UCL-Energy Social Sciences Group present at DECC

A group of students from the UCL-Energy Social Sciences Group recently had the opportunity to present their work to representatives from DECC’s social research, heat policy, strategy and technical energy analysis workstreams. PhD student Jenny Love shares the group's experiences of the day:

The work we presented started by exploring occupant behaviour, namely its complex relationship to temperature profiles, energy use and effectiveness of low-carbon technologies. From this, different aspects of feedback and interaction were discussed, from domestic heating installers to non-domestic building designers. Then the focus moved to demand-side management, where consumer psychology and the identification of best-practice in policy were explored.

The DECC attendees gave very helpful input to our projects and asked questions often relating to contextualising our findings in pre-existing or future policies. An especially helpful feature of the afternoon was the mix of disciplines of the DECC representatives, which led to a variety of perspectives on everyone’s work. Adam Cooper, head of Social Science Engagement at DECC, spent time with each of us afterwards, highlighting which teams in DECC our work relates to with a view to potential future collaboration.

Images:
Top: UCL-Energy PhD student Carrie Behar presents at DECC
Bottom: UCL-Energy PhD student Jenny Love talks to Adam Cooper, Head of Social Science Engagement at DECC
Photos taken by UCL-Energy PhD student Mike Fell