ABOUT THE SUMMER SCHOOL

This pluridisciplinary summer school for PhD students working within Social Science and Humanities (SSH) energy research, held in June 2017, focused on how SSH research can contribute to tackle the many energy-related challenges in Europe. Key energy topics were discussed with an emphasis on interdisciplinarity and on the translation of academic research into policy and practice.

Starting with a focus on future energy challenges for the European Union and their need to be investigated by interdisciplinary research the summer school investigated:

–          Global energy dilemmas;

–          Energy transition;

–          Public engagement and energy citizenship;

–          Consumption and social practices;

–          Energy poverty.

Participants undertook writing before the summer school and actively engaged in a variety of workshops and activities.

Speakers at the Summer School included:

  • Pr. Michael Bradshaw, Warwick Business School, UK (on global energy)
  • Pr. Stefan Bouzarovski, University of Manchester, UK (on paths to dependency and energy poverty)
  • Pr. Gilles Debizet, Grenoble Alpes University, France (on future scenarii of socio-energy assemblage in cities)
  • Pr. Ute Dubois, International Business School, Paris, France (on health and energy poverty)
  • Dr. Chris Foulds, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK (on interdisciplinarity and future energy challenges)
  • Dr. Mohamed El Mankibi, ENTPE, Lyon, France (on what is energy, how it is produced)
  • Dr. Gary Goggins, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland (on ENERGISE project)
  • Dr. Sara Heidenreich, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway (on energy citizenship)
  • Pr. Aurèlia Mañé-Estrada, University of Barcelona, Spain (on energy transition and political economy)
  • Dr. Nathalie Ortar, ENTPE, Lyon, France (on consumption and social practices)
  • Dr. Gerd Schönwälder, European Commission (on future energy challenges)
  • Patrick Sumpf, Karlsruher Insitut für Technologie, Germany (on energy challenge)
  • Dr. Annika Weiss, Karlsruhe Institute of technology,Germany (On interdisciplinary scenario creation with cross-impact balance analysis)

The Summer School was an opportunity for Early Stage Researchers to meet and collaborate with other PhD students from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, architecture, economics, history, human geography, sociology, planning and politics. Advanced researchers and practitioners involved in leading European energy projects presented their expertise and facilitated the understanding of the role of SSH energy research for policy and practice.

The five intensive days were academically challenging and fun, with presentations, indoor and outdoor workshops and networking activities. Participants were invited to consider how we best represent and understand energy from different angles and disciplinary perspectives, and encouraged to think about how the theoretical and methodological issues discussed related to their own work.

Advancing Energy Policy Summer School Page

Our pluridisciplinary summer school for PhD researchers working within energy-related Social Science and Humanities (SSH) took place in Lyon (France) from 19-23 June 2017.

Nathalie Ortar, our PhD coordinator, gives a brief summary of it here.

Feedback from participants

Je tiens à vous remercier pour l’organisation de cette semaine d’échange.
Je suis vraiment ravie d’avoir pu découvrir autant de points de vue et d’approches différentes autour du thème de l’énergie. Je trouve que l’ambiance était vraiment bien pendant toute la semaine, même si, parfois, ça à pu se ressentir dans les retards matinaux du coup.

C’était bien de pouvoir avoir des temps d’échange, entre nous et avec les intervenants.
Autre chose; c’était aussi très intéressant d’être en présence de cultures très différentes. Ça m’a permis encore une fois de réaliser tout ce qu’il reste à découvrir pour une transition énergétique européenne, voir mondiale!

Encore merci! 🙂

Cécile Forgue, UMR 7324 CITERES, Université de Tours, France

“During my phD study I had the opportunity to attend several international summer schools on various topics from the energy domain, but the Advancing Policy Energy Summer School exceeded my expectations. I had an amazing opportunity to acquire new knowledge from different academic schools, to challenge my own perspective on the solutions offered to us by existing economic models to the complex issues that we face in the current energy transition.

I am especially grateful for all the feedback and recommendations I received in order to further develop my phD project. I enjoyed working with so many highly-motivated young researchers.

A peace of Lyon will stay forever in my heart as well as the memory of our fruitful discussions will influence my future academic work“

Mariya Trifonova, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Faculty of Business, Bulgaria