PhD Projects
It is up to Sander ten Caat to create a better understanding of the concept of Energy Justice. He studies the ideas of energy justice in science and practice: how can we understand the concept, and how do different actors create their own unique ideas of what energy justice should be?
Energy Justice is a relatively new concept introduced in 2013. It relates justice principles to the energy system. Researchers in this field are concerned with revealing and reducing social injustices in energy policy and in energy production, transportation and consumption systems, in order to grant every individual fair access to safe, affordable and sustainable energy that fits within their cultural practices and satisfies their needs for living a healthy and fulfilling life.
Considering the different contexts in which people live and work, every actor will have a different idea of what a just energy system should look like, what is wrong with the current energy system and how we should get from the existing system to a new one. Some of these ideas dominate the current energy transition, as people developed energy policy and energy models (that inform policy) with their own ideas in mind. These can conflict with, complement, or even marginalise other ideas of justice.
Sander finds ways of structurally comparing how these views on justice differ, conflict and complement each other. Through understanding how people construct their views on energy justice, we can understand why some find an existing situation or a future policy fine, while others see injustices. The structural approach to comparing these ideas of energy justice will allow us to relate these to the outcomes of energy models. Showing in this way how modelled outcomes and scenarios might impact different actors in different ways, aids the discussion on the pathways we as a society want to choose towards a fair and sustainable energy system.
Contact Sander: 
Models are increasingly used for decision-support when formulating energy transition policies.
Can these models be extended to support policy-making for just transitions? What needs to change in existing models and modelling processes to enable policy-makers to bring about just outcomes? How can we integrate justice into models?
Through a systematic exploration of such questions, we aim to enable design of just energy transition supported by models that are more cognizant of their justice implications.
Contact Aarthi:
An important part of participatory multi-modelling process regards designing the underlying social processes. This requires a good understanding on why, when and where in a policy process one should apply participatory multi-modelling. If these matters are clear, design can be made focusing on whom to involve, how to involve people and how to design and measure these processes. Aim is to test both an eventual methodology and measurement using serious gaming and cases with consortia partners.
Contact Nourian:
What happens once organisations interact and exchange ideas and perspectives on justice? How does that newly acquired knowledge seep through, both within and beyond organisations, to achieve actual impact? And do organisations then engage in more just
decision-making? I aim to answer these questions by analysing the impact of participatory practices and knowledge transfer on justice in decision-making.
Contact Annemiek:
Project 1 - Conceptualising Energy Justice
It is up to Sander ten Caat to create a better understanding of the concept of Energy Justice. He studies the ideas of energy justice in science and practice: how can we understand the concept, and how do different actors create their own unique ideas of what energy justice should be?
Energy Justice is a relatively new concept introduced in 2013. It relates justice principles to the energy system. Researchers in this field are concerned with revealing and reducing social injustices in energy policy and in energy production, transportation and consumption systems, in order to grant every individual fair access to safe, affordable and sustainable energy that fits within their cultural practices and satisfies their needs for living a healthy and fulfilling life.
Considering the different contexts in which people live and work, every actor will have a different idea of what a just energy system should look like, what is wrong with the current energy system and how we should get from the existing system to a new one. Some of these ideas dominate the current energy transition, as people developed energy policy and energy models (that inform policy) with their own ideas in mind. These can conflict with, complement, or even marginalise other ideas of justice.
Sander finds ways of structurally comparing how these views on justice differ, conflict and complement each other. Through understanding how people construct their views on energy justice, we can understand why some find an existing situation or a future policy fine, while others see injustices. The structural approach to comparing these ideas of energy justice will allow us to relate these to the outcomes of energy models. Showing in this way how modelled outcomes and scenarios might impact different actors in different ways, aids the discussion on the pathways we as a society want to choose towards a fair and sustainable energy system.
Project 2 - Integration into a multi-model ecology
Models are increasingly used for decision-support when formulating energy transition policies.
Can these models be extended to support policy-making for just transitions? What needs to change in existing models and modelling processes to enable policy-makers to bring about just outcomes? How can we integrate justice into models?
Through a systematic exploration of such questions, we aim to enable design of just energy transition supported by models that are more cognizant of their justice implications.
Contact Aarthi:
Project 3 - Developing a participatory methodology
An important part of participatory multi-modelling process regards designing the underlying social processes. This requires a good understanding on why, when and where in a policy process one should apply participatory multi-modelling. If these matters are clear, design can be made focusing on whom to involve, how to involve people and how to design and measure these processes. Aim is to test both an eventual methodology and measurement using serious gaming and cases with consortia partners.
Project 4 - Change
Does anything change when actors interact and exchange ideas and perspectives on modelling justice? Do the models that come out of this interaction reflect justice conceptions differently? And how does this impact decision-making? Annemiek de Looze aims to answer these questions by analysing the impact of participatory practices and knowledge transfer on justice in models and decision-making.