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Call for Abstracts – NOW CLOSED

The Energy Cultures Conference 2016 – Sustainable Energy Futures: Understanding Behaviour and Supporting Transitions

The energy sector is facing an uncertain future. The demands of development contrasted with the constraints of global climate change, peak oil, and resource availability underscore the need for a long-term transformation of energy systems. Yet achieving a sustainable energy future will require the action and support of multiple actors across a range of scales. Researchers, policy makers, and industry stakeholders alike are confronting the challenge of restructuring energy systems into more sustainable forms. Historical examples of such transitions are abundant, and often consist of technological innovations, shifts in societal norms, and policy support. The interplay between these, and other change trends, can offer insights into the possibilities of a sustainable energy future, and the ways through which low-carbon transitions can best be supported.

The conference aims to explore research perspectives on energy-related behaviour and its role in transitioning to a sustainable energy future. The conference invites a broad focus on behaviour change that includes households, businesses and governments; energy and mobility; and from single-factor to systemic change.

We invite researchers from all disciplines and sectors to submit extended abstracts that address the conference theme. In particular, we are interested in exploring:

  • How to better understand energy and mobility behaviour amongst homes and businesses
  • How shifts in behaviour can give rise to systemic transitions across entire energy systems
  • How transitions emerge in different geographical, political and cultural contexts, and how theories and understandings of energy transitions vary across these contexts
  • How transitions are driven by top down, bottom up, or middle out processes
  • How theory and practice can inform each other to stimulate a shift to more sustainable energy futures
  • How multiple theoretical perspectives can provide a richer picture to help understand energy transitions
  • Plus other related research topics

Please submit extended abstracts (up to 1000 words excluding references) for peer review. Please avoid the use of discipline-specific jargon, as the conference will attract presenters and audience members from many different disciplines and backgrounds.

Abstract submission

Please use the Energy Cultures Conference 2016 abstract submission template. Read and follow all instructions. For the purpose of peer review, please list all author(s) details on the title page only.

Extended abstracts should be no longer than 1000 words, excluding references. Include a list of all references at the end of your abstract, please use APA style references with Author and Year in text (e.g. Smith, 1976), or as appropriate Smith (1976). Please refrain from using figures and/or tables in your abstract. Spelling should be in UK/NZ English.

On the title page of the abstract submission template, please indicate whether you would like to give a 15-minute talk or a poster presentation. While we will aim to accommodate your preference, this may not be possible. Some presentations may also be selected to give a 7-minute lighting talk.

Submission – NOW CLOSED.

For additional guidance please contact energy.cultures@otago.ac.nz.

Outputs

The intended outputs of the 2016 Energy Cultures Conference include a journal special issue. The organising committee are currently in correspondence with a number of high-impact international journals, and participants will be provided with further details as they become available. We therefore encourage all participants to submit highly developed research.

Timeframe

18 December 2015     Deadline for submission of extended abstracts NOW CLOSED
08 December 2015     Registration now open
15 February 2016        Authors will be notified of acceptance
06 March 2016             Deadline for presenters registration
15 May 2016                 Confirmation of final programme
6-7 July 2016                 Conference

Cost

Registration costs for the Energy Cultures conference have been subsidised by the Energy Cultures research programme, therefore the full two-day conference is just NZ$100, or $75 for one day only. This fee includes lunches and coffee breaks on both days, along with drinks and canapés on the first evening. A reduced rate of $50 is offered to students and non-waged.

Location

The conference venue, the Mac’s Function Centre is situated in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington. A compact city, Wellington offers opportunities to explore Te Papa (the museum of New Zealand), Zealandia (a pest-free wildlife sanctuary) or enjoy the views from the Botanic Gardens at the top of the cable car. There is a good bus network, but most city centre locations are accessible by foot. For those arriving by air, Wellington has an international airport, and frequent, low cost airport bus providing connections to the city centre.  There is also a train connecting Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, and Wellington which offers fantastic views of the North Island country, mountains and sea scape.

Click here for more winter activities in New Zealand.

Accommodation

Click here for special delegate rates.

Programme Committee

Aimee Ambrose, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Ben Anderson, University of Southampton, UK
Beth Karlin, University of Southern California, USA
Cindy Frantz, Oberlin College, USA
Craig Morton, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Frances Fahy, National University of Ireland, Ireland
Katy Janda, University of Oxford, UK
Sandra Bell, Durham University, UK
Tor Hakon Inderberg, Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway

Register Now