Call for Applications – Book Chapter Contributions from Interdisciplinary Collaborations

Strengthening European energy policy: Governance recommendations from innovative interdisciplinary collaborations

OBJECTIVE

The EU has outlined ambitions to be the first climate-neutral continent, with multiple strategies, initiatives, and directives being developed to support this. The EU Green Deal provides a roadmap for achieving the EU’s climate-neutrality ambition, outlining priority areas of action related to energy.Within current energy policy, the need to address both supply and demand parts of the energy system to support the achievement of a climate-neutral EU is considered. The EU’s Fit for 55 package focuses on reducing EU emissions by at least 55% by 2030, with legislation and initiatives developed to support this.

The SSH CENTRE is funding 10 interdisciplinary collaborative teams, up to €7,500, to develop a headline policy recommendation related to EU energy policy. To support these interdisciplinary partnerships, each collaborative team will have 2 joint-corresponding authors, one from SSH and one from STEM. Each team will need to write a book chapter of around 3,000 words (including the reference list), which substantiates their policy recommendation.

The funded collaborative work that underlies the recommendation and the chapter’s discussion is intentionally flexible. The only requirements are that 1) the activities (and associated policy recommendation) use interdisciplinary insights spanning SSH and STEM, and 2) the policy recommendation moves beyond simply highlighting a failure which needs to be addressed. As such, recommendations may act as the starting point for further research, or highlight the priority dialogues which need to occur.

EXAMPLE TOPICS

Examples of potential energy-related topics which could be addressed through these policy recommendations include (but are not limited to): 

  • The consequences of techno-economic interventions (e.g. efficiency upgrades, smart infrastructures etc.) for people’s lived experiences
  • The development of energy models that better capture human behaviours and behaviours of key actors in the system
  • The use of energy modelling (e.g. energy systems modelling, energy forecasting etc.  to challenge mainstream societal and business model assumptions (e.g. energy transition in a post-growth economy, non-for-profit business models for electricity and heating & cooling, energy scenario planning and consultation, technical/technological feasibility studies)
  • The power dynamics within stakeholder communities, and how these materialise in low-carbon energy technologies, infrastructures and societal practices 
  • The evaluation of the visions/forecasts presented for future energy systems and the role of these in achieving low-carbon energy systems 
  • The opportunities for co-creation, in e.g. democratising Europe’s energy systems 
  • The unpacking of assumptions, biases, politics and/or expectations embedded in technologies, engagement approaches, modelling evidence, etc. for low-carbon energy systems 
  • The identification of barriers (e.g. industrial capacities, deficit of skills) to engaging with alternative low-carbon energy systems and technological configurations 
  • The reinvigoration (and/or broadening) of social acceptance approaches that ensure participation in low-carbon energy transformations (relating to e.g. CCS, energy storage, hydrogen, etc.)
  • The synergies and controversies between energy supply-side and demand-side policies, and the implications and possibilities for e.g. energy communities
  • The relationship between the achievement of low-carbon energy systems and crises for both social and natural systems. 
  • The opportunities for pursuing non-energy policies (e.g. policies in education, health, social care, etc.) to achieve reductions in societal energy demand
  • How the daily work of professionals influence, and are influenced by, low-carbon transformations
  • The role of trust and ethics in achieving low-carbon transitions, and questions related to the (perceived) legitimacy of processes
  • The potential opportunities (or constraints) for addressing energy poverty through actions to support low-carbon energy transformations
  • The connections between social innovation and large-scale infrastructure energy projects, e.g. European energy system integration
  • The institutional and policy support required to support the investment in clean energy over fossil fuel infrastructure (e.g. reserving subsidies)

DEADLINE

The application deadline is Sunday 4 June 2023 at 11:59pm (BST), the application form can be accessed by completing this expression of interest form: Expression of Interest Form  

The information required to complete the application form can be downloaded here: SSH CENTRE Collaborative Teams Application Form 

CONTACT DETAILS

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact the Energy Book editors before submission of a proposal: Ami Crowther (ami.crowther@aru.ac.uk), Chris Foulds (chris.foulds@aru.ac.uk), Rosie Robison (rosie.robison@aru.ac.uk) and Ganna Gladkykh (g.gladkykh@eera-set.eu) 

INDICATIVE TIMELINE

  • End June 23 – Successful collaborative teams are notified
  • June 23 – Nov 23 – Interdisciplinary research is undertaken by the collaborative teams 
  • Oct 23 – Online symposium for all collaborative teams 
  • Jan 24 – First draft of policy recommendation chapter submitted to editors 
  • Feb 24 – Collaborative teams receive comments on their chapter
  • Apr 24 – Revised policy recommendation chapters submitted to editors 
  • Apr 24 – Collaborative teams receive review comments on their re-submission
  • May 24 – Collaborative teams submit their final manuscript 
  • Sep 24 – The open-access books are published

ELIGIBILITY

  1. Each collaborative team will be composed of at least four researchers, with at least 2 researchers coming from SSH disciplines and 2 from STEM disciplines, all of whom are based at an institution within the EU or a Horizon-associated country (including the UK).
  2. Each of the collaborative teams will be a new collaboration, understood as the SSH and STEM researchers within the team not having published together before. Nevertheless, individuals from within the same field (i.e. either within the 2+ SSH researchers or within the 2+ STEM researchers) may have published together before.

Following confirmation that an application is eligible, we will primarily assess abstracts on the basis of:

  • Relevance to the Call for Applications (and thereby the focus of the 3 books within the collection)
  • Academic quality
  • Novelty in how SSH and STEM disciplines are brought together
  • Realistic budgetary planning

There is also the intention to ensure a good balance of (1) gender and (2) geography (North, South, East, West of Europe). In addition, given that it is a collection, we will make final selections based on synergies and common themes across the abstracts, to thereby help ensure that the collection as a whole has a strong narrative.