Research output per year
Research output per year
Dr
Topics
Approaches
My research is focussed on sustainability and the role of technological innovation in addressing related challenges. I am particularly interested in research on sustainability transitions – the reorientation of socio-technical trajectories towards more societally desirable directions.
My research trajectory to date is highly multidisciplinary, stemming for the combination of technical education and literacy with advanced studies in the social sciences, including environmental systems analysis, environmental economics, environmental and technology policy, philosophy of science, sociology of technology and innovation.
I am currently a post-doctoral research associate at the Department of Geography at King’s College London, where I work on sustainability transitions within the EU FP7 PATHWAYS project, with Prof. Frans Berkhout. The PATHWAYS project is focussed on exploring transition pathways to sustainable, low carbon societies by mobilising multiple existing analytical approaches. I am also involved in other research projects and networks, such as the GREEN.EU project (Green Growth) and the INOGOV research network (Innovations in Climate Governance). I am also a visiting fellow at SPRU (University of Sussex), associated with the Sussex Energy Group (SEG).
Within the Geography department, I am involved in King's Climate activity hub, and the Urban Futures research domain. I also act as representatitve for research associates on departmental boards.
I obtained my PhD at SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex in 2012, under the supervision of Profs. Frank W. Geels and Andy Stirling. My PhD dealt with ‘The destabilisation of existing regimes in socio-technical transitions’, combining theoretical exploration with a number of case studies covering British energy industries from 1880 to the present. My PhD research was part of the DESTABLE research project, funded under an ERC grant.
Current research
Academic degrees
I am primarily interested in the intersection of technological change and environmental problems. My research to date has been focussing on areas related to long-term socio-technical change, innovation, sustainable transitions, and the role of normative problems in science and technology trajectories more broadly.
Within the PATHWAYS project, I focus particularly on opportunities for bridging between different analytical approaches to sustainability transitions: techno-economic modelling, socio-technical transition studies, and participatory action research. This kind of integrative work promises advances in terms of understanding and governance of sustainability transitions in the making.
My empirical research is focussed on transitions in the energy, mobility and agri-food domains. It focuses on different scales (national, regional, local), and time horizons (past, present, prospective), but usually involves processes unfolding over extended periods of time (decades).
I rely principally on longitudinal case study research, narrative methodologies and process tracing.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research Fellow, University of Manchester
1 Sept 2017 → …
Visiting Fellow, University of Sussex
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Berkhout, F. (Primary Investigator), Datta, A. (Co-Investigator), Kelly, F. (Co-Investigator) & Turnheim, B. (Co-Investigator)
1/09/2017 → 30/08/2020
Project: Research
Turnheim, B. (Primary Investigator), Berkhout, F. (Co-Investigator) & Caprotti, F. (Co-Investigator)
1/03/2017 → 29/02/2020
Project: Research
Turnheim, B. (Primary Investigator) & Berkhout, F. (Co-Investigator)
1/12/2016 → 30/11/2019
Project: Research
Berkhout, F. (Primary Investigator), Caprotti, F. (Co-Investigator), Kelly, F. (Co-Investigator) & Turnheim, B. (Co-Investigator)
1/01/2016 → 31/12/2018
Project: Research
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy