Calls for Papers

Session titles and calls

• The role of knowledge transfer and collective action for successful energy transitions | Co-Chairs: Ute Harms & Hanno Michel (IPN)

  The future of energy and mobility transitions relies heavily on individual and societal changes in behavior, utilization patterns, and acceptance and support of governance measures with the aim of mitigating climate change. Collective action, such as in local community energy projects, play a growing role in shaping these transition processes. However, it is still mostly unclear, what factors – individual, institutional and societal – contribute to peoples’ behavior and their willingness and ability to engage in collective energy and mobility action.

  Many scholars have reasoned that knowledge about climate change, the risks it poses to nature and society, and potential mitigation processes would impact peoples’ willingness to act in a climate-friendly, energy-saving manner. Empirical studies, however, have shown unclear and ambiguous results regarding the role of knowledge. A comprehensive literature review (Mittenzwei et al., 2019) revealed that existing assessment instruments for climate change still primarily take declarative knowledge into account and do not focus on climate literacy or on conceptual knowledge about climate change, nor do they address scientific practices. In order to examine what drives people towards energy-saving behavior and collective action, it seems necessary to reconsider the concepts under investigation.

  From an educational perspective, it makes sense to move from an assessment of climate and energy knowledge towards climate literacy, with literacy involving competencies, attitudes and values. Besides climate literacy, institutional, societal and infrastructural factors play a role for people’s engagement in collective action. In order to design such collective action in a way that it appeals to people and gets them involved, it is important to meaningfully model the factors that guide their behavior and what impact these factors have. Thus, for this session, we would like to invite contributions from all fields of research that add to the theoretical foundations of modelling energy-saving behavior and collective action (e.g. community energy) and its prerequisites. Contributions could add to the discussion about the role of knowledge and knowledge transfer, as well as to other factors underlying individual behavior and collective action and to the conceptualization and potential impacts of these factors. Furthermore, contributions could take a perspective on how governance and policy measures can (or should) take the above-mentioned considerations into account.

  Contributions can be theoretical or empirical in nature and
  could respond – or relate – to one (or more) of the following questions:

  • Which individual and systemic prerequisites are important for sustainable energy behavior and participation in collective action?
  • How can energy and mobility behavior and collective action (e.g. participation in community energy projects) be modelled?
  • What is the effect of climate and energy literacy on efficacy expectations, self-efficacy beliefs and mobility patterns and behavior?
  • Which variables can be influenced and how can and should corresponding interventions be efficiently designed? How can curricular and extracurricular interventions be designed to empower and motivate citizens to participate in mobility decisions?

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• Whose future is it anyway? Struggles for just energy futures | Co-Chairs: Eva Eichenauer & Timmo Krüger (IRS)

  Questions over the design of future energy systems and their respective impacts have (again) become a prominent issue in public and political debates in the Global North – at the latest since the rise of the Fridays for Future movement. However, these futures are increasingly contested and formerly rather neglected dimensions of justice are coming to the fore – while others remain marginalized. The further expansion of wind power in the former forerunner state Germany almost came to a standstill because many projects are opposed by the local population, not only because of a lack of regional value creation, but even more so, because decision making processes are perceived to be unfair. The yellow vests movement in France opposes rising fuel prices as a means to reduce CO2 emissions and accuses the government of a general neglect of social and distributive justice. The residents of coal regions are skeptical about a coal phase-out because they fear that they will be left behind – in economic terms, but also in terms of infrastructure and cultural participation.

  At the same time, new initiatives and protest forms like Ende Gelände, Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, and the Sunrise Movement have a strong mobilizing effect that calls on politicians to meet climate targets and to accelerate energy transitions. They address questions of intergenerational and global justice. But still many ambivalences and contradictive implications of energy transitions are rarely dealt with – especially when the destructive effects are felt in the Global South. Workers in many regions of the world suffer under poor working conditions in order to satisfy the resource needs of the low carbon energy infrastructures in the Global North. Farmers fear for their livelihoods as land-use-conflicts will exacerbate with the expanding bioeconomy strategies that more and more governments of the Global North pursue. The massive extractivism of lithium – which is required in large quantities if electro mobility is being expanded on a grand scale – will destroy ecosystems and local economies (e.g. farming, salt extraction, and tourism in the case of the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia).

  Hence, when we discuss just energy futures, then we have to go beyond mere questions of procedural and distributive justice. Recent concepts of energy justice (e.g. Jenkins et al. 2018) or just transitions (Heffron/McCauley 2018) for example have suggested to consider the multi-faceted entanglements of time and space when discussing generational and spatial justice. Another important facet is the up- and down-scaling of actions and their impacts on the various dimensions of justice across different scales.

  The panel seeks to address these multidimensional aspects of justice in conflicts over energy futures in the Global North (including their complex interrelations with the Global South). Submissions for presentations on the following issues are welcomed:

  • Conceptual approaches to justice in relation to climate change and energy transitions (just transitions, energy justice, etc.)
  • The political debates of concepts like climate justice, energy democracy, just transition, green new deal, etc.
  • Implications of energy future pathways for different dimensions of justice
  • Empirical papers on struggles for just energy futures

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To lean more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• Conceptualizing the future in energy transitions - sociotechnical imaginaries, path creations, assembling the future | Chair: Ludger Gailing (IRS)

  How can we conceptualize the future in energy transitions? What kind of theoretical frameworks are helpful when we try to figure out the specific role of the future in reconfiguring an energy system or its essential parts? How can we grasp the temporal dimensions of energy transitions? – It is a key objective of the session to gain a deeper understanding of how energy transition research in social, political, cultural or geographical sciences can conceptualize the future. Contributions to this session will assess the benefits (and possible shortcomings) of specific theoretical or conceptual approaches for the understanding of the future of energy transitions. We therefore welcome theoretical conceptualizations or analytical frameworks for empirical studies on the future of energy transitions – as well as combinations of both perspectives.

  One important strand of literature related to energy futures may be the STS concept of sociotechnical imaginaries by Jasanoff and Kim. Sociotechnical imaginaries are collectively imagined forms of social life and social order reflected in the design and fulfillment of scientific and/or technological projects. However, reflecting about future energy systems and future energy societies is not restricted to this prominent concept. Other important and relevant ways of conceptualizing the future may derive from the literature related to path dependencies and path creations, from other institutionalist approaches, from discourse theory or from assemblage thinking. At the same time, shaping the future can be related to socio-material configurations and their historical roots, to meaning contexts in language, texts and discourses as well as to power relations. Imaginations and visions of sociotechnical futures are often the manifestations and results of conflicts and of power dynamics between different actors in the energy system in the past and the present.

  Suggested topics may include (but are not limited to) the following aspects of conceptualizing and researching the future in energy transitions:

  • understanding the history and the present of energy systems in order to learn something about energy futures
  • competing and contested futures and the related power dynamics and actor constellations
  • socio-technical visions and imaginations of the future in energy transitions
  • the role of materialities or socio-materialities of energy futures in relational terms as socio-technical configurations, assemblages, spatial metabolisms or dispositives
  • the role of space or scale for conceptualizations of energy futures and sociotechnical imaginaries (such as the role of the nation state, the role of place-based solutions, the role of regions and cities, the dimensions of territory, place, scale and network in energy futures)
  • meanings of resilience, preparedness or criticality with regard to ways of shaping the future of energy systems

  We anticipate 20 minute oral presentations in a multi-paper session followed by a discussion.

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• The role, significance and potential of local governments in governing climate and clean energy futures | Co-Chairs: Kristine Kern & Wolfgang Haupt (IRS)

  The public and academic debate on governing climate change and clean energy transformations has focussed largely on the role of national governments. Despite the fact that local governments have the potential to play a significant role, they have received little attention. Indeed, municipalities are key actors in governing climate change and paving the way for clean energy futures. Urban areas account for a majority of the global population, most anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and significantly more than half of the world’s energy consumption. In addition, cities are normally more densely populated and polluted, which leads to a greater sense of urgency for a clean energy transformation process. Moreover, the impacts of climate change are putting increasing pressure on urban areas, through a higher incidence of flooding, heat waves, water scarcity, and so on.

  Responding to these challenges places new and often complex demands on local decision

  makers. Regardless of national politics and international agreements or declarations of intent, concrete measures often have to be implemented at the municipal level. This includes both climate protection initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the place where they originated (for instance through a transformation towards clean energy), and measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change in the most vulnerable areas of their city.

  This session invites theoretical and empirical contributions from all disciplines and countries that examine the local governance of climate change and clean energy futures. The contributions should focus on one or more of the following questions or address further related topics:

  • What drives and hinders local action on climate change and clean energy futures?
  • What measures are municipal governments adopting in the areas of climate change and energy futures? What might this tell us about local and multi-level governance arrangements?
  • What is the role, significance and potential of local politicians and policymakers in governing climate and clean energy futures? What is the role, significance and potential of civil society organisations, local activists or movements such as Fridays for Future on local climate action?
  • Do key moments - such as extreme weather events, new or updated regulations or legislation, international agreements, etc. - influence or shape local action on climate change and clean energy futures? How might this happen?
  • How can we continue to pursue long-term transformative processes such as the work towards climate change and clean energy futures in times of changing or uncertain political support?

  We anticipate 20 minute oral presentations in a multi-paper session followed by a discussion.

  To download the call for papers in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• Conflicts over energy futures and commonsense imaginations of the good life | Chair: Timmo Krüger (IRS)

  Conflicts over energy futures are inevitably always conflicts over different, incompatible notions of the common good. These conflicts, first of all, influence the speed and character of energy transitions. Furthermore, they also have an impact on society's political culture, i.e. on ideas of democracy and related expectations, norms, and values. Conversely, notions of the common good predefine the framework within which energy conflicts are dealt with. In other words: conflicts over energy futures are always intertwined with conflicts over imaginations of the good life.

  The common sense is the central terrain on which these struggles for hegemony are conducted. The concept of 'common sense' comprises convictions, norms, values, and role models that are considered normal and are lived as a matter of course. The common sense provides practical guidance that is alleged to stem directly from life experience. It is a form of everyday thinking which offers us frameworks of meaning with which to make sense of the world. Unquestioned hegemonic assumptions of the common sense shape both professional action (in politics, economy, education, culture etc.) as well as everyday practices. As a consequence, dominant policies often correspond with the everyday orientations of many people. But, of course, strategies from business and politics can also clash with everyday orientation, especially in times of rapid change.

  The success of transformation efforts depends largely on the extent to which they tie in with the common sense. In this context, it should be borne in mind that the common sense is hybrid, fragmented, and contested. Even if the common sense is based on experiences and traditions – and thus has a conservative tendency with depoliticizing effects – it is subject to permanent change. It is constantly modified and adapted to changing social conditions. In the struggle for hegemony, individuals and collectives on the one hand orient themselves by the dominant common sense and try to "normalize" themselves. On the other hand, there are always individual and collective counter-hegemonic practices that aim to (re-)politicize the status quo.

  Submissions for presentations on the following issues are welcomed:

  • Theoretical conceptualizations of the common sense (by Clifford Geertz, Antonio Gramsci, Stuart Hall, Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann etc.) and their potential for analyzing conflicts over energy futures
  • Empirical studies on the relevance of common-sense imaginations (of the good life) in conflicts over energy futures
  • The relation between professional action (by business and politics) and everyday imaginations of the good life in conflicts over energy futures
  • Phenomena of uneasiness with the hegemonic common sense and counter-hegemonic practices in conflicts over energy futures
  • The common-sense imaginations (of the good life) of different actors (and their sources of inspiration) in conflicts over energy futures

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• Contested futures: the European energy transition between local protests and populist discourses | Co-Chairs: Fritz Reusswig & Wiebke Lass (PIK)

  In many European countries (right wing) populist parties are very influential or even in power. Many of them deny anthropogenic climate change, oppose against the further expansion of renewable energies, and are skeptical of further European integration, also in the energy sector. At the same time we observe that the number of local protests against energy transition projects has increased substantially, the character or ‘tone’ of local protest has become more aggressive. Local discourses and the organization of local protests get ‘mainstreamed’, and populist influence is growing—threatening the diversity of local protests.

  The European energy transition is finding itself in a dangerous ‘sandwich’ position, constrained by populist meta-narratives both on the top- and on the ground-level. Researchers need to better understand the phenomenology and dynamics of this process, analyze the social and political drivers of populist discourses in the energy sector, understand local protests both as differentiated and populist influenced social movements, and to get hold of what the ‘silent majority’ thinks (and if or to what degree it is at risk). This encompassing and transdisciplinary endeavor should form the basis of ideas for solutions, preventing the European energy transition to come to a halt. In the light of our findings, we should propose ideas for a new conflict culture, for a more democratic anchoring of the energy transition, for dialogues with citizens and policy makers, and for institutional reforms of the energy transition itself, if necessary.

  
  The session wants to address the following questions:

  • How do European populist parties view the European energy transition, are there (national) differences?
  • What is the phenomenology of local conflicts today, which role do populist narratives play here?
  • Do we have indications of how the general public might be susceptible to populist narratives? How could we measure or even monitor this?
  • Do we have positive examples of how populist narratives have been successfully overcome? What have been the success factors for this?
  • What future research questions and programs would we need to follow critical developments?

  We would like to encourage researchers, especially from the social sciences, to report their findings or share their ideas. We would explicitly invite experts in populism to share their knowledge with us, as energy issues have up to now not been at the core of populism research. We are happy to receive country or local studies, but invite them to extrapolate their on a Europe-wide scale.

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• Implications of different "imaginary" concepts for energy futures: interdisciplinary gains or quarrels? | Co-Chairs: Julia Epp & Silvio Suckow (WZB)

  'Imaginary' concepts have become central frameworks for different fields of research like sociology, sustainability research and science and technology studies, leading to various definitions of the word 'Imaginary'. In this session, we are looking for productive interplays of multifarious theoretical and disciplinary perspectives with regards to 'Imaginary' concepts for energy futures. Deploying imaginary concepts in research on energy futures can provide fruitful knowledge and an increased understanding of technological, societal and economic interactions when it comes to energy transition(s).

  The concept of 'imaginaries' gained greater attention in social science in the 1950’s when philosopher Castoriadis (1997) first described that society and how it is constructed is not a given but only exists and materializes itself because it is collectively imagined in certain ways. While Taylor (2007) sets out Castoriadis’ idea of the social imaginary, he expands this idea further to analyze patterns and shifts of historical and political thought. The concept of sociotechnical imaginaries is explored in Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim’s (2013) work on nuclear power in the US and Korea over the past half century. The authors use this concept in order to explain the relationship between science and technology developments and political institutions, and in particular understand the relationship between the process of building a sense of national identity and national level science and technology projects. The role of competing imaginaries in shaping climate policy is explored by Levy and Spicer (2013). For these authors imaginaries provide a shared sense of meaning, coherence and orientation around highly complex and global issues. Grunwald (2011) investigates concepts and approaches for scrutinizing, comparing and assessing various energy futures from an epistemological point of view.

  These are only some of the prevailing 'Imaginary' concepts of this growing theoretical field. Therefore this session wants to create an overview and an interdisciplinary meta-discourse about different 'Imaginary' concepts. Moreover, we want to impose a strong focus on the implications of these concepts for understanding energy futures:

  • Which are the gains and blind spots of the above outlined concepts and other approaches towards imaginaries and energy futures?
  • Do the focal points of imaginary concepts have commonalities; is there room for synergies and if so, what can they learn from each other/what can be learned from one another?
  • We are also looking for incommensurable positions and ask for consequences in transdisciplinary contexts considering the discourse about expertise, counter-expertise and ‘lay’ expertise.
  • Observing the increase of different ‘imaginary’ concepts we want to ask in a self-reflexive manner for the consequences of scientific work.

  We want to encourage contributions shedding light on the rich theoretical approaches of imaginary concepts, aiming at providing incentives for various scientific fields to explore the analytical possibilities of the concept; as well as papers discussing capabilities and pitfalls of using imaginaries to grasp current developments. Instead of having a mere theoretical controversy, which imaginary account produces (more) 'truth', it is of interest how the plurality of 'Imaginary' approaches can have beneficial or detrimental consequences for the transitions of energy systems.

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• Transformation of transportation I : new regulation forms of governing the transportation system | Co-Chairs: Weert Canzler (WZB), Jörg Radtke (Siegen University) & Miranda Schreurs (TU Munich)

  For reasons of climate protection, the electrification of transport is an important element of the change in traffic. Until now, the battery-powered electric drive is the most promising candidate, especially since batteries can be produced more cheaply in the future and also become more powerful. In the longer term, the electric vehicle based on fuel cells powered by green hydrogen should also have it’s place, at least in the truck and other commercial vehicle sectors. However, electrification only makes sense if renewable energies are available. They are decentrally gained and at the same time fluctuate. In order to reach a balance between demand and supply of renewables, all consumption sectors - electricity, heat and transport - are increasingly coupled with each other in order to create flexibility in the overall system. This idea stands behind the technical concept of sector coupling. But the changes in transport sector is more than just on a turning point.

  In order to transform the traffic, on the one hand, a binding opt-out for the combustion engine has to be defined. On the other hand, public transport and active mobility, i.e. walking and cycling at the expense of the private car, must be consistently promoted. All political levels are required, above all local politics: from a systematic management of parking spaces to the dismantling of
  roads and parking areas, a municipal traffic transition strategy is associated with considerable conflicts.

  Against this background, a number of aspects are to be dealt with in the session, especially in terms of governance, actors and acceptance:

  • Governance: change of transportation as a project in the multi-level policy and the role of experimental designs (living labs, pilot projects …)
  • Actors: Municipal strategies of transition and the role of civil society pressure
  • Acceptance: Participation in the transportation transformation and forms of conflicts

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• Transformation of transportation II: the social question of mobility | Co-Chairs: Weert Canzler (WZB), Jörg Radtke (Siegen University) & Miranda Schreurs (TU Munich)

  The public has paid little attention in the last years to the social impact of sustainability transformation in the transport sector. However, now it has recently become a key issue of societal debates in the context of “just transition”. Not least for political parties, as well as for citizens' initiatives and associations, the fundamental pros and cons of the change in transportation address questions of poverty, cost explosion and assumed negative implications in rural areas. Moreover, populist movements scandalize social distributional effects.

  From a scientific perspective, a distinction can be made between individual and collective action: the change in traffic as a direct burden on the individual and as a task for society, which depends
  on consensus and legitimacy. The scientific debate often focuses on poverty and justice, on costs and consumption, and solutions for cities, communities and neighborhoods. In particular, the distributional justice is emphasized, whereby the procedural dimension should not be ignored: Numerous study results show that not all parts of the population are equally represented in discursive participatory processes in the context of the development of new mobility concepts.

  The following aspects are of particular interest to political science:

  • Social inequality and social Structure: Which influences of certain social groups on the one hand and effects on social milieus on the other hand can be identified in the context of the change in traffic? To what extent do socially disadvantaged groups suffer from a change in traffic?
  • Social inequality and policy programs: Which policies have which impact? Which effects of an urban and rural traffic transition are to be expected?
  • Social inequality and Participation: How does inequality appear in participation? How can asymmetric participation effects and an unequal distribution of benefits and costs be avoided?
  • Social inequality and parties and elections: To what extent does the aspect play a role in election campaigns, in coalition negotiations and election decisions? Who determines the public discourse with which strategies?
  • Social inequality and local negotiation processes: How is the transition realized at the local level? Who participates in negotiation and decision-making processes, how do specific groups of actors and populations work together?

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.

• High-tech industry for energy futures | Chair: Dirk Uhrlandt (IPN)

  The transition to cleaner energy systems requires innovations in a wide field of different technologies. It becomes obvious in the last decades that the use of renewable energy sources implies considerable changes in the electric power distribution system and the close coupling of all sectors of energy consumption. Energy storage and power2X technologies turn out as key issues of a cleaner energy system. Here, the development of new materials with enhanced properties will support new generations of e.g. batteries, fuel cells and chemical conversion techniques. The huge number of potential technical solutions and pathways makes it more and more difficult for stakeholders to measure benefits and drawbacks and to focus funding and investment in research and development.

  This session should support the presentation of selected trends and technical innovations, in particular in the power2X and CO2 capture technologies.

  To download the Call for Paper in PDF-format, please click here.

  To learn more about the session chairs and to contact them, please click here.