Phedeas is an environmental social scientist in the Science, Society & Sustainability (3S) Research Group, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia. He conducts critically constructive research on the intersections of ecological, technological, and political change. His work closely engages with contemporary empirical and conceptual debates on the role of civil society in innovation and progress, particularly in sustainability contexts.
Phedeas has developed this interest through research on social movements and community organisations creating radical solutions to climate change and sustainable development, energy publics and their roles in socio-technical transitions to a low-carbon energy system, and smart grid technologies and their impacts on everyday practices. Across these areas, his research and teaching engages closely with contemporary human/economic geography and environmental social science debates on: a) practice-focused research on the everyday geographies of sustainability; b) geographies of hope and participation; c) the realpolitik of environmental movements; d) the spatial politics of participatory sustainability transitions; and e) attendant questions of power and environmental/ energy justice.
From October 2020, Phedeas has been working with Jason Chilvers, Helen Pallett, and Tom Hargreaves on UKERC’s Public Engagement Observatory to map the many different ways that people are engaging with energy, climate change and net zero on an ongoing basis.
Twitter: @P_Stephanides