Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | ES/P005047/1 | |
| Title | Energy and Forced Displacement: A Qualitative Approach to Light, Heat and Power in Refugee Camps | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts) 100%; | |
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | SOCIAL SCIENCES (Politics and International Studies) 20%; SOCIAL SCIENCES (Development Studies) 70%; AREA STUDIES (Middle Eastern and African Studies) 10%; |
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| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Policy and regulation) 50%; Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Consumer attitudes and behaviour) 25%; Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Technology acceptance) 25%; |
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| Principal Investigator |
Dr JJ Cross No email address given School of Social and Political Science University of Edinburgh |
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| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | ESRC | |
| Start Date | 01 November 2016 | |
| End Date | 30 April 2018 | |
| Duration | 18 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £242,258 | |
| Industrial Sectors | ||
| Region | Scotland | |
| Programme | Global Challenges Research Fund | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Dr JJ Cross , School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh (99.998%) |
| Other Investigator | Dr C Martin , Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh (0.001%) Mr G Verhoeven , Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh (0.001%) |
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| Industrial Collaborator | Project Contact , Chatham House (0.000%) Project Contact , GVEP International (0.000%) |
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| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | In partnership with the Moving Energy Initiative, its international consortium and the international charity Practical Action, this project aims to:1. Increase the access of forcibly displaced people to affordable and sustainable energy;2. Establish the relevance of qualitative research traditions in the arts and social sciences for understanding energy needs in contexts of forced displacement and informing humanitarian policy.3. Introduce new principals for the design, procurement and provision of energy products and services to forcibly displaced communities worldwide.In seeking to realise these aims the project will:a. develop new methodologies for understanding energy demand and energy practices in contexts of forced displacement by adapting, piloting and refining qualitative, approaches from social anthropology and design, by collaborating with in-country energy researchers to build research capacity around the collection, analysis and interpretation of qualitative data, and by publishing a methods toolkit and making this available to humanitarian agencies.b. expand the evidence base upon which decisions about demand for energy services amongst forcibly displaced communities and humanitarian agencies in sub-Saharan Africa are made by building up a portfolio of qualitative case studies based on primary fieldwork with displaced people, humanitarian workers and energy providers in the Dadaab camp in Kenya and the Goudoubo camp in Burkina Faso and publishing these as reports in collaboration with the Moving Energy Initiative.c. translate research findings into a 'design for displacement' protocol (code of best practice, procedures and conventions) for use by humanitarian agencies in procurement processes and by the private sector in the future production of sustainable technologies for lighting, cooking and decentralised energy generation, and seek feedback from key stakeholders.d. establish 'design for displacement' as a novel paradigm in design that connects products, processes and services to the lived experience of forced displacement, and promote this in East Africa during Nairobi Design Week 2017.e. contribute to knowledge about energy access and energy demand in contexts of forced displacement and global poverty through three contributions to peer reviewed academic journals. | |
| Abstract | The application of humanitarian principles of protection and assistance in contexts of forced displacement have, historically, focused on the provision of shelter, food, water, and sanitation and health. Yet people forcibly displaced by conflict, humanitarian emergency, natural disasters and environmental change are also often left without access to modern energy services. Access to energy has often been a missing pillar in the humanitarian response to forced displacement.In 2015 the UNHCR, the Department for International Development, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, alongside Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, and international non-governmental organisations Practical Action and the Global Village Energy Partnership sought to address this gap by launching the Moving Energy Initiative. The Moving Energy Initiative aims to make sustainable energy provision a key part of responses to forced displacement and humanitarian emergency, by designing and piloting new approaches and models for sustainable energy provision among displaced populations.As the Moving Energy Initiative lays the ground for future interventions it has identified the collection and analysis of qualitative data on energy use as an urgent research priority.This project - through a 15 month collaboration with the Moving Energy Initiative, its implementation partner Practical Action, and research teams in Kenya and Burkina Faso - aims to improve access to sustainable energy for displaced people by bringing traditions of qualitative research in the arts and social sciences to bear on the way that the humanitarian community understands and responds to their needs for light, heat and power.The research is driven by two questions: 1) What can approaches to qualitative research in social anthropology and design tell us about energy needs and demands in contexts of displacement? 2) What can qualitative data on the energy practices of displaced people tell us about the design of energy policies, products and services?Led by specialists in social anthropology and design at the University of Edinburgh, the project will assemble two teams of energy researchers, provide training in ethnographic, human-centred research methods; and collect 50 situated case studies of everyday energy practices in the Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya, and the Goudoubo camp, Burkina Faso.Key outputs include 1) a review of qualitative methods in anthropology and design for research on energy practices; 2) a report on the lived experience of Energy in Dadaab and 3) Goudoubo, to be published in conjecture with Practical Action and the Moving Energy Initiative; 4) a qualitative methods toolkit, with example techniques, strategies and references for use by energy researchers and humanitarian organisations involved in future studies of energy practice in contexts of forced displacement; 5) a commissioned non-academic essay on 'design for displacement'; 6) a 'design for displacement' protocol (code of best practice, procedures and conventions) for use in the procurement and design of products for sustainable lighting, cooking and off grid energy systems; and 7), 8), 9) three academic research articles that contribute new empirical data and analytical perspectives on energy and displacement to scholarly debates across the arts and social sciences.The project lays out a pathway to impact on humanitarian policy makers through its partnership with the Moving Energy Initiative and its international consortium; on humanitarian or 'pro-poor' designers in sub Saharan Africa through a programme of impact and knowledge exchange activities during Nairobi Design Week 2017; and on academic knowledge in refugee studies, migration studies, development studies, geography, and science/technology studies, fostering future research collaborations through a workshop and publications. | |
| Publications | (none) |
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| Final Report | (none) |
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| Added to Database | 02/01/18 | |
