AASHE Campus Sustainability Hub

Many plea for a better integration of social sciences in energy research, which would imply more comprehensive interdisciplinary energy research. We argue that in order to achieve this, institutional barriers and research challenges need to be recognised and addressed. We identify six challenges and barriers, and provide recommendations for working towards solutions. We conclude that to engage in interdisciplinary research implies extra costs and fewer rewards for all researchers, particularly early and mid-career academics. We propose a new conceptualisation of practices and incentive structures among academic institutions, funding agencies, and publication outlets, and urge all energy researchers to join this debate.

• Geertje Schuitema | University College Dublin, National University of Ireland
• Nicole D. Sintov | University of Southern California

• Link: Challenges, barriers and recommendations for interdisciplinary energy research