New book: Sociology of Interdisciplinarity - The Dynamics of Energy Research

A new book co-authored by DEI Associate Fellow Dr Antti Silvast with Dr Chris Foulds has been published by Palgrave Macmillan.

The book draws on insights gathered during Antti’s time at Durham Energy Institute undertaking research for the Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI) with Professor Simone Abram.

The book presents a new framework, the Sociology of Interdisciplinarity, drawing insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS) and other literature.

It argues that there is a unique—and currently under-fulfilled—role to be played by Science and Technology Studies (STS) in exploring the sociological dimensions of how large-scale (energy) research projects are actually carried out

It provides a detailed examination of the conception of interdisciplinary energy research, and Produces fresh insights into the lived experiences and actual contents of interdisciplinarity.

CESI research

Between 2017 and 2019, during his time at Durham University Antti Silvast worked with Simone Abram to study the ethical aspects involved in the work of the national Centre for Energy System Integration. Using observations of centre meetings, interviews with CESI researchers, and analysis of CESI documents, they were able to formulate frameworks to understand energy ethics in a new light. Working with philosophers in the Netherlands, they published a paper ‘What do energy modellers know?’ on the status of different kinds of knowledge used in aspects of energy modelling.

Antti is now based at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, NTNU Trondheim, Norway. He has since been working with Chris Foulds, who co-lead the EU Horizon 2020 ‘Energy-SHIFTS’ project to publish this open access book on the dynamics of interdisciplinary energy research.

This book is open access, which means that you can download for free and have unlimited access.

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Antti Silvast and Chris Foulds (2022) Sociology of Interdisciplinarity: The Dynamics of Energy Research, Palgrave Macmillan

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