Research Fellow in Energy Social Sciences

**Location**:

- Brighton, UK**Hours**:

- Full-time - 1 FTE / 37.5 hours per week.**Salary**:

- Grade 8 starting at £46,485 to £55,295 per annum, pro rata if part time.**Contract Type**:

- Fixed Term ContractAbout the role

As a talented and motivated Research Fellow in Energy Social Sciences you will work with a team in the new ESRC-funded project **Household and Community Labour in Smart Local Energy Systems** (SLES). SLES are critically important for the UK transition to Net Zero. Developing through demonstration projects and niche markets, SLES use new energy technologies, digitalisation and market products to maximise household consumption of local renewable electricity by flexibly managing demand and storage amongst neighbours. Research to date has looked at the engineering, organisational and marketing aspects of SLES. Whilst useful, it is an approach that ignores the ‘energy housekeeping’ work that system operators need from households in order for the former’s designs to be effective.

You will join a team of researchers analysing the work done both by households and by community energy organisations to domesticate smart energy technologies and make demand flexible in UK homes and neighbourhoods. The project applies labour process analysis to activities like learning to work with new technologies, fixing problems and glitches, re-arranging energy-demanding domestic activities and supporting neighbours and friends. You will collaborate with stakeholders to help better understand the significance of such work for SLES operations, the issues involved and their implications for governance. Your research will contribute new insights and help with policy advice about the kinds of rewarded and unrewarded labour that households and communities contribute to the transition to net zero.

The project will use mixed methods research. Your role will involve collaborating with team members in fieldwork, analysis and dissemination of results. You will be visiting households and interviewing them in depth, supporting them with energy diary-keeping, facilitating household focus groups, and helping run workshops with community energy organisations. You will also present and publish the research and there will be opportunities to develop future proposals in this area and on other aspects of just transitions to net zero energy systems.

About you

You will hold a PhD in energy social sciences and ideally have post-doctoral research experience. You will be knowledgeable about household involvement in the decarbonisation of energy systems in the UK and, ideally, familiar with smart local energy systems. You will be experienced using qualitative research methods and with fieldwork involving households or members of the public. You will have experience with qualitative data analysis including using software such as N-Vivo. You will understand the ethical issues involved in research with diverse household types and that may include vulnerable and/or marginalised householders. Fieldwork requires that you must be able to travel and spend short periods away from home (up to five days on five occasions visiting households) and work flexibly (including outside normal working hours if necessary) (you will receive time off in lieu). Experience in working in teams is vital and skills in communicating clearly with the team, line manager and stakeholder relations is essential. An ability to work independently on agreed tasks and manage your workload effectively is also important. You will have published prior research in scientific journals and have presented research to academic audiences.

You will be based at the Sussex Energy Group in the Science Policy Research Unit (University of Sussex ) and collaborate with team members in the Department of Geography at Kings College London and the Centre for Sustainable Energy in Bristol.

About our School

As a pioneering research-driven and interdisciplinary Faculty, the University of Sussex Business School offers an inspiring and supportive environment for impactful business and management research and scholarship. Our five dynamic Departments—Accounting and Finance, Strategy and Marketing, Management, Economics, and the renowned Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU)—are dedicated to advancing academic excellence and practical insights to inform policy and drive responsible business solutions.

With a strong commitment to innovation and sustainability, the School shapes the future of business education, producing research and scholarship and graduates that make a difference in the UK and globally. By joining us, you will be part of a distinctive, future-focused community influencing real-world practices and promoting sustainable development.

The Sussex Energy Group is based at the Science Policy Research Unit.

Why work here

Our university is situated off the A27, next to the beautiful South Downs where you will enjoy everything that our 150-acre campus has to offer. We are accessible