School of Social and Political Science

Faye Wade

Chancellor's Fellow

Faye Wade Headshot
Faye.Wade@ed.ac.uk
+44 (0)131 650 8260
3.09
18 Buccleuch Place,
Flat 3F2
Edinburgh
UK
EH8 9LN

Research interests

Childhood & Youth Cities Energy, environment and sustainability Work & Economy

Current Research

I am currently a Co-Investigator in the UKRI Energy Demand Research Centre. Within this I am a member of the Place theme, where I am undertaking two major research projects:

1) Investigating young people's perceptions of and access to low carbon jobs. This project includes working closely with schools and youth groups to explore how young people from varied socio-economic backgrounds perceive different local jobs that could be associated with energy demand reduction, for example, heating engineers and electricians. The project will consider how these perceptions vary in places with different industrial histories, built environments and low carbon futures.

2) Exploring the circulation of everyday talk about energy demand within communities. This is being delivered together with Shawn Bodden; the project focuses on the everyday social interactions within community networks and the role they might play in introducing conversations about, and undertaking informal work to deliver, energy demand reduction. The project will look at how these interactions might vary in places with distinct socio-demographic characteristics and energy demand reduction trajectories.

Together with Dr Sarah Parry, I Co-Lead the Sustainable Households theme in the SFC-funded Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods. This Alliance is designed to consolidate Scotland’s sustainability research strengths, particularly amongst those working in the social sciences, arts and humanities, and leverage funding into Edinburgh and other Scottish Universities. 

Recent Publications and Peer Reviewed Conference Papers

These are all listed under the 'Publications' tab. This is automatically updated with new publications.

Recent Industry and policy reports

Wade F., 2022. Pathways to engagement with low carbon heat: an industry perspective. Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employer’s Federation/ Construction Scotland Innovation Centre/ Energy Saving Trust

Killip, G, Fawcett, T, Jofeh, C, Owen, A M, Topouzi, M, Wade, F, 2021. Building on our strengths: a market transformation approach to energy retrofit in UK homes, Federation of Master Builders/Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions.

Wade F, Webb J, 2020. LHEES Phase 2 Pilots: Evaluation Report. Report to Scottish Government.

Wade F, Webb J & Creamer E, 2020. Energy Efficient Scotland Phase 2 Pilots: Final Social Evaluation Report. Report to Scottish Government.

Wade F, Webb J, Creamer E, 2019. Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies: Phase 1 Pilots. Social Evaluation Report Report to Scottish Government.

 

Background

My research focuses on the sociology of knowledge and expertise critical to delivering transformation in our energy system. In particular, I focus on the construction professionals and organisations responsible for delivering the buildings and infrastructure needed to tackle climate change.

I first joined The University of Edinburgh in 2016, in the department of Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, where I taught courses in Energy Policy & Sustainability, and Investigating Energy Consumption. I later moved into Sociology, working with Prof. Jan Webb on a social evaluation of the Energy Efficient Scotland programme; the Scottish Government's cornerstone strategy for reducing energy consumption and decarbonising heat in the built environment. The results of this fed directly into Scottish Government's policy-making process. We have also explored how distinct policy framings across devolved governments enable the involvement of local and regional actors in the development of innovative energy infrastructure.

Prior to this, I completed my PhD at the UCL Energy Institute. This was an ethnographic investigation of the professional identity and practices of heating engineers, and how these shape the central heating technologies installed in homes and how they come to be used.

I am a member of the Editorial Board for the international journal Buildings & Cities.

Qualifications

PhD, Energy and Human Dimensions, UCL

MRes, Energy Demand Studies, UCL

MChem, Chemistry with a Year in Industry, University of York

Topics interested in supervising

I am interested in supervising Master's dissertations and PhDs on the topics of energy and society; sociologies of work; building and construction professionals; energy in the built environment.

If you are interested in being supervised by Faye Wade, please see the links below (opening in new windows) for more information:

 

 

Works within

By appointment

Publications by user content

Publication Research Explorer link
Sugar K, Wade F, Webb J. Local authority engagement with small and medium-sized enterprises in energy efficiency: Governance approaches used in the Energy Efficient Scotland programme. Environmental Policy and Governance. 2024 Jun 15;1-15. Epub 2024 Jun 15. doi: 10.1002/eet.2119
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Wade F, Britton J, Webb J. Credible and comprehensive? Comparing policy mixes for Local Energy systems in England, Scotland and Wales. Energy Research & Social Science. 2024 Apr 1;110:1-15. 103413. Epub 2024 Feb 2. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2024.103413
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Crawley J, Wade F, De Wilde M. Gender and the heat pump transition. Buildings & Cities. 2023 Dec 13;4(1):948-964. doi: 10.5334/bc.392
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Sugar K, Webb J, Wade F. Energy Efficient Scotland Transition Programme Survey Evaluation. Scottish Government, 2022.
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Wade F, Webb J, Creamer E. Local government capacities to support net zero: Developing comprehensive heat and energy efficiency strategies in Scotland. Energy Research & Social Science. 2022 Jul;89. Epub 2022 Mar 15. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2022.102544
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Wade F, Webb J, Tingey M. Local heat and energy efficiency policy: Ambiguity and ambivalence in England and Scotland. In Webb J, Wade F, Tingey M, editors, Research Handbook on Energy and Society. Edward Elgar Publishing. 2021. p. 229-244. (Elgar Handbooks in Energy, the Environment and Climate Change). doi: 10.4337/9781839100710.00027
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Webb J, Wade F, Tingey M. Introduction to Research Handbook on Energy and Society: Why study energy and society? In Webb J, Wade F, Tingey M, editors, Research Handbook on Energy and Society. Edward Elgar Publishing. 2021. p. 1-13. (Elgar Handbooks in Energy, the Environment and Climate Change). doi: 10.4337/9781839100710.00008
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Webb J, Wade F. Conclusions and new directions for energy and society research. In Webb J, Wade F, Tingey M, editors, Research Handbook on Energy and Society. 9781839100703: Edward Elgar Publishing. 2021. p. 367-374. (Elgar Handbooks in Energy, the Environment and Climate Change). doi: 10.4337/9781839100710.00038
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Webb J, (ed.), Wade F, (ed.), Tingey M, (ed.). Research Handbook on Energy and Society. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021. 416 p. (Elgar Handbooks in Energy, the Environment and Climate Change). doi: 10.4337/9781839100710
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Wade F, Visscher H. Retrofit at scale: Accelerating capabilities for domestic building stocks. Buildings & Cities. 2021 Sept 29;2(1):800–811. doi: 10.5334/bc.158
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Hofman P, Wade F, Webb J, Groenleer M. Retrofitting at scale: Comparing transition experiments in Scotland and the Netherlands. Buildings & Cities. 2021 Jul 13;2(1):637–654. doi: 10.5334/bc.98
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Wade F. Routinised heating system installation: The immutability of home heating. Energy Efficiency. 2020 May 1. doi: 10.1007/s12053-020-09867-3
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Wade F, Bush R, Webb J. Emerging linked ecologies for a national scale retrofitting programme: The role of local authorities and delivery partners. Energy Policy . 2020 Feb;137:111179. Epub 2019 Dec 19. doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111179
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Wade F, Creamer E. Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES): Phase 1 Pilots - Social Evaluation Report. Scottish Government, 2019. 32 p.
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Myers H, Wade F, Webb J. Mapping emerging subcontracting networks for the energy efficiency retrofit of hard-to-treat buildings. In Corse C, Nelson CJ, editors, 35th Annual Conference on Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2019. ARCOM (Association of Researchers in Construction Management. 2019. p. 852-861
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Oswald D, Wade F, Sherratt F, Smith S. Communicating health and safety on a multinational construction project: challenges and strategies. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 2019 Apr 1;145(4). Epub 2019 Feb 14. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001634
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Janda KB, Reindl K, Blumer Y, Parag Y, Wade F. Making more of middles: Advancing the middle-out perspective in energy system transformation. In ECEEE 2019 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency: Is Efficient Sufficient?. European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. 2019. p. 199-204. (Eceee Summer Study Proceedings).
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Wade F, Murtagh N, Hitchings R. Managing professional jurisdiction and domestic energy use. Building Research and Information. 2018 Jan 2;46(1):42-53. Epub 2017 May 16. doi: 10.1080/09613218.2017.1324698
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Wade F, Shipworth M, Hitchings R. How installers select and explain domestic heating controls. Building Research and Information. 2017;45(4):371-383 . Epub 2016 Apr 1. doi: 10.1080/09613218.2016.1159484
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Wade F, Hitchings R, Shipworth M. Understanding the missing middlemen of domestic heating: Installers as a community of professional practice in the United Kingdom. Energy Research & Social Science. 2016 Sept;19:39-47. Epub 2016 Jun 7. doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2016.05.007
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Wade F, Shipworth M, Hitchings R. Influencing the central heating technologies installed in homes: The role of social capital in supply chain networks. Energy Policy. 2016 Aug;95:52-60. Epub 2016 May 3. doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.04.033
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Faye Wade's Research Explorer profile