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Publication Detailed Description
Beyond technology: A research agenda for social sciences and humanities research on renewable energy in Europe
Journal Title
Energy Research and Social Science
Year (definitive publication)
2022
Language
English
Country
United States of America
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Abstract
This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
Horizon scanning,Research priorities,Funding directions,EU Horizon Europe,Research-policy interface
Fields of Science and Technology Classification
- Psychology - Social Sciences
- Economics and Business - Social Sciences
- Educational Sciences - Social Sciences
- Sociology - Social Sciences
- Law - Social Sciences
- Political Science - Social Sciences
- Social and Economic Geography - Social Sciences
- Media and Communications - Social Sciences
- Other Social Sciences - Social Sciences
- Anthropology - Social Sciences
Funding Records
| Funding Reference | Funding Entity |
|---|---|
| No 826025 | Comissão Europeia |
| UIDB/03125/2020 | Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia |
| Grant Agreement ID: 813837 | Comissão Europeia |
| APVV-20-0012 | Slovak Research and Development Agency |
Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations
With the objective to increase the research activity directed towards the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the possibility of associating scientific publications with the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in Ciência-IUL. These are the Sustainable Development Goals identified by the author(s) for this publication. For more detailed information on the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.
