School of Social and Political Science

Dr Adam Peacock

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr Adam Peacock
Adam.Peacock@ed.ac.uk

Research interests

Energy & Sustainability Energy, environment and sustainability Methods Not just energy futures Science, technology and innovation

I am currently the deputy work package lead within work package 4; Affordability, Justice and Economic Impacts (UKERC: phase 5).

I primarily manage research concerned 'Neighbourhood approaches to retrofit and heat decarbonisation', focusing on how place-based characteristics and social processes influence the success of neighbourhood retrofit initiatives. I aim to synthesise key learnings from existing projects and to assess how such learning can accelerate the pace and scale of retrofit delivery in the UK.

Broadly, I am interested in applying socio-spatial thinking to understanding various aspects of energy transitions, including: 

  • Ensuring socially-just transitions through developing and promoting  inclusive, democratic and place-based approaches to energy technology deployment; 
     
  • Understanding diverse stakeholder responses to energy technologies (the social acceptance of energy transitions); 
     
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of governance  restructuring and rescaling in the context of energy transitions, and; 
     
  • The role of participatory, creative and/ or spatial methods in ensuring just transitions.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via email for any research collaborations.

Background

I obtained my BSc in Geography in 2016, my MRes in Social Science Research Methods in 2017, and PhD in Human Geography in 2021; all at Keele University.

I have a distinctive background in applying socio-spatial thinking/ methods within innovative energy technology projects, within diverse consortiums, and across a range of scales. This includes: 

  • Understanding household/ community acceptance of domestic blended hydrogen within the 'HyDeploy trial';
     
  • Operating the User-Centric Design and Community Engagement work package within the 'Zero Carbon Rugeley' design project, which aimed to design a town-wide Smart Local Energy System, and which includes evaluating the acceptability of smart retrofit solutions;
     
  • Working within the social acceptance work package within 'MISTRA electrification' consortium, which focused on stakeholder responses to national, regional and local energy technology deployment, electrification and sector coupling across Sweden. We placed distinctive focus on the social acceptance of Overhead High Voltage Power Lines.

Works within

Contact me via email to arrange a meeting.