ISRF Independent Scholar Fellow 2022-23
ISRF Independent Scholar Fellow 2022-23
Dr Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen is an independent academic scholar and the research lead for the Global Platform for Action for Sustainable Energy Solutions in Situations of Displacement (GPA). Sarah is an expert adviser on humanitarian energy, with experience leading sustainable energy work with displaced communities in several countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Jordan, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Her research interests focus on renewable energy solutions in refugee camps, the energy lives of displaced people, and understanding how humanitarian systems can provide inclusive and ethical opportunities for vulnerable communities.
Through her practical work, Sarah co-chairs the GPA Research and Evidence Group and provides strategic advice to the UN on inclusive energy programming. She supports academics and students wishing to work on humanitarian energy, and leads intellectual work on definitions within the energy for forced displacement sector. Sarah has worked across a range of renewable energy and regulatory technical issues for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, the Climate Policy Initiative, and the University of Cambridge. Her Twitter handle is: @SarahLRosenberg
Energy powers us, it is the electricity in our computers, our light in the evenings, and the fuel in our stoves and cookers. Without it, our social rituals and professional outputs start to fall away. Energy is often viewed as a technical or quantitative subject, but it is also embedded within our everyday social practices of making a cup of tea, sending emails, cooking supper, and driving to the supermarket. In refugee societies, energy is a much-needed resource to support resilience in displaced communities.
Within refugee camps, energy has been neglected by both humanitarian organisations and academic research. This Fellowship aims to change that by developing an ethnography of the humanitarian energy world and telling the stories of refugees in their own words. The research will produce a book titled ‘Voices in the dark: Energy Access and the Politics of Living in Refugee Camps’ to demonstrate how energy is used by refugees. Berghahn books have already expressed interest in publishing the book through their Forced Migration series.
Building on existing data collected during my 10 years as a humanitarian, my research uses ethnographic methods to explore the political narratives and ethnographic uses of energy. Refugee voices, their energy needs and priorities are placed at the heart of this enquiry, demonstrating how important electricity and clean cooking access are for vulnerable households. The project will also work with policymakers at UNHCR and UNITAR to embed learning on how humanitarian actors support refugees in accessing sustainable energy.
Outputs of the Fellowship will include the ‘voices in the dark’ book, as well as a peer-reviewed academic journal article in Cultural Anthropology. The results of my research will be published as a blog with the UN-led Global Plan of Action (GPA) for Sustainable Energy Solutions in Situations of Displacement.
If you would like to contact any of our Fellows to discuss their ISRF-funded work, please contact Dr Lars Cornelissen (Academic Editor) in the first instance, at [email protected].