Strategic Research Area
Innovative Perspectives on Energy and Climate Change from Socio-Historical Analysis (IPE)
Led by Assoc Prof Ian Gray and Dr Helen Masterman-Smith
Issue
Ever-increasing energy use and the upward trend in energy costs are serious public problems. Energy is a very significant focus for Governments’ climate change policies and is also an issue in its own right due to pressures on supply and public concern about its sustainability. Energy issues span:
- domestic practice – how to live better while we consume less at home
- transport – how to move people and goods more efficiently
- production and distribution – how to change the way we distribute energy
- social justice – how to ensure equitable availabilty of energy and participation in planning for change
Overarching all of these is a concern that policy-making is informed by a broad range of perspectives and that the institutions of governance are suited to the task of securing sustainable and equitable availability of energy. The socio-cultural disciplines, including sociology, history, political science and human geography are adding to the national policy and research repertoire. We will build on this by offering an unusual combination of research capabilities, and apply broader perspectives where particular problems require them.
This breadth of perspective is underpinned by the view that the cultures within which individual and collective decisions are made have developed over long periods of time. Many ideas and interpretations have become taken for granted and ways of thinking have become entrenched. Policy is often built on what is taken-for-granted, including interpretations of history. If those taken-for-granted ideas can be identified and challenged, then research will advance and policy develop.
Aim
The aim is to challenge current thinking about energy and its consumption with research which underpins development of alternative means of distributing energy equitably, securely and sustainably.