TY - JOUR
T1 - Looking back to look forward
T2 - Reflections from networked research on energy poverty
AU - Jiglau, George
AU - Bouzarovski, Stefan
AU - Dubois, Ute
AU - Feenstra, Marielle
AU - Gouveia, João Pedro
AU - Grossmann, Katrin
AU - Guyet, Rachel
AU - Herrero, Sergio Tirado
AU - Hesselman, Marlies
AU - Robic, Slavica
AU - Sareen, Siddharth
AU - Sinea, Anca
AU - Thomson, Harriet
N1 - info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F04085%2F2020/PT#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/752870/EU#
Funding Information:
The research reflected in this article has been supported by the COST Action entitled European Energy Poverty: Agenda Co-Creation and Knowledge Innovation (ENGAGER 2017-2021, CA16232 ). The authors are grateful to all action members and collaborators who have participated and contributed with their valuable expertise to the research articles, policy outputs, events, debates, and informal exchanges reflected in this article. George Jiglau’s work on this article has been supported by the Development Fund of the Babeș-Bolyai University . Anca Sinea’s work has been supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research , CNCS / CCCDI - UEFISCDI , project number PN-III-P3.6-H2020-2020-0063 . Sergio Tirado-Herrero acknowledges funding from the ‘Ramón y Cajal' program supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant RYC2020-029750-I ).
All authors have equal contributions in generating the content of this paper and throughout the networked research endeavors reflected in it. G.J. has coordinated the collective team effort and has revised successive drafts based on collective inputs from all co-authors. The authors declare no competing interests.
Funding Information:
Starting in 2017, our research network, consisting initially of 68 members in 25 countries and reaching 270 members in 36 countries at its formal end, labeled ENGAGER and described in more detail later in discussion, has sought to overcome these challenges and reshape how energy poverty is researched and communicated. Based on broad multidisciplinary, collective, synergizing competencies across universities, businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and public sector bodies, we aimed to facilitate knowledge transfer and collaborations and thereby advance knowledge and practices on energy poverty through innovative research. As a Cooperation on Science and Technology (COST) Action funded by the European Union through the eponymous COST Association, the network has aimed to catalyze transformational change in knowledge and interpretations of energy poverty and to boost the capacity of scientific outputs to shape knowledge-based policies. Our premise is that the growing community of energy researchers and practitioners needs to explore the manifold ways energy poverty is interwoven with other socioeconomic dimensions and how it manifests in different contexts to open paths for further research and deepening of knowledge. This requires constant redesigning of methodological approaches which have governed research on energy poverty, encompassing new sites of inquiry applying a multi-disciplinairy and holistic approach. In contrast, traditional approaches have often extrapolated specific national experiences as general issues and fallen into the trap of the quantitative-qualitative divide. Thus, a growing need has developed to open space for researchers to generate valid and reliable measurements, to properly observe the scope of energy poverty, and to identify and enable opportunities for action.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
PY - 2023/3/17
Y1 - 2023/3/17
N2 - Energy poverty is a far-reaching concept that intrinsically bridges numerous fields of study, ranging from engineering to anthropology and medical science to social psychology. The profound implications of energy poverty on the quality of life globally have also led to a wide range of metrics and policies aimed at measuring it and alleviating it, albeit with limited success. Using a mixed methods approach, our network has conducted research to advance knowledge and interpretations of energy poverty and boost scientific outputs' capacity to shape knowledge-based policies. In this article, we critically review this extensive research endeavor, as well as its results. We build on the conceptual, methodological, and policy dimensions of energy poverty research to set up pathways toward a new, interdisciplinary research and policy agenda on energy poverty mitigation better equipped to provide meaningful answers to the challenges posed by the current ongoing energy crisis.
AB - Energy poverty is a far-reaching concept that intrinsically bridges numerous fields of study, ranging from engineering to anthropology and medical science to social psychology. The profound implications of energy poverty on the quality of life globally have also led to a wide range of metrics and policies aimed at measuring it and alleviating it, albeit with limited success. Using a mixed methods approach, our network has conducted research to advance knowledge and interpretations of energy poverty and boost scientific outputs' capacity to shape knowledge-based policies. In this article, we critically review this extensive research endeavor, as well as its results. We build on the conceptual, methodological, and policy dimensions of energy poverty research to set up pathways toward a new, interdisciplinary research and policy agenda on energy poverty mitigation better equipped to provide meaningful answers to the challenges posed by the current ongoing energy crisis.
KW - Energy management
KW - Energy policy
KW - Energy resources
KW - Energy sustainability
KW - Social sciences
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150851329&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106083
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106083
M3 - Review article
C2 - 36843849
AN - SCOPUS:85150851329
SN - 2589-0042
VL - 26
JO - ISCIENCE
JF - ISCIENCE
IS - 3
M1 - 106083
ER -
