The Energy Institute has welcomed Colin Nolden as a Senior Research Fellow, a role which will be based in the Management School. Colin’s strong background in energy research from a social science perspective, and focus on interdisciplinary work, will enable the Energy Institute to continue its world-class activity with an expanded focus into the social, economic and geographic impacts of energy demand.
Colin’s research looks at sustainable energy and climate governance at the intersection of demand, markets, and places to achieve a just transition to net zero. As a geographer by training, he is particularly interested in scalar and spatial dimensions.
More specifically, his work focuses on what governance arrangements could be conducive to lowering risk in the social uptake of net zero innovations, how public policy shapes energy market interactions and how society and governments can work together at the intersection of demand, markets, and places to achieve a just transition to net zero.
Between 2017 and 2024, Colin worked at the University of Bristol Law School, initially as a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, and later as a Research Fellow and a Senior Research Fellow. Also during this time he worked at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford as a Project Researcher and taught on the MSc Energy Systems at the School of Engineering Science, University of Oxford.
During his time at Bristol, he led a research project funded by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). At Oxford, worked for the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) and Project LEO. Previous academic appointments include a Research Fellowship at the Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand (CIED) at SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, and a PhD Studentship in Energy Policy at the University of Exeter. Throughout his academic career, Colin has worked for schools or departments of Geography, Politics, Business, Management, Law and Engineering.
As a consultant, Colin has worked for both the UK government and the German government in various roles and on a range of projects. He is also a non-executive director of Community Energy South, where he is responsible for research and innovation. In between, Colin has worked as a steelworker and a mussel farmer!
Speaking about the appointment, Prof Lenny Koh, Co-Head of the Energy Institute, said: “The Energy Institute is very excited to welcome Colin, and is looking forward to supporting his research and expanding our interdisciplinary research in the realms of energy’s relation to societal issues, and in support of a just transition to net zero.”