(apologies for cross-posting) 

Dear colleagues, 

may I draw your attention to the Call for Papers of the 2016 Conference of the DEMAND (Dynamics of Mobility, Energy and Demand) Research Centre (http://www.demand.ac.uk/conference-2016/), and particularly to the two workshops that I am co-convening on "Energy and Money" and "Cross-national and cross-cultural research in the field of energy demand" (see full description below) 

The conference will be held at Lancaster University (UK) on April 13- 15 2016. Abstracts of around 400 words should be submitted by the deadline of 28th September 2015. Given the broad scope of DEMAND, papers focused on transport are welcome. For any question please feel free to contact me at [log in to unmask] 

Best regards, 
Giulio Mattioli 


Workshop 6:  Energy and money

Convenors:  Giulio Mattioli, Caroline Mullen and Greg Marsden (University of Leed)

To understand energy demand, many researchers maintain that we need to investigate the specific ways in which energy is used in everyday life. This contrasts with the assumption that we can understand energy primarily a single commodity, which like other goods, can be translated as – ‘the grand equalizer’ – money. It is this economic approach to analysing energy demand which has been dominant in the transport and domestic energy sectors.  Perhaps surprisingly, but in contrast, current accounts of energy-consuming practices often say little about how monetary resources can shape and constrain ‘what people do’, and the energy demand that results from it.
This workshop theme aims to gather theoretical, empirical and methodological approaches that cover the vacant middle ground between these approaches. It will bring into conversation research from within and beyond DEMAND and from a range of disciplines, to develop original insights into how monetary resources are involved, alongside other factors, in making and transforming energy demand. Possible topics include, for example:

	the relationships between poverty and energy use (e.g. fuel-, transport- and energy-poverty);
	the distinctive energy consumption practices of the wealthiest sectors of society;
	the distributional impacts and justice implications of energy policies such as taxes, subsidies and pricing;
	the impacts of changes in how public money is spent (e.g. austerity) on energy-consumption;
	the role of private household debt/credit in sustaining and making possible a variety of (often unsustainable) energy-consuming practices;
	methodological approaches to using expenditure data as a trace of energy consuming practices

This workshop will be based around a set of pre-written papers and associated presentations, with other activities such as panel discussions potentially to be included.

Please contact Giulio Mattioli ([log in to unmask]) if you have any questions about this workshop




Workshop 13:  Cross-national and cross-cultural research in the field of energy demand 

Convenors:  Sylvie Douzou (EDF R&D), Mattijs Smits (Wageningen University) and Giulio Mattioli (University of Leeds)

The central question underpinning this workshop is: What can we learn from comparing diverging and converging energy-related practices within and beyond Western Societies?
This workshop explores theoretical approaches, conceptual tools as well as empirical work aiming to compare national and cultural situations in order to better understand energy demand and mobility. We recognize that energy is not used for its own sake but is only a means to carry out activities and access services. Therefore, the relations between social practice, innovations and institutional arrangements influencing energy consumption are deeply anchored in the material, cultural and social nature of a given society at a certain historical moment.
Some practices involving energy demand and mobility clearly vary according to the national and cultural contexts in which they are performed while some others possibly vary less. But, which ones and why? Also, there is probably divergence behind a priori convergent patterns, social meanings and impacts according to social groups, historical periods or dominant cultural shared conventions. Again, how and why?  Moreover, national contexts often vary in terms of their ‘energy mix’, standards, infrastructures, regulation of energy markets and shared ideas about which activities should be guaranteed. How do these factors influence outcomes in terms of practices and energy demand?
Learning from cross-national studies within Western Societies remains a challenge.  Learning more from the Global South (Asia, Africa and Latin America) is perhaps an even greater challenge as energy demand and mobility are changing rapidly in these parts of world, yet have not received much scholarly attention. What can these comparisons bring to our understanding of energy demand?
Since comparison is at the heart of social science (sociology, history, cultural anthropology, human geography, political sciences, development studies), how do different disciplines mobilize specific theoretical knowledge, conceptual tools and methods in order to produce fresh and complementary thinking?  How can effective cross-cultural comparisons be designed that take into account various dimensions and scales of analysis (for instance, specificities related to local, national and international policies, energy regimes, conventions and institutional arrangements)?

Abstracts are welcome which engage with any of these or adjacent themes. The workshop will be based around a set of pre-written papers and associated presentations, with other activities such as panel discussions potentially to be included.

Please contact Sylvie Douzou ([log in to unmask]) if you have any questions about this workshop