WISER December 2020 Newsletter

WISER Message from Steering Committee

We’re delighted to share with you below our inaugural WISER Newsletter. This year has been a significant one on many fronts, not just due to the incredible disruption that the COVID-10 pandemic has caused in our lives. This year has also seen the growth of WISER from a small, predominantly Canadian network, to an international one with more than 100 members (and counting)! The member updates shared with us show that many of you have completed PhDs, started new jobs, published books and articles and been very active in public science communication and advocacy.

WISER was founded in the spring of 2017 when Dr. Bronwyn Lazowski and Dr. Christina Hoicka were discussing clean energy research careers when their conversation led to a question: “how can we bring together women in clean energy research for meaningful networking and development to face implicit biases in our field?” That idea continued to flourish as they connected with other women academics asking similar questions. The founding members were: Laura Tozer, Jessie Ma, Jessica Caporusso, Runa Das, Rebecca Black, Madeleine McPherson, Samiha Tahseen, Amy Bilton, Jennifer Taylor, Colleen Kaiser, Bronwyn Lazowski, Christina Hoicka. In July 2017 they gathered to develop a name and a direction for the network, launching our first member form.

That was just the beginning:

In 2018, WISER launched its website and held its first events centred around professional research communication, media, and branding;
In 2019, WISER grew its international presence and formed its first steering committee (Bronwyn Lazowski, Christina Hoicka, Laura Tozer, Heather Castleden, Jenny Lieu, Julie MacArthur, Lindsay Miller); and,
In 2020, we reached over 100 international members, hosted many online events, updated our website significantly and launched our newsletter.

Our WISER journey continues! We look forward to 2021 as we grow our network and share the incredible work being done by our members to work toward a global sustainable and just energy future. Thank you for joining us on this journey and we look forward to sharing more of your updates next year.

In January we will be convening a new steering committee of WISER, with a call for three new volunteers. The WISER Terms of Reference states that WISER will be governed by a volunteer Steering Committee comprised of 6 individuals: A Chair, a Vice-Chair, and 4 Steering Committee Members. WISER will strive to maintain the following composition: two academic members (adjunct, sessional, tenure-track, tenured, emerita), one postdoctoral fellow member, and one PhD student member. Members can be recruited or self-nominated on an annual basis. The time commitment is for a monthly meeting of approximately 1 hour alongside organizational work for 2021 for webinars, a newsletter, updating our Terms of Reference and other matters as they arise. Should you have any questions about the SC or roles please email wseresearch.network@gmail.com

Christina Hoicka will be stepping down as Chair in January and Julie MacArthur will be taking over the role. Thank you to Christina for your hard work and commitment to WISER over the past two years!

Please lookout for the email in January after many of you have hopefully had a restful holiday season.

On 23 September 2020 WISER members from around the world met virtually to discuss their research, academia, and many other topics in an informal meet and greet. The event was a huge success and we are planning more of these for next year. Please reach out if you are keen to volunteer for this or any other events.

On 3 December 2020, WISER member Jennie Stephens led a webinar and conversation on her recent book, ‘Diversifying Power’. Participants were very engaged, despite the wide-ranging time zones and learned much about the motivation, process and key arguments in the book.

Anna Berka

Anna Berka started a new job as a lecturer in Innovation in the Business School at Massey University in New Zealand.
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Bregje van Veelen

I moved to Uppsala University (Sweden) this summer to take up a Formas Early Career Fellowship. During the four years of the fellowship I will be working on my project 'Post-carbon: Imagining the future to unmake the present'. The project explores how we can 'unmake' fossil fuel infrastructures, and the social, economic, and political relations entangled in them. In particular, I focus on the ways in which post-carbon futures for high-carbon regions in Europe and Canada are imagined and contested and the implications of this for achieving a just transition. More info on the project website: www.post-carbon.co.uk. I'd be delighted to hear from anyone working on/interested in similar themes!
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Colleen Kaiser

Post-doctoral Fellow @ the Smart Prosperity Institute (University of Ottawa).
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Iwona Bisaga

I have recently joined Loughborough University as a Research Associate on the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme, focusing on humanitarian energy. I remain affiliated with University College London as an Honorary Lecturer.
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Julie MacArthur

As of 5 January 2021 I'll be starting a new job as Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Reimagining Capitalism at Royal Roads University in Victoria BC.
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Laura Tozer

I'll join the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Toronto Scarborough as an Assistant Professor in energy and the environment in January 2021.
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Marissa Bell

Will be joining the Department of Communication at Cornell University as a Postdoctoral Associate in Feb 2021.
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Rihab Khalid

I have been awarded the Isaac Newton Trust Research Fellowship at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. https://www.lucy.cam.ac.uk/fellows/dr-rihab-khalid

Books and Book Chapters

Angela Carter

Carter, A. (2020). “Canadian Ecological Political Economy” in Whiteside, H. (ed.) Canadian Political Economy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
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Julie MacArthur

Julie MacArthur and Derya Tarhan ‘Institutionalizing Energy Democracy: the Promises and Pitfalls of Electricity Co-operative Development’, in A. Feldpausch-Parker, D. Endres & T. Peterson, Routledge Handbook of Energy Democracy (in press).

Julie MacArthur, ‘Chapter 9: Co-operatives’ in Canadian Political Economy, edited by H. Whiteside. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (December 2020) https://utorontopress.com/us/canadian-political-economy-2

Christina Hoicka, Julie MacArthur, ‘The Infrastructure for Electricity’ in Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics, edited by K. Hancock and J. Allison, Oxford University Press, 2019. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190861360.013.33
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Rosa Fernandez

Fernandez, R. M. (2020) Understanding Affordable Housing in the Context of Sustainable Development, in Filho, W. L. (Editor in Chief) Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. No Poverty. Springer Nature.

Campos-Martin, J.; Crespo, L. & Fernandez, R. M. (2020) Energy Governance in Spain, in Knodt, M. and Kemmerzell, J. (eds) Handbook of Energy Governance in Europe, Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Nature.

Journal Articles

Williams, S. & Doyon, A. 2020. The Energy Futures Lab: A case study of justice in energy transitions. Environmental Innovations and Societal Transitions. 37, 290-301. h ttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2020.10.001
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Angela Carter

Carter, A., and J. McKenzie. Forthcoming 2020. "Amplifying ‘Keep It in the Ground’ First-Movers: Toward a Comparative Framework." Society and Natural Resources. DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2020.1772924

Strauch, Y., T. Dordi, and A. Carter. 2020. "Constraining Fossil Fuels based on 2°C Carbon Budgets: The Rapid Adoption of a Transformative Concept in Politics and Finance." Climatic Change. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-020-02695-5
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Aksornchan Chaianong
Chaianong, A., Bangviwat, A., Menke, C., Breitschopf, B., & Eichhammer, W. (2020). Customer economics of residential PV–battery systems in Thailand. Renewable Energy, 146, 297-308. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2019.06.159
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960148119309991

Chaianong, A., Bangviwat, A., Menke, C., & Darghouth, N. R. (2019). Cost-Benefit Analysis of Rooftop PV Systems on Utilities and Ratepayers in Thailand. Energies, 12(12), 2265. doi:10.3390/en12122265
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/12/2265

Chaianong, A., Tongsopit, S., Bangviwat, A., & Menke, C. (2019). Bill saving analysis of rooftop PV customers and policy implications for Thailand. Renewable Energy, 131, 422-434. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2018.07.057
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960148118308541
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Anjali Ramakrishnan

Ramakrishnan, A., Kalkuhl, M., Ahmad, S., & Creutzig, F. (2020). Keeping up with the Patels: Conspicuous consumption drives the adoption of cars and appliances in India. Energy Research & Social Science, 70, 101742. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2020.101742
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629620303170
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Bregje van Veelen

For social researchers interested in energy democracy, community energy and/or the role of intermediaries in energy transitions: I published a paper this summer 'Assembling Community Energy Democracies', co-authored by Will Eadson (Sheffield Hallam University, UK). This article offers a novel conceptualisation of (energy) democracy through viewing community energy projects as assemblages of heterogeneous elements, and traces their enlacement with a wide range of social and political relations. This enables us to explore how a position of distributed agency affects the possibilities, challenges and realities of enacting new forms of democracy. Drawing on empirical research in England and Scotland, we trace the relations that community groups form in the process of setting up energy projects. By tracing intermediaries and intermediating processes within community energy projects, we provide a lens to more thoroughly excavate tensions and interplay between different actors in the process of becoming (more or less) democratic. The article can be found here, or send me an email if you don't have institutional access: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/vsr/2020/00000011/00000002/art00007
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Christina Hoicka

Wyse, S. M., and C. E. Hoicka. 2019. ‘By and For Local People’: Assessing the connection between Local Energy Plans and Community Energy. Local Environment 24(9). 883–900. doi: 10.1080/13549839.2019.1652802. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549839.2019.1652802?journalCode=cloe20

Lowitzsch, J., C. E. Hoicka, and F. J. van Tulder. 2020. Renewable energy communities under the 2019 European Clean Energy Package – Governance model for the energy clusters of the future? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 122.: 109489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.109489

MacArthur, J. L., C. E. Hoicka, H. Castleden, R. Das, and J. Lieu. 2020. Canada’s Green New Deal: Forging the Socio-Political Foundations of Climate Resilient Infrastructure? Energy Research & Social Science 65. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2020.101442. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629620300190
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Elena Claire Ricci

This paper studied the potentials of large scale production and trade of solar power in the context of climate change mitigation policies. Massetti, E e E. C. Ricci (2013), ‘An assessment of the optimal timing and size of investments in concentrated solar power’, Energy Economics, 38, 186-203.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2013.02.012
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Jess Britton

E. Judson, O. Fitch-Roy, T. Pownall, R. Bray, H. Poulter, I. Soutar, R. Lowes, P. M. Connor, J. Britton, B. Woodman, C. Mitchell (2020) ‘The centre cannot (always) hold: Examining pathways towards energy system de-centralisation’, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.109499

Kuzemko, C. and Britton, J. (2020) ‘Policy, politics and materiality across scales: A framework for understanding local government sustainable energy capacity applied in England’, Energy Research and Social Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.101367
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Jennifer Taylor

A review and rhetorical analysis of the scientific debate over wind energy and public health published in Energy Research & Social Science. Taylor J and Klenk N. (2019) The politics of evidence: Conflicting social commitments and environmental priorities in the debate over wind energy and public health. Energy Research and Social Science, 47: 102-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.09.001
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Julie MacArthur

Julie MacArthur, Christina Hoicka, Runa Das, Heather Castleden & Jenny Liu, “Canada’s Green New Deal: Forging the Socio-Political Foundations of Climate Resilient Infrastructure?” Energy Research and Social Science, 65, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101442

Anna Berka, Julie MacArthur and Claudia Gonnelli, “Explaining inclusivity in energy transitions: Local and community energy in Aotearoa New Zealand” Environmental Innovation and Sustainable Transitions 34: 165-182, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2020.01.006

Julie L MacArthur & Anna Berka, (Re)charging communities? Three potential energy futures in Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand Sociology, 36. Special Issue on Social Futures edited by S. Matthewman and L. Goode. https://search.informit.org/browseJournalTitle;res=IELNZC;issn=0112-921X
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Lindsay Miller

Nichol, S., Miller, L., Carriveau, R., Fonger, J., Costa, S. (2020). Financial Model of a Carbon-Neutral Microgrid at an Ontario High School. International Journal of Environmental Studies. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00207233.2020.1778267
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Nicola Willand

Willand, N., Moore, T., Horne, R., & Robertson, S. (2020). Retrofit Poverty: Socioeconomic Spatial Disparities in Retrofit Subsidies Uptake. Buildings and Cities, 1(1), 14–35. http://doi.org/10.5334/bc.13.

Understanding the contextual influences of the health outcomes of residential energy efficiency interventions: a realist review. https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/FTKSQSVFFCNIESN2IXYF/full?target=10.1080/02673037.2017.1363874
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Runa Das

Hoicka, C. E., & Das, R. [published] Viewpoint: Ambitious deep energy retrofits of buildings to accelerate the 1.5°C energy transition in Canada. The Canadian Geographer. (issue and volume TBD) https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12637
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Shima Bagher Zade Homayie

Bagherzade, S., Hooshmand, R., Firouzmakan, P., Khodabakhshian, A., & Gholipour, M. (2019). Stochastic parking energy pricing strategies to promote competition arena in an intelligent parking. Energy, 188, 116084.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.116084

Firouzmakan, P., Homayie, S. B., & Hooshmand, R. (2020). Optimal power management of electrical energy storage system, CHP, conventional and heat-only units considering both electrical and thermal loads for assessment of all-electric ships system. IET Electrical Systems in Transportation, 10(2), 213-223. doi:10.1049/iet-est.2018.5070. https://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/10.1049/iet-est.2018.5070
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Sophie L. Van Neste

Hourcade, Renaud et Van Neste, Sophie. 2019. « Où mènent les transitions ? Action publique et engagements face à la crise climatique » In « Engagements et action publique face à la crise climatiques » Lien Social et Politiques, numéro 82. https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/lsp/2019-n82-lsp04743/

Van Neste, Sophie L., 2020, Place, pipelines and political subjectivities in invisibilized urban peripheries. Territory, Politics, Governance 8(4) 461–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2019.1648314

Media Engagement

Angela Carter

"Future of Oil in Canada" webinar talk on May 13, 2020, hosted by Tzeporah Berman at Stand.Earth (my comments start at 29:00). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_GSXvp8Fuo

Policy commentary with the CCPA-BC on March 26, 2020: "Bailout for people and communities, not oil and gas industry". https://www.policynote.ca/bailout-communities/
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Anjali Ramakrishnan

DW. (2019, September, 19). To the point - Youth in Revolt: Climate of Change?. https://www.dw.com/en/to-the-point-youth-in-revolt-climate-of-change/av-50499765
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Heather Castleden

Castleden Canada Research Chair in Reconciling Research for Health, H. (2020, April 23). Indigenous-led clean-energy projects could power reconciliation.
https://theconversation.com/indigenous-led-clean-energy-projects-could-power-reconciliation-111903
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Julie MacArthur

Julie MacArthur, “Energy democracy: power to the people”, Newsroom, 16 November 2020.

Julie MacArthur Radio interview on energy governance and New Zealand Climate Emergency Declaration. 95bFM https://95bfm.com/bcast/environmental-governance-and-policy-in-new-zealand-w-dr-julie-macarthur
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Maryam Akbari

I was selected to be interviewed by YouAlberta because of the passion I showed during my internship. The link is: https://medium.com/youalberta/real-solutions-real-world-experience-4cc47a1c3188

This paper is one example of a set of studies that I have consucted on citizen or consumer interest for sustainability issues and consequent choices, in the energy and food domain. The specific paper evalutes the effects of international events or opinion leaders on climate-friendly and sustainable behaviours. Ricci, E.C, Banterle, A. (2020), ‘Do major climate change related public events have an impact on consumer choices?’, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 126, 109793.

Grants and Other Projects

Anjali Ramakrishnan

DAAD Doctoral Research Grant 2017
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Bipasha Baruah

Bipasha Baruah, 2020 SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis grant to study degrowth and gender equality. https://news.westernu.ca/2020/05/pandemic-turns-research-scenario-into-unexpected-reality/

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Elena Claire Ricci

This is a project I am carrying out to diffuse sustainability culture among citizens by engaging with schools. The idea is to develop ad hoc projects with schools (at all levels, from kinder garten to university) building a personalised pathway able to reposnd to the schools interests and enhance internal capital. More info can be found at: https://www.sustainabilitylabsnetwork.com/descrizioneeng
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Lindsay Miller

Environmental Energy Institue: https://www.environmentalenergyinstitute.com/
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Maryam Akbari

I got the Ph.D. thesis award from Canadian Society for Bioengineering/La Société Canadienne de Génie Agroalimentaire et de Bioingénierie (CSBE/SCGAB) in 2020.
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Rebecca Windemer

New grant - ESRC postdoctoral research fellowship at Cardiff University. This fellowship is enabling me to build upon and publish from my PhD.
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Rihab Khalid

I am a Co-I on the QR-GCRF project, headed by the Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, UK, titled: Gender equity and energy access in the Global South. It is a one-year project that aims to investigate what the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of "access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy" (SDG7) means to the professionals working on matters of energy access, and in particular what the implications are for gender equality (SDG5), in the Global South. While much research, policy and practice address these SDGs separately, there are major gaps in knowledge and action on how energy access and gender equality intersect. Energy access initiatives are, for instance, only starting to consider how gendered conventions determine ‘necessary’ energy use. Progress on one SDG can therefore lead to unintended consequences for the other. Measures promoting energy access could even adversely affect gender equality; e.g. reinforcing existing disparities within energy resource management arrangements. Through collaboration with 11 partners across six countries, the project is undertaking 80 semi-structured interviews spanning Nigeria, Ghana, India and Pakistan. Specifically, the interviews are with professionals working on different aspects of the (developing) energy system. We are especially interested to better understand how their (gendered) expectations are shaping the systems of provision that they are providing, through their own professional roles. On the basis of these lessons, policy recommendations will also be produced and launched in discussion with local stakeholders at two regional workshops, in Nigeria and India.
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Rosa Fernandez

Holiday Food and Activities Summer 2020: Impact of provision under Covid19 - Funded by Edsential, to evaluate the impact of provision efforts in Cheshire West and Chester, Wirral and Halton (UK)
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Runa Das

Das, R (PI), Hoicka, CE (co-applicant), Carlson, R (co-applicant). (2020). “Public perceptions of low-carbon energy transitions” SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant with Energy Exchange and Pollution Probe. $24,984.

2020-2025. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). $1,371,200. Collins, D. (PI) + 19 Co-investigators (Das is a co-applicant). "Community Housing Canada: Partners in Resilience." CMHC-SSHRC Joint Initiative.

Colleen Kaiser

Dissertation: State Steering in Polycentric Governance Systems: Climate Policy Integration in Ontario and California's Transportation Sectors https://sei.info.yorku.ca/faculty-research-publications/ph-d-dissertation-papers/
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Heather Castleden

Resource toolkit: A SHARED Future (Achieving Strength, Health, and Autonomy through Renewable Energy Development for the Future @ asharedfuture.ca) has published a Resource Guide and Toolkit about Gender-Based Analysis: http://asharedfuture.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/A-SHARED-Future-Living-Compendium-1.0.pdf
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Julie MacArthur

Policy Briefing: Julie MacArthur & Cathrine Dyer, “Mind the Gender Gap: Energy Employment Trends in Aotearoa New Zealand”, Public Policy Institute Policy Briefing 8/2020, University of Auckland.

Energy and Climate Transformations: 3rd International Conference on Energy Research and Social Science. 13-16 September 2021, University of Manchester. Abstracts due 30 April 2021. https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/international-conference-on-energy-research-and-social-science/about
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Marissa Bell

Defended dissertation November 2nd, 2020. Title: Energy Justice, Embeddedness, and Landscapes of Consent: An Examination of Canadian Nuclear Waste Siting. www.marissabell.com
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Maryam Akbari

I defended my Ph.D. degree in Engineering Management from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta in 2019.
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Mireille Ghoussoub

Will be defending my PhD on November 4, 2020. My field is materials chemistry and my thesis is entitled, "Characterization and modelling studies of turanite for the catalytic conversion of CO2 to methanol".
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Rihab Khalid

As part of the Energy-PIECES project, I published a policy report earlier this year, as part of my secondment with the UK's Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The report titled: The social dimensions of moving away from gas cookers and hobs: challenges and opportunities in transition to low-carbon cooking, can be accessed here: https://ukerc.ac.uk/publications/the-social-dimensions-of-moving-away-from-gas-cookers-and-hobs-challenges-and-opportunities-in-transition-to-low-carbon-cooking/

The 2020 WISER Newsletter was edited by Marissa Bell, Glennis Ch’ng and Julie MacArthur. We will issue a call for our 2021 newsletter submissions in October.

For more information, please contact wseresearch.network@gmail.com

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Other News

WISER Steering Committee Wishes Everyone Happy Holidays!