transformative action in reducing energy demand in the transport sector.
My project focuses on assisting public authorities in navigating controversies associated with reducing energy consumption in the transport sector through 'avoid' and 'shift' strategies. Although these strategies are highly impactful, they often provoke controversy as they challenge entrenched practices and lifestyles. Accordingly, the project involves the development of a co-creation methodology called 'Social Innovation Arenas,' designed to promote broad inclusion of citizen representatives and facilitate the achievement of legitimate decisions.

PhD project: How are issues of procedural energy justice represented in discourses on offshore wind developments in Norway?

Mirte Jepma

Netherlands

University of Amsterdam

PhD programme: Urban Planning

PhD project: My work focuses on the intersection of housing and energy. I look at new and existing inequalities emerging from the housing-energy-nexus and how citizen-led initiatives may address this housing-energy-nexus in alternative ways. In particular, my PhD reseach focuses on the role of energy communities working on prefigurative project within the heat transition.

Academic publications:
Jepma, M., Savini, F. and Coppola, A., 2025. Property and values: the affordability, accessibility, and autonomy of collaborative housing. International Journal of Housing Policy, 25(1), pp.170-192.

Griffith, E.J., Jepma, M. and Savini, F., 2024. Beyond collective property: A typology of collaborative housing in Europe. International Journal of Housing Policy, 24(1), pp.121-141.

Seikh Hayatul Haque

Bangladesh

Norwegian University of Life Sciences - NMBU

PhD programme: MINA: Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management

PhD project: Modeling a Resilient Energy System for the North European Context.
My PhD project tackles the challenges of transitioning to a low-carbon, resilient energy system in Northern Europe, with a focus on developing the BALMOREL energy system model while accounting for weather variations.

Sebastian Koa

Singapore

University of Exeter

PhD programme: Geography

PhD project: Temporalities of Nuclear Infrastructures: Histories and Futures of Energy and Community.
My project studies the effects on communities, power relations, and the rhythms of everyday life in rural spaces where new nuclear power plants are built. Specifically, I focus on Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear power plant to be built by the UK in decades.

Thea Lurås Oftebro

Norway

Norwegian University of Science & Technology - NTNU

PhD programme: Science and Technology Studies (STS)

PhD project: The voices of nature and society: Justice in Norwegian offshore wind development in Norway.
The project examines the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of offshore wind development in Norway. It looks at how the development of offshore wind affects local communities and nature, while integrating global perspectives.

Viliina Kaikkonen

Finland

University of Helsinki

PhD programme: Political, Societal, and Regional Changes

PhD project: My research examines the processes of resource-making and resource politics in the EU, with a specific focus on lithium mining in Portugal. I am particularly interested in questions of power, knowledge, and future orientations—such as anticipations, expectations, and speculations—and how they shape the resource-making processes.

Angela Antle

Canada

Memorial University of Newfoundland

PhD programme: Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Candidate researching energy humanities and climate disinformation

PhD project: Harnessing podcasting’s affective power to challenge Newfoundland’s petroculture narratives.

Erin Rizzato Devlin

Italy

University of Highlands and Islands (Shetland)

PhD programme: Sustainability, Identity, Landscape and Knowledge

PhD project: Being and becoming ocean citizens: the role of rural communities in informing and participating in marine governance. The aim of this project is to understand how local knowledge can respond to greater sustainability challenges and inform decisions regarding marine energy, net zero transition and sustainable measures in a way that empowers communities across the Shetland isles.

Academic publications:

Rizzato Devlin, E. (2021). Democratising and Judicialising: The Judicialisation of Politics. Democracy & Society, on Truth and Information. Vol. 18, 2021-2022, pp. 23-25.

Rizzato Devlin, E. (2022). The Politics of Bananas: Modern Slavery and the Commodification of Morality. [X] position, Vol. 6, issue 2, January 2022. 

Rizzato Devlin, E.(2023). Energy and Episteme: Towards an Ecology of Knowledges. Saperi Territorializzati, Paesi in transizione e transizioni in paese, CISAV-APS, Vol. 1, June 2023. 

Rizzato Devlin, E. (2024). Powering Justice: Sketches for a New Ethos in Energy Policy. Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts, 4(1), 1-32.

Fabio Schohan

Germany

University of Agder

PhD programme: Sociology

PhD project: Sustainable Transition towards a green hydrogen economy: Assessment of risks and opportunities for the Middle East and North Africa.
This study investigates the transformative effects of shifting from a fossil fuel-based economy to a green hydrogen economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, employing Foucauldian concepts to analyze evolving discourses, institutions, and implications while exploring associated risks and opportunities'

Academic publications:

Schojan, F., Machin, A., & Silberberger, M. (2023). Sustainable development discourse and development aid in Germany: tracking the changes from environmental protectionism towards private sector opportunities. Critical Policy Studies, 1-24.

Jasmin Rainero

Finland

Glasgow Caledonian University

PhD programme: Climate Justice

PhD project: Eliminating barriers to community energy projects in Deprived Communities: A just transition approach.
The research investigates the distribution of community energy projects between different socio-economic groups in Scotland. It seeks to identify the social, economic and structural barriers that deprived communities in both rural and urban Scotland face in establishing community energy projects in the context of delivering a more just energy transition.

Karen Waneska de Jesus

Brazil

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

PhD programme: Society, Development and Planning: Sustainable Urban and Regional Planning

PhD project: Low-carbon buildings contradictions: a view from the Global South.
The project investigates the socio-spatial and environmental contradictions of low-carbon buildings relating to their implications in the Global South. It analyses the low-carbon building policies and practices to understand how they consider the use and extraction of raw materials when certifying a new building as low-carbon and green. The case study used is the relationship between Norway and Brazil and the use and production of aluminium.

Academic publications:

Peverini, M., Cavicchia, R., Friesenecker, M., Jesus, K.W.,
Munson, L. & Susani, A., (2023). Greener housing, but affordable? A study of
synergies and conflicts between environmental policy instruments and access to housing. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36609.84325.

Karianne Krohn Taranger

Norway

University of Oslo/Fridtjof Nansen Institute

PhD programme: Human Geography

PhD project: Energy poverty in Norway: Lived experiences and the effects of ameliorating policies.
The PhD project aims to understand the causes and experiences of energy poverty in different Norwegian households, their responses, and the effects and potential of current and alternative ameliorating policies.

Academic publications:

Inderberg, T. H. J., Nykamp, H. A., Olkkonen, V., Rosenberg, E., & Taranger, K. K. (2024). Identifying and analysing important model assumptions: Combining techno-economic and political feasibility of deep decarbonisation pathways in Norway. Energy Research & Social Science, 112, 103496.

Eikeland, P. O., Taranger, K. K., Inderberg, T. H. J., & Gulbrandsen, L. H. (2023). A wind of change in Norway: Explaining shifts in municipal stances on wind power by policy feedback and energy justice. Energy Research & Social Science, 104, 103231.

Lea Sasse

Germany

University of Stavanger

PhD programme: Social Sciences

PhD project: Trans-local justice implications of the electric vehicle transition.
The project explores community engagement, governance at different scales, and tensions in electric vehicle supply chains. Case studies look at the social and environmental justice implications of a gigafactory in Germany and mineral extraction in Argentina.

Nicolas Silva Valenzuela

Chile

University of Edinburgh

PhD programme: Energy Politics

PhD project: The Politics of Energy Transitions in Developing South America: The Cases of Chile and Peru.
The project aims to understand the challenges placed on democratic systems undergoing energy system transitions in Latin America. It examines the societal characteristics that explain why such transition processes have been accelerated (or not) in Chile and Peru, and their potential outcomes in specific areas within their territories.

Academic publications:

Silva Valenzuela, N., & Jara Villalobos, C. A. (2023). La Consulta indígena de proyectos de inversión en el Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental. Antecedentes y resultados a una década del D.S. 66/2013. Revista de Derecho Ambiental, 2(20)

Sharayu Shejale

India

University of Geneva

PhD programme: Sociology

PhD project: Energy consumption, citizenship and wellbeing in the Global South -  A case of Mumbai.
PhD project description: In my project, I use the case of Mumbai to study low carbon energy transitions in urban India. I ask - how do changes in household energy consumption lead to well-being outcomes and a more inclusive transition? Contributing to the literatures on energy consumption in the Global South, sufficiency and wellbeing, I examine how different urban citizens and groups in Mumbai practice an energy consumption that is ‘sufficient’ to satisfy their needs and achieve wellbeing.

Academic publications:
Shejale, S., Zhan, M.X., Sahakian, M., Aleksieva, R., Biresselioglu, M.E., Bogdanova, V., Cardone, B., Epp, J., Kirchler, B., Kollmann, A. and Liste, L., 2025. Participation as a pathway to procedural justice: A review of energy initiatives across eight European countries. Energy Research & Social Science, 122, p.103982.

Shejale, U. S., Zhan, M. X., & Sahakian, M. (2022). What forms of citizenship in European energy initiatives? Deterrents and enablers to further support a just energy transition. DIALOGUES: Energy citizenship for a sustainable future

PhD programme: Social Sciences – Specialisation in Global Development and Planning.

PhD project: Offshore Wind Planning and Energy Justice in a Multi-Level Governance perspective.
Based on a multilevel governance perspective, the aim of this project is to investigate planning processes for offshore wind. Within the political sphere, emerging crises like the climate crisis and recent energy shortages have given rise to a 'sense of urgency', subsequently putting pressure on current planning institutions. By focusing on key concepts such as energy justice and procedural justice, the project aims to reach a broader understanding of the challenges that arise when local, regional, and national governance levels are involved in planning processes for offshore wind.

Dr. Harald Grabher

Doctoral degree awarded November 2024 by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna

PhD project: Household energy services from biomass energy and their interrelations with material stocks and energy flows.

Dr. Hayato Koga

Doctoral degree awarded July 2025 by the University of Manchester

PhD project: Exploring the transformative potential of community-based energy governance in Japan to reshape democratic energy systems and tackle existing inequities.

Dr. Lara Maria Santos Ayllón

Doctoral degree awarded July 2025 by the University of Edinburgh

PhD project: The role of emerging technologies in the energy transition: a justice and responsible innovation exploration of marine energy and green hydrogen in island communities.

Dr. Anna-Sophie Hobi

Doctoral degree awarded November 2025 by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences

PhD project: Reindustrialising tomorrow: An ethnographic study of a future gigafactory and the ‘good life’ in a Norwegian municipality

Dr. Shayan Shokrgozar

Doctoral degree awarded November 2025 by the University of Bergen

PhD project: From Livestock to Light: Solar Dreams and the Foreclosure of Agropastoral Lifeworlds in Rajasthan

Dr. Finlay Bain Kerr

Doctoral degree awarded January 2026 by the University of Strathclyde

PhD project: Minewater Geothermal Energy: just, place-based models for energy resource development.

Birgitte Nygaard

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

PhD project: Framings of Norwegian Wind Energy Futures. 

Cristián Flores Fernández

Humboldt University of Berlin

PhD project: To investigate the interdependent global, national, and local dynamics that interact in the process of expansion and intensification of lithium mining in the salt flats of northern Chile and wind power generation in the southern region of Magallanes.

Daniel Molin

University of Oslo

PhD project: From petrol stations to charging networks.

Greg Grant

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

PhD project: Landscape Architects as Agents of Just Energy Transitions? A Case Study of Renewable Wind Energy Development in UNESCO Biospheres in Scotland.

Hilde Solli

University of Oslo (UiO)

PhD project: To develop better understanding of the significance of different places and access to mobility through experiences of people’s own mobility, their possibilities and restrictions, and how they experience policy measures and intervention through a case study in Oslo.

Håkon da Silva Hyldmo

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

PhD project: To improve understanding of how policies, industries and communities in Europe and Indonesia are shaped by the ideas of ‘green deals’ and green energy transitions.

Larry Ibrahim Mohammed

Arctic University of Norway (UiT)

PhD project: In Pursuit of Self-Determination; Indigenous Peoples voices in search of impacts- A comparative study of renewable energy projects in Norway and Canada.

Lina Lefstad

Lund University, Sweden

PhD project: To analyse the various opportunities, contradictions and trade-offs that characterise different imaginaries of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in future Scandinavian/Norwegian energy systems.

Marieke van der Star

University of Oslo (UiO)

PhD project: Residential mobility in the green compact city: class-led appropriation of urban resources.

Mathilde Rainard

University of Leeds

PhD project: Fairness implications of low carbon energy policies in the UK and France, an intersectional approach.

Nicol Staňková

Charles University, Prague

PhD project: To examine democratic processes and perceived justice in the context of local energy projects in the Czech Republic.

Ulrik Kohl

Roskilde University, Denmark
Malmö University, Sweden

PhD project: Democratizing urban energy transitions. Community energy activism in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Denmark.

Vegard Solhjem Knutsen

University of Agder (UiA)

PhD project: Explores why Norwegian land-based wind power is controversial, what the driving forces behind resistance to wind power are, and how policies and planning practices can be rethought to enable a just pathway towards energy transition.

Fred. Olsen Renewables 

Fred. Olsen Renewables has over the last 25 years established itself as a renewables company of significance. The company covers the whole value chain from developing to constructing and operating onshore wind farms. It is committed to developing renewable energy sources both as a sound business model as well as in genuine support of the shift to a decarbonised society. Fred. Olsen Renewables is further developing its business footprint through solar projects, hybrid projects (solar and wind in combination), and floating solar projects. It is embedded in the company’s culture to maintain a sustainable business model while minimising its own environmental footprint.  

Fred. Olsen Renewables seeks to expand and develop new energy projects and technologies in Norway and internationally, with careful consideration given to local ecology and society. The company has several projects related to onshore wind and solar energy and is currently venturing into an energy development project called HYPE, with support from the Research Council of Norway. The project will explore potential technical wind-solar energy synergies as well as operational strategies for solar installations under challenging climatic conditions in the Adger region of Norway. 

As a partner, Fred. Olsen Renewables will be a valuable contributor to the strategic direction of Empowered Futures by discussing and providing input to the educational programmes and course curricula. The company will take an active part in the PhD courses, seminars, policy roundtables, and excursions by sharing experiences, challenges and opportunities related to development of renewable energy, seen from a developer’s perspective. Fred. Olsen Renewables will also provide candidates with opportunities for internships and consider co-developing an application for a business-PhD scholarship with partnering universities.   

Fridtjof Nansen Institute 

The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI) is an independent foundation engaged in research on international environmental, energy and resource management politics and law. The overall objective of FNI is to understand the underlying forces in international environmental and resource politics, and on that basis make well-founded contributions to political solutions to problems in these areas. 
  
FNI carries out research on the energy transition in Norway, Europe, and other world regions, and is a member of the University of Oslo’s INCLUDE research center on achieving a just energy transition. 
  
FNI researchers offer expertise on climate and energy policy, opposition to renewable energy projects, and global environment and climate governance. FNI, along with University of Oslo (UiO) and Rjukin Solarpunk Academy, will plan Empowered Futures’ first PhD course to be held in Spring 2023. Throughout the partnership, FNI will also contribute to policy roundtables, impact assessment workshops, communication workshops, and practica for Empowered Futures members.   

Multiconsult  

Multiconsult is one of the leading engineering consultancy firms in Norway. The firm offers multidisciplinary consultancy services to public and private clients worldwide, especially in the renewable energy sector. Multiconsult is involved in a wide range of services including strategic energy sector planning to project feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments to construction supervision and project audits and evaluations. 
  
Multiconsult’s involvement in the entire cycle of renewable energy projects has provided exposure to the many dilemmas faced by project developers, governments and civil society in the locations targeted for hydro, wind, solar and power transmission developments. Whilst the firm’s role is typically to generate knowledge for well-informed decision-making, it acknowledges that the professional integrity of consultants can sometimes be challenged and be subject to public scrutiny. 
  
Multiconsult and Empowered Futures believe that the practical experience of Multiconsult’s large team of renewable energy consultants can serve as a valuable asset to the research school. It can offer training and internships to PhD candidates and hopes to also benefit from the academic research that will be undertaken. By bringing together such a variety of stakeholders from the public, private and university sectors, Multiconsult and Empowered Futures believe that better practices can be developed, both in research and management, for a more sustainable low-carbon energy transition. 

Naturvernforbundet (Friends of the earth Norway)

Naturvernforbundet is one Norway’s largest environmental organisations. It has over 100 local teams and around 36,000 members who have committed themselves to taking better care of nature and the living environment. Both climate change and the loss of natural diversity are happening dangerously quickly, and the rapid development of renewable energies, such as bioenergy, water, and wind power often comes into conflict with natural values.  

Naturvernforbundet emphasises a reduction in energy consumption, both in Norway and globally, in order to meet the IEA's Net Zero Roadmap 1.5 C Scenario, which states that global energy use must be lower in 2050 than today. For Naturvernforbundet, a green transition is not just a transition to renewable energy, but a transition to a society with lower consumption of energy and materials. Nevertheless, Norway still has no systematic investment in energy efficiency.  

Naturvernforbundet has presented a road map for a “Fossil-fuel-free Norway” by 2040 without extensive destruction of nature for increased renewable energy production. This includes halving energy use in buildings, which will release large amounts of clean energy for other purposes, and that new infrastructure should be adapted to a zero-emissions society, such as transport being moved from road to sea and rail and prohibiting the construction of new motorways which may result in greater natural interventions and energy requirements.  

Naturvernforbundet also works to ensure that products must be suitable for repair, reuse and recycling; a functioning circular economy is essential for a large reduction in the need for energy and materials. While we wait for oil and gas operations to be gradually phased out, Naturvernforbundet promotes building alternative, less energy intensive business activities instead of increasing electrification from renewable power. As a valued partner of Empowered Futures, Naturvernforbundet will be instrumental in the forthcoming policy roundtables.  

Nordic Edge 

Nordic Edge is Norway’s official, national innovation cluster for smarter, more sustainable cities and communities. The cluster drives innovation, business development and societal change through cross-sector and cross-border collaboration. Energy transition is a vital part of this transformation, in particular the production, transformation, and distribution of energy in urban areas. 

Nordic Edge operates as a hub for year-round activities for its 120+ Norwegian members and large international network. The member base in the cluster includes small, medium, and large companies, research institutions and universities, the municipal sector, and financial institutions. Nordic Edge provides expertise within the fields of communication, co-creation, cross-sector collaboration, facilitation, workshops, and full-scale conference and exhibitions.  

Empowered Futures can help strengthen the links between members from the private sector and academia. This will aid companies in bridging the knowledge gap that occurs between everyday activities and current research. The School will also be of vital importance to the sustainable energy transition by making doctoral education more relevant for the labor market; Empowered Futures can help fill a significant gap in both the labor market and the educational programmes of Norway. Nordic Edge will be a valuable partner by both hosting and supporting various activities, including practica, policy roundtables, and internships for members.   

Rjukan Solarpunk Academy 

Solarpunk is a visual representation of ideas that communicates knowledge between academic research and art. Art can inspire differently than traditional research, and artists can help generate new ideas in these times of environmental crises. Artists are a crucial resource for imagining innovative solutions to the most urgent questions around us. 
 
As part of an artistic-academic collaboration with Empowered Futures, arts collective Rjukan Solarpunk Academy will organize a biennial Solarpunk Arts Festival starting from the summer of 2023. The festival will take place in the unique setting of Rjukan, home to the Sun Mirror - arguably the most famous solarpunk art piece ever made. A big part of solarpunk is using technology to improve a sustainable life. The Sun Mirror runs on solar and wind power and is thereby self-sustainable and works in harmony with nature. 
  
The Solarpunk Arts Festival will have four editions in the next eight years, each with a different theme derived from Empowered Futures research. In collaboration with different artists, the festival showcases the research around low-carbon energy transitions and opens up questions around sustainability in new ways. Each art piece included in the festival will originate from questions surrounding the research and therefore act as a method of communication that makes science more accessible to wider audiences. Rjukan Solarpunk Academy will also host PhD courses for Empowered Futures members. 

Sola kommune 

We are delighted to partner with Sola kommune (Sola Municipality) as part of Sola’s climate and environmental plan to address business cooperation on the green shift. Sola municipality is a national hub for the oil and gas industries, therefore it is important to build a bridge from these industries towards the green shift in the region. Sola recognises the challenges faced between rhetoric and practice and the importance of establishing a knowledge-based response. 
 
As part of Empowered Futures, Sola Municipality plans, amongst other things, to hold lectures on the municipality’s ongoing work related to climate and energy. Sola will also arrange internships for candidates involving local case studies related to climate and energy issues. 
 
Sola envisions that through cooperation with Empowered Futures, PhD education will become more relevant for the society in the Northern Jæren region, by training candidates to reconsider questions and renew understandings in the light of sustainable social development. Generating a network of competent researchers will be to the benefit of the labour market in the strong commercial municipality of Sola, as well as throughout Norway and beyond. As a valued partner, Sola kommune will organise policy roundtables and offer practica and internships to Empowered Futures members.  

Statkraft 

Statkraft is one of Europe’s leading renewable energy companies, and globally, with investments in wind, solar, hydropower, and new energy technologies. Statkraft has been generating renewable energy for more than a century, primarily through the abundant resource of Norwegian hydropower. The Company is now committed to the shift to a de-carbonized society as well as to maintaining a sustainable business model. Over the next decade, Staktraft is determined to use its business to accelerate the transition to renewable energy, while also using its expertise to help with adaptation efforts.  

Statkraft has met numerous challenges in seeking social acceptance and environmental sustainability while managing the development and expansion of new energy technologies. Statkraft’s robust internal management system, The Statkraft Way (TSW), outlines policy and guides all actions, including social, environmental, and ethical decision-making and implementation. Dialogue with stakeholders, benefit-sharing, and sustainability are at the core of Statkraft’s way of working. Climate policies have a large impact on Statkraft, and the Company follows national, European and global climate policy development closely to assess their impact. Statkraft also invests significant resources in market analysis to have a robust basis for future investment and operation decisions. 

Statkraft’s 100+ years of experience in the Nordics developing, constructing and operating hydropower plants and over 25 years of experience with other renewables, energy services and energy trading globally, provides a wealth of research resources and industry knowledge. As a valued Empowered Futures partner, Statkraft will be instrumental in organising policy roundtables, practica, and internships for members. 

Vestland fylkeskommune 

Vestland is situated on the west coast of Norway, with a population of 630 000 throughout its 43 municipalities. Vestland’s vision is one of innovation and sustainability. It aims to continue to be an important host to value-creating businesses while being a driving force for sustainable development. 
 
Vestland has high climate change mitigation and adaptation ambitions on its path towards a sustainable climate and energy transformation. The decisions regarding sustainability targets on both a local and global scale must also offer a just transition. Vestland addresses the interconnected climate and nature crises accordingly. Energy transformation and climate footprint reduction actions must also ensure sustainable land use planning and conserve or reconstruct the very basis of our existence, our ecosystems. This level of complexity is new and challenges priorities on many levels. 
 
Vestland is an important community developer; the largest producer of renewable energy in Norway, with many businesses eager to take part in the energy transformation. The potential to produce more renewable energy is great, but challenges exist, for example in distribution. By partnering with Empowered Futures, Vestland can further develop the region in a sustainable direction where social and environmental controversies and consequences become part of the bigger picture. Candidates can look upon this as an opportunity to integrate science, regional development, and politics as a change agent towards a low-carbon society.  Members can benefit from the PhD course, policy roundtables, and internships offered by Vestland fylkeskommune throughout the partnership.   

Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science
Department of Political Science
University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

The Department of Political Science is recruiting a three‑year full‑time Postdoctoral Fellow in public policy and administration, comparative politics, or international relations to contribute to the interdisciplinary research project CH‑CYCLE, which examines renewable energy‑driven recycling of CO₂ and H₂O into consumer products and fuels. The postdoc will focus on the political science dimensions of carbon capture and usage (CCU), including Europeanisation of CCU policies, science–policy relations, and national policy developments, and is expected to contribute to cross‑disciplinary publications. The position is embedded in the department’s Policy, Bureaucracy, and Organisation (PBO) research group and may be extended up to four years to include teaching and other qualifying activities, depending on departmental needs and the candidate’s profile.

Application deadline: 06 February 2026.

More information and how to apply here.

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science with specialisation in Strategic Environmental and Sustainability Work
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Lund University is seeking a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science with a specialisation in environmental and sustainability policy work, based in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. The position combines teaching (around 30%) and research (at least 40%), with responsibilities spanning undergraduate and postgraduate education, supervision of degree and doctoral projects, course development, and active research in strategic environmental and sustainability work focused on land and natural resource management. The role emphasises applied, interdisciplinary, and practice‑oriented research, collaboration with public and private stakeholders, and securing external funding, with the possibility of a start‑up package equivalent to a fully funded PhD position. The senior lecturer will play a key role in developing new and existing programmes, including an international Master’s programme in Environmental Science launching in 2027.

Application deadline: 11 February 2026.

More information and how to apply here.

Postdoctoral Fellows in Economic Geography, Innovation and Territorial Politics
School of Business and Law, Department of Innovation, Management and Marketing
University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

The University of Stavanger is recruiting two three‑year Postdoctoral Fellows in Economic Geography, Innovation and Territorial Politics, starting 1 August 2026, based at the UiS School of Business and Law and the Centre for Innovation Research. Both positions focus on the “Geographies of Futures” and are designed to support career development toward Associate Professor eligibility through research, teaching, supervision, pedagogical training, and structured career guidance. One postdoc will study how political parties’ positions evolve over time and how these shifts shape regional voting patterns, while the other will examine how narratives and imaginaries influence regional futures and uneven geographies of future‑making. Both fellows are expected to work full‑time on their projects and participate actively in the academic community

Application deadline: 01 March 2026.

More information and how to apply here.

Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Indigenous Planning - Assistant or Associate Professor, Tenure/Tenure Track:
School of Planning and Sustainability, Faculty of Environment
University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

The University of Northern British Columbia seeks a a full-time, tenure‑track Assistant or Associate Professor position in Indigenous Planning, accompanied by a supported nomination for a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2). The role focuses on community‑based, Indigenous‑led research and teaching related to land and water stewardship, Indigenous governance, and northern planning contexts, with a strong emphasis on Indigenous pedagogy and student supervision. The successful candidate will provide leadership in the First Nations Planning major, contribute to the accredited planning program, and build a nationally and internationally recognized research program aligned with Indigenous resurgence and reconciliation.

Application deadline: 02 March 2026.

More information and how to apply here.