Sara Fuller

Lecturer, Department of Geography and Planning, Macquarie University

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Profile

Dr. Fuller’s research explores concepts and practices of justice and democracy in the field of the environment, with an empirical focus on the role of NGOs and communities in enacting a low carbon transition. Recent research has included projects on NGO discourses of energy justice, low carbon communities and social justice, and energy vulnerability in communities. She has a strong commitment to research that is both policy oriented and academically relevant, and to the use of participatory techniques and methodologies. Prior to joining Macquarie University, she held positions as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong and as a Research Associate in the Department of Geography, Durham University, UK.

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Abstract

Concepts of justice are now routinely mobilised in environmental and climate change debates. Within the climate change arena, issues of justice have come to the forefront through international negotiations and concerns around rights and responsibilities. More recently, the concept of energy justice has gained prominence, most frequently framed in terms of access to affordable energy and fuel poverty but also related to the politics of energy infrastructures. To date however, there is limited understanding about how the discourses and practices of justice associated with climate change and energy might be enacted across multiple sites and scales.

This seminar will analyse key conceptualisations of justice in the context of the energy-climate nexus. Drawing from empirical work in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia, it considers the multiple connections between climate and energy justice and explores these ideas in practice through a case study of low carbon communities. In so doing, this seminar argues that future research should engage with these interconnections in order to progress a more nuanced understanding of justice in the context of a low carbon transition.

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Powerpoint: (click here for Powerpoint) / Video: (click here for video)