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.

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 2025.

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).

2022 Cohort

The first cohort of new members to the Empowered Futures research school has now been selected. Congratulations to the 16 new candidates, who come from Norway, Denmark, Chile, Sweden, Ireland, UK, Spain, Ghana, Netherlands, France, Czech Republic and Switzerland. They are affiliated to the following institutions: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU);  Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), University of Oslo (UiO); UiT- The Arctic University of Norway; University of Agder (UiA); University of Bergen (UiB); Lund University; Roskilde University;  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; University of Edinburgh; University of Strathclyde; University of Leeds and Charles University in the Czech Republic.

• 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.
  
  Practica for 2025 is hosted by Fridtjof Nansen Institute. More information to come.

• 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.
  
  Internships for 2025 are hosted by Fred. Olsen Renewables. More information to come.

• Field course in the Orkney Islands, March/April 2025
  
  Coordinated by UiA.
  
  The Empowered Futures field course in Orkney explores the intersection of energy production, societal development, and local governance. It examines small-scale renewable energy initiatives, including community-owned wind turbines and marine energy technology, which have fostered energy security and community development on the islands. The course contrasts local, experimental energy transitions with larger, market-driven developments and delves into the methodologies used to understand public perceptions and opposition to these transitions. Through lectures, field visits, and group work, participants engage with topics like energy justice, contested landscapes, and the role of energy in local development. The course includes visits to key sites like the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) to explore emerging energy technologies.

• PhD Course: Prefigurative politics and changing rhythms of energy transitions
  Oslo and Rjukan, 21-26 April 2025
  
  This PhD course brings together a conceptual and impact-oriented interest in prefigurative politics with a thematic and empirical interest in the changing rhythms of energy systems under transition. As sectors electrify and digitalise for real-time coordination, how do they interact in the low-carbon energy systems that will keep increasing in the future? What challenges come up and how do actors address them to showcase and realise the opportunities presented by energy transitions? What are the prefigurative politics associated with the changing rhythms of low-carbon electric systems?
  
  The course features faculty renowned for their impactful work in this scholarly domain: Gordon Walker from Lancaster University, Tanja Winther from the University of Oslo, and Tor Håkon Jackson Inderberg and Siddharth Sareen from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
  
  The setting of the PhD course will be split between the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Oslo, and the spectacular town of Rjukan, on the remarkable occasion of the 100th ‘solar festival’ (solfesten) with which the course culminates on Saturday 26 April 2025. Field trips and site visits to unearth the fabled history and intrigue in this setting over the past century of changing energy systems will include insights on histories of labour, energy innovation, spatial scales of systems, and links between energy transitions and energy security. The course sites – from the historic villa of Nobel Peace Laureate and explorer Fridtjof Nansen to the famous solarpunk ‘sun mirror’ of Rjukan – will provide a convivial venue for the proceedings, including social activities and field excursions.
  
  The PhD course offers an opportunity for participants to receive feedback on a work in progress for their doctoral dissertation in a small-group setting, to which part of the time is devoted. Plenary sessions and outings will ensure a balance of inspiration and engagement, with adequate time for networking and processing inputs. Expect a fulfilling and unforgettable experience, ending with dancing in the streets at the party of a lifetime during solfesten!
  
  Participation is subsidised by the Research Council of Norway funded Empowered Futures Research School. Members have their costs fully covered. External applicants are welcome but will have to bear their own costs for travel to and accommodation in Oslo (22-24 April) and Rjukan (24-26 April). Their lunches, dinners and a networking reception will be sponsored from 22 April 2025 evening until 26 April 2025 afternoon.
  
  How to apply
  Please submit a 1-page application letter, 1-2 page academic CV including information about your institutional affiliation and PhD programme as well as any publications, a statement of confirmation from your main supervisor that you can participate in the PhD course during 22-26 April 2025 if selected and are able to cover your travel and accommodation costs, and a 10-15 page writing sample. The documents should be submitted as a single PDF file of 15-20 pages total to ssareen@fni.no no later than the PhD course application deadline of 31 January 2025. Invitations will be issued by 7 February 2025 and must be accepted/declined by 11 February 2025. More details on logistics and bookings will be shared with confirmed participants shortly after this deadline.

• Social and Environmental Impact Workshop
  Tromsø, August 2025
  
  This Social and Environmental Impact Workshop will explore the strategic role of social and environmental impact assessments (SEIAs) in development projects, focusing on indigenous territories in Norway and Chile. It will address the challenges of including indigenous perspectives, especially in the context of renewable energy projects, and propose improvements to current practices to enhance sensitivity to local cultures and environments. The workshop will also discuss indigenous-led assessments and community dialogue to ensure more just and sustainable outcomes.
  
  More information to come.

• Publications workshop for climate and energy social science researchers
  October 24th, 2025: 09.00-14.30
  Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation, University of Bergen
  
  In this workshop, we will discuss and work on papers in the field of climate and energy social science – focusing on crafting strong arguments, clear theoretical framings, and analyses that get your ideas and findings across. Andy Stirling, Professor at the University of Sussex, and keynote speaker at the Beyond Oil, will share his experiences with writing and publishing. We will also work on your manuscripts, submitted in advance, to improve them for publication in high-level journals.
  
  The workshop is held in extension of the Beyond Oil conference, and is targeted at early career researchers who take part in the conference. The workshop is limited to 15 participants, and Empowered Futures members will have priority.
  
  Submission details: To participate, please send an email to havard.haarstad@uib.no, with some words about your background and the paper you intend to contribute to the workshop. Participants will be asked to submit a paper draft for the workshop two weeks in advance of the workshop.
  
  Submission deadline: March 28th, 2025.

Activities archive

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

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.

Abstract: Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need to focus overtly on justice issues in energy affairs as part of the socio-technical reimagining of energy futures. With reference to the energy justice and Just Transitions literatures - two popularised and increasingly intertwined concepts - this paper analyses how justice is conceptualised in policy practice through a case study analysis of energy policymaking in Scotland. It does so by drawing upon the analysis of 6 expert interviews and 148 legislative and government documents published between 2010 and 2020. Through the lens of this case study, the paper makes three contributions. First, it responds to appeals in the energy justice scholarship for practical applicability. Second, the paper re-grounds these justice literatures in political and economic realities within the Scottish case study, providing recommendations for academia, Scottish policy and wider contexts. Three, it reveals rich empirical detail. Throughout the analysis, four key thematic categories emerged, each articulating the manifestation of justice concerns in Scottish energy policy: affordability and fuel poverty, forms of recognition, energy in relation to political interests and decision-making, and the Just Transition as a cross-cutting theme.

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.

Abstract: Climate change mitigation policies around the world are increasingly formulated as ‘green deals’ characterized by comprehensive packages of (‘green’) economic and societal reforms intended to bring about a just and inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy. This paper takes as its starting point what we see as a fundamental tension underlying the logic of these policies: despite making ambitious claims about the ethical merits of the transition they aim to bring about, their implementation depends on the extraction of massive amounts of raw materials. Most of these materials will be sourced from the Global South, where the negative ecological and social impacts will be felt. Empirically we explore how this tension is reflected in the European Green Deal, the most comprehensive of the green deal initiatives to date. Analyzing 195 policy documents from the European Union, we find that the role played by the European Green Deal in driving negative impacts beyond its borders is effectively silenced in official discourse. This enables the propagation of a narrative that justifies the dominant paradigm of green growth by portraying the European Green Deal as undertaking a globally ‘just transition’ that ‘do no harm’ and ‘leaves no one behind’. However, it also results in discursive contradictions and inconsistencies that undermine the logic and legitimacy of the European Green Deal. These contradictions and inconsistencies, we argue, provide a possible entry point for efforts to improve the just and inclusive outcomes from the European Green Deal.

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.

Abstract: Energy politics lie at the heart of human activity. In a time of ecological and energy crisis, it is fundamental to realise that our reality systems are always open to change and that, in order to respond to the challenges of a changing energy landscape, we must explore the full possibilities of technology in a radical way. This research aims to consider the ethical implications of energy and technology, presenting an urgent case for cosmotechnical pluralism, that is the diversification of world-views, knowledges, technologies in the pursuit of energy justice in global politics. To reconstruct the world and its politics around the existence of several ways of navigating and conceiving it, literally leads to a change in reality. The notion of cosmotechnics will present a way of conceiving of the cosmic, epistemic and technic order as interconnected: in this spirit, this research will travel through the prisms of cosmology, epistemology, morality, to subsequently enter into the room where energy policies are created. By employing this tripartite framework, policy directions will be suggested on the path towards energy justice in the hope of shining some light on what moral practices of policy-making in the field of energy politics could look like.

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.

Abstract: The advance of electromobility has boosted global demand and interest in lithium. The consequent expansion of lithium mining puts the sustainability of Chile's Andean salt flats at risk. In these unique ecosystems, lithium is abstracted from mineralized groundwaters, referred to also as brines. This article analyses the legal treatment of brines and its implications in assessing the socioecological impacts of lithium mining projects. For our analysis, we draw from scholarship at the intersection between hydrosocial research and critical legal geography. Methodologically, our study is based on interviews and the analysis of legal texts and judicial and administrative claims, including the environmental impact assessment studies of the three single lithium mining projects approved in the country. We show that the interpretation of brines as mining resources supported by mining companies and endorsed by environmental State agencies is based on a legal loophole. We document how such interpretation is operationalized and contested in the environmental impact assessments of three mining projects and other instances. We explore how the same legal loophole could lead to alternative interpretations and relatedly regulatory proposals and discuss their implication for the assessment of socioecological impacts of mining projects. These include first an understanding of brines as hybrids minerals/waters put forward in a recent report commissioned by State agencies, and second an interpretation of brines as a type of water. The latter is in line with the position of some indigenous groups and academics. We conclude with reflections on the implications of our analysis for lithium mining in Chile and beyond.

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.

Abstract: Current energy-related practices in bioenergy-dependent households and communities regularly reinforce social inequality and exacerbate environmental challenges. By investigating women's influence on rural energy service provision, this study sheds light on gendered practices and women's agency in a case study of three villages in central Ethiopia.Women's lives in these communities revolve around practices such as collecting wood and using fire for cooking, hygiene, or space heating. Energy-efficient technologies like cookstoves are peddled as solutions to the day-to-day challenges women face. While these can enhance health and well-being, a one-sided focus on technology overlooks the deep-seated social meanings that limit the agency of women. Energy research urgently needs to improve its understanding of how women may alter energy-related social practices, to avoid that technocratic approaches entrench the provision of energy services as a gendered female chore. This interdisciplinary research employs a Stock-Flow-Practice nexus perspective to analyse interlinkages between agency, practices, meanings, and the use of materials. Study results reveal that the agency of women to change their engagement in energy-related practices is curtailed by social prescriptions within the investigated households and communities. However, in households where women can garner higher levels of agency, they are able to shift how their households engage in practices. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding women's agency as unfolding through their engagement in social practices and reflecting negotiated social prescriptions. Policies and programmatic interventions towards sustainable and equitable energy transitions in bioenergy-dependent communities need to incorporate a practice-centred concept of agency to reach their goals.

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).

Abstract: Biomass remains the most important energy carrier of rural households in low- and middle-income countries, but its indoor combustion has grave impacts on human health and its extraction is associated with negative effects on ecosystems. Currently, robust and comprehensive data are lacking to trace biomass flows from ecosystems to consumption in households and quantify the related services. This impedes analyses of the social and environmental impacts of biomass use.By developing a source-to-service approach, this paper analyses the provision of domestic energy services in three villages in rural Ethiopia using a socio-metabolic perspective. We combine quantitative and qualitative methods to study the dynamics of domestic biomass use for energy and examine social and environmental implications. We find that the average household consumes 84 GJ/year of biomass (15 GJ per capita/year). Space heating, food and drinking water preparation combined require 86% of domestic energy. Improved cookstoves can reduce domestic energy use by 12%. Our results open new avenues for advancing the scientific understanding of rural energy systems dependent on biomass. These insights are essential to enhance research on sustainable energy systems in rural, bioenergy-dependent areas and may also prove useful in designing policies and innovations to improve provisioning of energy services.

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).

Abstract: More than three billion people depend on solid fuels for household energy, especially in rural areas of low and lower-middle income countries (LIC/LMIC). Rural households in LIC/LMIC use energy for a wide range of purposes, including food preparation, space and water heating, insect repulsion, illumination or the preparation of goods for sale. However, in these contexts, the majority of energy research frames energy end use as “cooking”. So far, the different purposes for energy use have not received the necessary scientific attention. This research gap sidelines crucial insights required for the scientific analysis of sustainable energy transitions. Research on energy services emphasizes the multitude of purposes of energy consumption. This paper shifts the research focus towards an energy services perspective and presents results of a case study from Ethiopia. We analyse combinations of domestic energy services derived from biomass-based energy carriers and household appliances. Our study uses a mixed-methods approach to integrate qualitative interview data and quantitative data from a household survey. We show that cooking is rarely performed as an isolated domestic energy service. Instead, households usually cover several interconnected energy service needs simultaneously. Availability and utility of stoves, fireplaces and energy carriers determine how and when energy services are combined. Improved cookstoves (ICS) allow for fewer energy service combinations than less efficient appliances but reduce energy consumption. Our study underlines that an energy services perspective is indispensable to understand domestic energy use and answers the question what energy is actually used for. A better grasp of the purposes of energy use supports the development of adapted solutions and advances research into sustainable energy transitions.

Hobi, A-S. (2024). On industrial pasts and futures: Imagining a large-scale battery industry in Norway. The Extractive Industries and Society, 22, 101591.

Abstract: Rising demand for electromobility and energy storage as a ‘green’ technological solution for low-carbon futures is driving large-scale battery manufacturing worldwide. Against this backdrop, Morrow Batteries is building a battery cell production plant in the Norwegian town of Arendal, raising expectations across the region and beyond of a post-oil pathway to wealth, prosperity and employment. Based on extensive ethnographic research, this article examines how local government and industry actors draw on industrial pasts and historical figures – specifically industrialist Sam Eyde and politician Arne Rettedal – when imagining what the battery industry might become. Here, the moral exemplarity of Eyde, Rettedal and the histories they represent offer a means of legitimising the Norwegian sociotechnical imaginary of a ‘good’ battery industry based on collective endeavour, selflessness and responsibility towards society.

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.

Abstract: Community-based energy governance (CEG), in which citizens or communities play a central role, has attracted sufficient attention in the context of efforts to achieve a democratic and just energy transition. Despite this surge of interest, however, a crucial limitation of the CEG literature is that its conceptualisation relies mainly on the analyses of case studies and literature from North Western Europe. To address this geographic bias, this paper conducts a rigorous review of Japanese debates on CEG, shedding new light on how the first-hand experience of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011 has led to new dialogues, based on its domestic interdisciplinary traditions to tackle environmental pollution in Japan. The analysis shows that the challenges addressed by CEG can vary across geographical contexts. CEG in Japan has, first and foremost, been understood as an alternative to the “exogenous” or “colonial” regional development underlying the Japanese energy system. Here, community has been approached as a starting point to address the geographical economic disparity that exists in the existing energy system, by attaining “endogenous development” and “energy autonomy”. The analysis, therefore, provides an alternative perspective for the critical scrutiny of dominant approaches towards CEG in “Western” tradition, while pointing to the need for further in-depth inquiry into the articulation of CEG in Japan and beyond.

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.

Abstract: Community-based energy governance (CEG), in which citizens or communities play a central role, has attracted sufficient attention in the context of efforts to achieve a democratic and just energy transition. Despite this surge of interest, however, a crucial limitation of the CEG literature is that its conceptualisation relies mainly on the analyses of case studies and literature from The recent ‘solar turn’ has led to an increased techno-economic materialisation of community-based energy governance (CEG), which may have the effect of reducing its transformative potential to attain democratic and just energy transitions. Although some studies have re-examined the transformative potential of CEG, there still remains a research gap regarding the role of agrivoltaics in shaping CEG. Drawing upon practices in Japan, one of the earliest countries to adopt agrivoltaics on a practical basis, this research aims to address the gap by demonstrating how the transformative potential of CEG is entangled with the particularity of the technology. In so doing, we utilise a conceptual framework of energy democracy informed by the works of Deleuze and Guattari. This framework attends to the ongoing dynamics of deterritorialisation and reterritorialisation in the process of ‘becoming-democratic’, rather than essentialising specific characteristics of CEG. To unpack the socio-material configuration in the context of agrivoltaic CEG in Japan, we first show how the way the community is envisioned is contingent upon the choice of technology by building on 66 semi-structured interviews with CEG-related stakeholders throughout the country. To gain further insights into the practical manifestations, we examine a purportedly successful agrivoltaic CEG in Chiba Prefecture as a case study. Based on the evidence, we show that, contrary to the idealised potential of agrivoltaic CEG to deterritorialise the energy governance, the specific characteristics of agrivoltaics embedded in the spatial configurations, can also hinder the deterritorialisation of energy governance, as well as allowing its reterritorialisation.

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.

Abstract: Community-based energy governance (CEG) is increasingly seen as reconfiguring existing socio-environmental power dynamics, contributing to just and democratic energy transitions. Despite its perceived “positive” implications, CEG has often been instrumentalized, undermining its potential to transform the spatialities of the existing energy system more democratic. By critically reviewing how the concept of community is mobilized regarding CEG, we seek to delineate how this mobilization entails a degree of romanticization. We then offer an alternative conceptualization of community by drawing upon a post-foundational understanding of space and community, particularly theorizations by Jean-Luc Nancy. We argue that understanding CEG through his ontology of “being-with,” which demands a world where every singularity can expose itself, can create a space for the political. In other words, this ontological understanding reconceptualizes CEG as a contingent political disruptibility of the existing order, rather than merely an institution, or politics. This provides a fundamental guideline to avoid instrumental appropriations of the concept of community and grounds more critical conceptualizations of community in energy and environmental geographies. Furthermore, it guides us to understand energy democracy through CEG as a disruptive political sequence of democratization, instead of an institution that is often instrumentalized with a scaling-up discourse.

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].

Abstract: Nordic cities are often perceived as frontrunners of urban sustainability and their planners increasingly embrace and combine environmentalist ideas with communicative planning approaches. We argue that how corporatist networks promote green growth strategies that can undermine sustainability targets is often overlooked. In this article, we examine how the City of Copenhagen is failing in its efforts to become the world’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025 partly because of corporatist capture of the decarbonisation agenda. Taking a phronetic social science approach we shed light on the production of knowledge and counter-knowledge in planning conflicts over energy infrastructure, in particular the iconic €530 million Copenhill waste-to-energy plant in Denmark. On one side of the conflict was a green coalition that initially blocked the proposed energy megaplant to defend the city’s ambitious climate targets. On the other side was a corporatist coalition who subsequently succeeded in strong-arming the city council to accept the plant, even though that meant carbon emissions would increase significantly, instead of decreasing. We focus on this U-turn in the planning process as a case of dark planning and a knowledge co-creation fiasco. Our findings reveal how the sustainability concept can be utilised as an empty vessel to promote private sector export agendas. We suggest that environmentalist ideals may stand stronger in planning conflicts if they link up with a broader alternative socio-economic agenda capable of attracting coalition partners. The lesson to be learned for green coalitions is that it is crucial to combine expert, local, and political knowledge to be able to “read” the power configuration and develop strategic and tactical capacity to challenge dominant discourses.

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.

Abstract: Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered by some to be a critical climate change mitigation technology, and a key element in efforts to limit the global temperature increases in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Implementation of CCS in mitigation scenarios assumes that it provides cost-effective emission reductions, and/or can achieve negative emissions when combined with bioenergy. We conduct a comparative case study of Brazil and Norway, two countries that are leading efforts to accelerate the development and deployment of CCS, to assess how these countries justify their CCS policy choices with respect to equity concerns. The findings show that the current design of CCS mitigation technologies can lead to unjust outcomes, and fossil fuel lock-in. Nevertheless, CCS has uses that go beyond fossil fuel infrastructure, which can improve its climate change mitigation 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.

Abstract: The concept of intersectionality is increasingly referenced in energy justice research, requiring critical reflection on the value of intersectionality theory for the energy justice framework and research agenda. Conceptually, its incorporation seems intuitive – intersectionality theory, it is argued, can better integrate, or even transcend, often westernised justice conceptualisations, including through attention to feminist, anti-racist, Indigenous, and postcolonial justice theories. Methodologically, however, integrating intersectionality into practice is less intuitive and the energy justice literature is currently lacking tangible recommendations. Indeed, the use of intersectionality is methodologically complex, requiring understanding of and attention to its core guiding principles, which must be applied appropriately in research from design to analysis and outputs in order to support its ambitious and politicised aims. This is especially true in the context of energy justice, where outputs are typically intended to inform future decision-making. In this perspective, we present the key literature to integrate intersectionality theory into energy justice research, then we highlight that there have been, so far, two different ways to integrate intersectionality: implicitly and explicitly. We then defend and support the explicit integration of intersectionality theory in energy justice work by providing recommendations to facilitate integration in research. Finally, we call for a politicised, radical research agenda informed by intersectionality theory in future academic work linked to the energy transition injustices.

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

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.

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.

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.

Hayato Koga

Japan

University of Manchester

PhD programme: Human Geography

PhD project: The project aims to delineate the development of energy democracy by examining the transformative potential of community-based energy governance in Japan. Thereby, the project aims at situated reconceptualisation of democratic energy governance, which can pave the way for transforming the unjust spatial configuration of the existing energy governance. 

Academic publications:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anna-Sophie Hobi

Switzerland

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

PhD programme: International Environment and Development Studies

PhD project: Gigafutures - 'Green' industrialisation and the imagining of a large-scale battery industry in Norway.

Academic publications:

Hobi, A-S. (2024). On industrial pasts and futures: Imagining a large-scale battery industry in Norway. The Extractive Industries and Society, 22, 101591.

Mutondoro F, Hobi A-S, Dhliwayo M & Chiname J (2022). Resource-Backed Loans, COVID-19 and the High Risk of Debt Trap: A Case Study of Zimbabwe. In: COVID-19 and Sovereign Debt: The Case of SADC, edited by DD Bradlow and ML Masamba (Pretoria University Law Press).

Hobi, A-S (2020). (Extr)Activism, Governance and Power: A Short Account of Advocacy. In: Ethnographic Vignettes: Social Change and Social Encounters in Solwezi, Northwestern Zambia, edited by R Kesselring, Basel Papers on Political Transformations. Basel: Institute of Social Anthropology.

Birgitte Nygaard

Denmark

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

PhD programme: Science and Technology Studies

PhD project: Framings of Norwegian Wind Energy Futures. The aim of the project is to examine how understandings of the future role(s) of wind power are shaped, by whom, and how it relates to Norway’s position in the world and its identity as an ‘energy nation’.

Academic publications:

Nygaard, B. (2024). Phase-outs at the edge of the world: Interconnections between energy futures and place-making in the strategic outpost Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 52, 100877.

Nygaard B. & Hansen T (2020). Local Development through the Foundational Economy? Priority-setting in Danish Municipalities. Local Economy, 35 (8): 768-786.

Kollerup SS & Nygaard B (2018) Waste management in apartment buildings - an insight into citizen behaviour. Centre for Green Transition, City of Aalborg.

Cristián Flores Fernández

Chile

Humboldt University of Berlin

PhD programme: Geography

PhD project: The project aims 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.

Academic publications:

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.

Daniel Molin

Sweden

University of Oslo

PhD programme: Human Geography

PhD project: From petrol stations to charging networks.
The project aims to develop better understanding of policy making to change infrastructure systems by comparing electrification of transport and charging infrastructure in Norway and Sweden.

Finlay Bain Kerr

Scotland

University of Strathclyde

PhD project: Minewater Geothermal Energy: just, place-based models for energy resource development. The research explores the tensions and considerations present in the MWG development ecosystem in Scotland to illicit greater understanding on how to overcome embedded injustices in the energy system.

Greg Grant

Scotland

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

PhD programme: Landscape and Society

PhD project: Landscape Architects as Agents of Just Energy Transitions? A Case Study of Renewable Wind Energy Development in UNESCO Biospheres in Scotland. This study examines the ethical role of landscape architects in energy transitions in Scotland, focusing on windfarm development that is encroaching upon the Galloway and South Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Amidst social conflict over wind energy development in ecologically and culturally significant areas, this research addresses gaps in landscape architecture and energy-focused social sciences concerning energy transitions. It investigates how landscape architects interpret and operationalize ethical values, their agency as actors in energy transitions, and their interactions with other stakeholders. Employing an anthropological case study approach, the study utilizes agent-focused theories such as Actor-Network Theory,  Middle-Actors and Legitimizing Agents and critical discourse analysis to analyze the involvement of landscape architects in the design, consultation, and impact assessment of energy infrastructures. Data collection includes ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, critical document analysis, and actor and spatial mapping. The research aims to generate landscape architecture-specific knowledge on ethical practice, guide best practices, and enhance disciplinary understanding within broader sustainability processes. Insights from this study can inform policy, improve environmental justice outcomes, and articulate the potential value of landscape architecture as a profession and a research practice and the Biosphere governance system to these objectives.

Hilde Solli

Norway

School Board Representative

University of Oslo (UiO)

PhD programme: Just Transition in Urban Mobility

PhD project: The project seeks 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.

Academic publications:

Vedeld T, Hofstad H, Solli H & Hanssen GS (2021). Polycentric urban climate governance: Creating synergies between integrative and interactive governance in Oslo. Environmental Policy and Governance, 31(4), 347-360.

Norheim B, Haugsbø MS & Solli H.(2016). Areal og transport og nullvekstmål. Plan, 48(5), 14-19.

Solli H (2014). Har Riksrevisjonen skylda for detaljbasert styring?. Stat & Styring, 24(4), 42-44.

Solli H (2007). Means to learn and control. The effect of BP business standards on local supplies in the oil industry in Azerbaijan. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography, 61(1), 34-37.

Håkon da Silva Hyldmo

Norway

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

PhD programme: PhD Programme in the Social Sciences

PhD project: The project aims 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. The project will combine studies of ‘green deal’ discourses in Europe with case-studies of extractive mineral practices (rare earths, nickel and tin) in Indonesia.

Academic publications:

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.

Nunn J et al. (2022) Standardised data on initiatives—STARDIT: Beta version. Research Involvement and Engagement,  8(1), 1-28.

Coscieme L et al. (2020) Multiple conceptualizations of nature are key to inclusivity and legitimacy in global environmental governance. Environmental Science and Policy, 104, 36-42.

Sanders A et al. (2017) Guinea pig or pioneer: Translating global environmental objectives through to local actions in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia’s REDD+ pilot province. Global Environmental Change, 42, 68-81.

Lara Maria Santos Ayllón

Spain

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. The research explores marine renewables and hydrogen as two emerging energy sources and technologies in the Orkney Islands through justice and responsible research and innovation frameworks in a time when decisions about renewable energy system design continue to be based primarily on lowest monetary cost, along with being "low-carbon" at point of generation.

Academic publications:

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

Abram et al. (2022) Just Transition: A whole-systems approach to decarbonisation. Climate Policy, 22(8)

Ayllón LMS (2022) A justice and responsible research and innovation exploration of marine renewables and green hydrogen in island communities. Science Talks.

Larry Ibrahim Mohammed

Ghana

Arctic University of Norway (UiT)

PhD programme: Comparative Indigenous Studies

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. The goal of the project is to contribute to the bigger discussion on the depth of indigenous peoples' self-determination, specifically, by examining the level and impact of indigenous people's participation in renewable energy projects in Norway and Canada.

Academic publications:

Mohammed, L. A. (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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103758.

Lina Lefstad

Norway

Lund University, Sweden

PhD programme: Sustainability Science

PhD project: The project aims 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.

Academic publications:

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.

Lefstad, L., Allesson, J., Busch, H., & Carton, W. (2024). Burying problems? Imaginaries of carbon capture and storage in Scandinavia. Energy Research & Social Science, 113, 103564.

Marieke van der Star

Netherlands

University of Oslo (UiO)

PhD programme: Human Geography

PhD project: Residential mobility in the green compact city: class-led appropriation of urban resources.The project researches the socio-spatial inclusiveness of low carbon urban strategies in terms of housing, mobility- and transport justice in the Greater Oslo region. The project is part of INCLUDE (socially inclusive energy transitions).

Academic publications:

Van der Star ME & Hochstenbach C (2022). Continuity among stayers: Levels, predictors and meanings of place attachment in rural shrinking regions. Journal of Rural Studies.

Mathilde Rainard

France

University of Leeds

PhD project: Fairness implications of low carbon energy policies in the UK and France, an intersectional approach. This PhD takes an intersectional approach towards justice implications of energy demand reduction policies in the housing and transport sectors in the UK and France, to generate policy recommendations for a fairer net-zero transition in the UK, with implications for France and other EU countries.

Academic publications:

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.

Rainard M, Smith CJ, & Pachauri S (2023). Gender equality and climate change mitigation: Are women a secret weapon?. Frontiers in Climate, 5, 946712

Nicol Staňková

Czech Republic

Charles University, Prague

PhD programme: Sociology

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

Academic publications:

Sýkorová M, Tománek P, Šušlíková L, Staňková N, Habalová M, Čtverák M, Macháč J & Hekrle M (2021). Voda ve městě: Metodika pro hospodaření s dešťovou vodou ve vazbě na zelenou infrastrukturu.

Macháč J, Hekrle M, Meyer P, Staňková N, Brabec J & Sýkorová, M (2020). Cultural ecosystem services and public preferences: How to integrate them effectively into Smart City planning? 2020 Smart City Symposium Prague (SCSP), 1–6.

Shayan Shokrgozar

Iran

School Board Representative

University of Bergen (UiB)

PhD programme: Social Science (Department of Geography and Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation)

PhD project: The project investigates the social and environmental implications of solar energy transitions in Rajasthan, India.

Academic publications:

Shokrgozar, S., Remme, D., & Stock, R. (2024). “We Have to Convince Them Whatever it Takes:” The Climate Necropolitics of Energy Transitions in India and Zambia. Geoforum, 103945.

Sareen S & Shokrgozar S (2022). Desert Geographies: Solar Energy Governance for Just Transitions. Globalizations, 1–17.

Shokrgozar S (2021). The Case for Degrowth Energy Technologies. Tvergastein Journal, vol 1, 94–109.

Dunlap A, Søyland L & Shokrgozar S (2021). Editorial Introduction: Situating Debates in Post-development and Degrowth. Tvergastein, vol 1, 7–31.

Ulrik Kohl

Denmark

Roskilde University, Denmark
Malmö University, Sweden

PhD programme: Society, Space, and Technology

PhD project: Democratizing urban energy transitions. Community energy activism in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Denmark. The PhD project explores the agency of grassroots and other energy activists, their learning processes and capacity building, and how they challenge and overcome institutional barriers, to develop community energy. The aim is to better understand the potential for democratizing and accelerating Europe’s clean energy transition through the empowerment of collective actors and their decentralized production of locally owned renewable energy.

Academic publications:

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].

Kohl U (2022). Is the Industrial Turn Killing Denmark’s Energy Cooperatives? In: G Getzinger & F Häller (Eds.)Conference Proceedings of the 20th STS Conference Graz 2022: Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz.

Kohl U (2022). Renewable energy and democratic enterprises. Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, Denmark.

Enoksen EM & Kohl U (2021). Dänemark. Die Rot-Grüne Einheitsliste: Links der Mitte-Links-Regierung. In: C Hildebrandt, D Koltsida & A Bouma (Eds.) Left Diversity zwischen Tradition und Zukunft: Linke Parteienprojekte in Europa und ihre Potenziale (pp. 141-157). VSA Verlag.

Andersen J & Kohl U  (2021). The Copenhill Crisis: What Corridor Talk Can Tell About the Dark Side of Planning Energy Transitions. 1-2. Abstract from The 8th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference, Bergamo, Italy.

Enoksen EM & Kohl U (2021). The Red-Green Alliance: To the Left of a Centre-Left Government. In A. Bouma, C. Hildebrandt, & D. Koltsida (Eds.), Radical in Diversity: Europe's Left 2010-2020 (pp. 127-143). Merlin Press.

Vegard Solhjem Knutsen

Norway

University of Agder (UiA)

PhD programme: Energy and Society

PhD project: The research project explores in the context of Norway why 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.

Academic publications:

Bårnås KS, Dahlstrand K & Knutsen V (2021). Voldsoffererstatningsordningen: Opplevd betydning av voldsoffererstatning blant mottakere. Tidsskrift for erstatningsrett, forsikringsrett og trygderett, 18(1), 7-32.

Dr. Harald Grabher

Austria

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.

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.   

Senior Research Specialist – Environment and Climate Justice
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is looking for a Senior Research Specialist to lead innovative research and policy engagement in this critical field.

In this role, you will:
Develop and lead research projects on environmental and climate justice, with a focus on just transition
Engage with the UN system, policymakers, and global research networks
Publish high-quality research and contribute to policy recommendations
Support fundraising efforts to advance UNRISD’s research agenda

Application deadline: 9th March 2025

More information and how to apply here.

Postdoctoral Fellow in Critical Approaches to Energy Transition, Climate Adaptation, and Climate Justice.
Emory University, Atlanta, GA

This position is part of a groundbreaking project examining the multi-dimensional impacts of renewable energy systems on the adaptation capital of marginalized communities in emerging sacrifice zones across the Global South and Global North. The project seeks to advance justice in climate adaptation, mitigation, labor relations, and renewable energy transition.

The successful candidate will contribute to a global study integrating political ecology, just transitions, agrarian studies, environmental justice, and labor justice frameworks.  The project seeks to identify and analyze renewable energy burdens and injustices, focusing on solar, wind, and lithium mining technologies.

Application deadline: 25th March 2025

More information and how to apply here.

Tenure-track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Governance - Department of Food and Resource Economics, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen

To expand and enhance its research and teaching capacity in environmental policy and governance, the Department of Food and Resource Economics at University of Copenhagen is seeking a highly motivated and creative Tenure-track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Governance.

The research agenda includes, but is not restricted to, environmental policy processes, policy reform, policy making for green transition, integration of environmental policy in sectoral policies and environmental policy mixes.

Application deadline: 9th April 2025

More information and how to apply here.