Noel Longhurst

Office hours: Please email for an appointment. 

I am an Associate Professor in Energy and Climate Change at the University of East Anglia. As a social scientist I am primarily concerned with the social, political and economic responses to the climate and biodiversity crises. 

I lead and teach 2nd year and masters modules which focus on energy system change and how we shift our energy systems away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible. My research has often focused on processes of system change, and particularly the role of grassroots movements and civil society. This also includes the role of activism in changing systems.  

I am increasingly interested in exploring what leadership entails in the climate emergency and more specifically what role universities should be playing. I am one of the founders of the UEA’s Biodiversity and Climate Action Network which explores these issues and collaborates with others. I am also currently thinking more about processes and practices of climate denial, and how we prepare and support young people (in particular) to live in an climate changed world. 

I also have a longstanding interest in political economy and what kinds of economy might be more compatible with a more sustainable future. Before undertaking my PhD on ‘alternative economic spaces’ I worked in community economic development. More recently I was the academic lead for the Norwich Good Economy Commission which sought to explore new ways of thinking about the economy of Norwich and how we might improve it.

Empirically, my research has focused on socio-technical energy transitions, fuel poverty, post-capitalism, public engagement in energy, alternative currencies, the Transition Towns movement and alternative food initiatives.

More recently I am involved in researching the role of universities in the climate emergency and student engagement with environmental issues. 

My PhD research (at the University of Liverpool) was an ethnographic study of how an ‘alternative milieu’ developed around the town of Totnes, Devon, and the extent to which this supports the emergence of postcapitalist grassroots economic experiments or enhances their longevity.

Key research interests:

Economic geography; energy transitions; energy geographies; sustainability transitions; grassroots innovation; sustainable consumption; urban sustainability; geographies of innovation; alternative economic spaces; technological change; social innovation; new economics; political economy; post-capitalism; post-consumerism; degrowth; social economy; diverse economies; utopianism; intentional communities; countercultures; alternative places.     

Current roles: 

Director of Learning and Teaching in the School of Environmental Sciences.

 I currently convene one second year modules (ENV5044B Energy Transitions) and a Master’s module (ENV7122B Pathways to Net Zero).

I also contribute to a range of other modules, including in other schools, and supervise undergraduate, master’s and PhD projects.