{"id":1935,"date":"2019-06-11T10:03:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T10:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/sussexenergygroup\/?p=1935"},"modified":"2019-06-11T10:05:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T10:05:15","slug":"celebrating-small-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/sussexenergygroup\/2019\/06\/11\/celebrating-small-wins\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating small wins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nora Blascsok<\/a> interviews newly appointed Sussex Energy Group (SEG)<\/a> co-Director, Dr Marie Claire Brisbois<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marie
Dr Marie Claire Brisbois (photo by Lindsay Ringuette) <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dr Marie Claire Brisbois<\/a>, Lecturer in Energy Policy at SPRU<\/a>, joined us in 2018 and runs Powershifts<\/a>, a project investigating the impact that decentralised renewable energy initiatives are having on existing policy decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sit down to have a chat on a sunny Friday on the occasion\nof her appointment as new Co-Director of SEG. I am interested to hear what made\nher want to join the Energy Group and why she came to SPRU in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt made sense to join the\ngroup as I wanted to be involved in the wide range of areas they are working on\nfrom energy efficiency, energy justice, finance and politics. It is a dynamic\ngroup that is very well connected externally\u201d<\/em>– she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has definitely not just been sitting at her desk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is nice to be here also\nfrom a social academic point of view. You get to talk to people about their\nresearch, but also about the reasons why they are doing it. A lot of people\nhere are intrinsically motivated to try to make the world a better place. It is\ninspiring\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She tells me about how she initially contacted Andy Stirling<\/a> and Adrian Smith<\/a>, when she was looking for a post-doc, but then ended up first working for the Canadian government and taking a post-doc position at Utrecht University before, eventually, ending up at SPRU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve landed in the right place. I am working with Benjamin Sovacool<\/a>, Paula Kivimaa<\/a>, Karoline Rogge<\/a>; people I have been citing in my work. It is pretty great,\u201d<\/em> she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am eager to hear more about what Marie Claire is working\non. With a background in physical science, she spent most of her academic\ncareer looking at water, rather than energy. Working on water drainage projects\nin Guatemala made her realise she needed to look at the bigger picture and\nswitch fields. She then focused on issues of power and politics in water\ngovernance decisions, specifically looking at the Alberta tar sands and at\npetro-chemical processing factories in the province of Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The common thread through her work, she explains, is that the way our economy is set up and the way we use resources has implications for political decisions and policy decisions; which often end up prioritising profit over other things that are important and make life worth living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoney is important, but it is\nnot everything. You need the full package: things like social and environmental\noutcomes have to be taken into account,\u201d<\/em>-she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she moved into the energy space, she started looking at\nthe political implications of energy choices we make and how we can go about\nchanging the negative power structures and relationships that lead us to the\nclimate situation and the social situation we are in, in terms of poverty,\nequity, justice and ultimately, who has access to resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tried to be productive, not\njust critical,\u201d<\/em>-she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work as part of the Powershifts project looks at\ndecentralised energy movements and how they are impacting policy arenas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am interested in groups\nlike community energy or municipal groups that are not solely focused on\nprofits; and how they are working together to participate in policy processes.\nIn some countries, like the Netherlands, you are starting to see policy shifts\nas a result. In other places, like the UK, where supportive policies are\nlacking, people are doing whatever they can, working around the policies and\nregulations,\u201d<\/em>– she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sounds like a very timely topic and the results will be\ncoming out soon. I want to know more about her plans as the new co-Director.\nMarie Claire, unlike co-Director Karoline Rogge and Director Professor Benjamin\nSovacool, is based full time in Brighton. She has already shown how important\nit is to have a connection to the local community and what is going in the UK,\nby inviting representatives of the student movement, Fridays for the Future for\na meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a lot of motivation\namong SEG staff to be involved in the climate discussions and what is going on,\nso I am here to facilitate that for the people who are interested. My goal is\nto make sure these people have a pathway through which they can pursue this\ninterest and be involved\u201d<\/em>– she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marie
Marie Claire taking part in a protest outside a Minister\u2019s meeting in Halifax (Canada) in the run up to COP 15 in Copenhagen (photo by Gretchen Fitzgerald)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Her energy and enthusiasm for action are apparent and not\naccidental. Marie Claire spent time between her Masters and her Phd working as\nan environmental activist for the Sierra Club of Canada. She knows how\nimportant small wins are and that we need to celebrate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got disillusioned for a\nwhile and left activism for ten years. There is so much energy right now that I\ndon\u2019t have to self-motivate anymore. There is a feeling that things can change,\nso it feels like I am not doing it all on my own anymore. I am happy to get\nback in and support others in any way possible\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a lot going on within the University right now\n\u2013 including conversations about rewilding, a transportation strategy and\ndiscussions about the general carbon budget \u2013 that it is great to have somebody\nwho can link the group into these processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There probably isn\u2019t a better person to talk about the\nrecent wave of protests and how academics can take part without compromising\ntheir duty to stay politically neutral. Marie Claire doesn\u2019t beat around the\nbush:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPretending that science is\nneutral is ridiculous. As scientists, we make decisions on what we think is\nimportant every day and these decisions reflect our values, ideals and how we\nwere raised. There is no manual or objective truth, especially when you get\ninto questions like energy, where people have very different ideas\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about party politics? Can we call the government out, I\nask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to look at the\nreasons why decisions are made and have a wider assessment of the conditions\nbehind them. I believe that as academics, it is our role to be critical, but\nalso constructive. There should always be space to speak truth to power\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"powershifts\"<\/a>
An article by Marie Claire Brisbois introducing Powershifts<\/a> (PDF 187KB) in the April 2019 issue of Energy World<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I am truly inspired to hear this. Marie Claire will be\ngetting the results of her project out soon. She says she is excited to publish\nwork that shows that things are substantially changing. We are living through\ndifficult times and this is something that we all want to hear. She is hopeful\nabout the future, and as a researcher, of course, she wants to understand what\nit will look like going forward from an energy perspective. And in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I, for one, am looking forward to a SEG pub night \u2013 which,\nas the new co-Director, she has been tasked with organising \u2013 where I can pick\nher brains further about activism, politics and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ufeffDr Marie Claire Brisbois was appointed co-Director of SEG in May 2019, alongside co-Director Dr Karoline Rogge and Director Professor Benjamin Sovacool.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nFollow Sussex Energy Group \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marie Claire Brisbois, Lecturer in Energy Policy at SPRU joined us in 2018 and runs Powershifts, a project investigating the impact that decentralised renewable energy initiatives are having on existing policy decisions. <\/p>\n

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