Isabella Hawkes
Community Engagement • Energy • Research
About me
I am a social researcher, with a background in public engagement and community energy. I have worked for not-for-profit organisations across the conservation, the arts, and community energy sectors. In all of these, my roles have focused on collaborative engagement and clear communication.
Now, I am bringing these experiences together through a PhD research project titled “Mapping diverse engagements with energy in Cornwall, UK”. The PhD is funded by the South West Doctoral Training Partnership, and is based at the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus.
Current Research
'Mapping diverse engagements with energy in Cornwall UK"
I hope to learn from people's day-to-day lives and experiences of energy use - whether that be how we travel, heat our homes or our interests and relationships. I'll explore how decision-making related to the UK's energy transition (from fossil fuels to low-carbon, electrified energy) can be better informed by these experiences. The research aims to:
1. engage and collaborate with communities to learn from personal experience and knowledge of energy use in our day-to-day lives
2. learn from these experiences and demonstrate the need for decision-making that considers the differences and complexities of livelihoods, particularly in Cornwall, UK.
To gather the data for this research, I am working with Cornwall Climate Action Coalition (CCAC) who are facilitating Community Conversations at locations across Cornwall.
Community Conversations are a free, open, opportunity for people to share and talk about topical issues. The conversations focus on the topic of ‘energy’, looking at 6 different areas where energy is used in our day-to-day lives, like how we get to work or heat our homes.
The themes discussed are from Cornwall's Local Area Energy Plan.
It is a continuously developing action plan to identify and enable Cornwall to move away from fossil fuels. There are actions for everyone: communities, individuals, businesses and local government. Read the Summary Report and Actions.
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If you’ve attended a conversation, or would like more details, the information sheet is available here.
You can contact me about any aspects of the research.
Attendees of the conversations will receive newsletter updates about the progress of the research.