Katrina Adam

Project Title: City Energy Actor Networks

Background

I graduated in 2002 from the University of Bath with a MEng (Hons) in Civil and Architectural Engineering.  After travelling for a short while, I worked as a consultant flood and coastal defence engineer for three years, primarily focusing on temporary storage systems for flood alleviation.  In 2005 I moved away from engineering consultancy and into the classroom, completing a PGCE in Secondary Physics.  Since then I have taught both in schools and outdoor centres, and have led various overseas expeditions.

As my career has progressed and changed several aspects of my experience have contributed to a growing feeling that “something needs to change”.  I have always been interested in renewable energy and how practises differ across the world.  My travels with young people have shown that differences in living conditions and the technology available to those in the developing world compared with our own experience have a profound effect on those witnessing the differences for the first time; an effect which can be capitalised upon to create change.  As an engineer I worked to modify the environment to enable continued human settlement - as a PhD researcher I hope to be able to achieve a small act of re-balancing our relationship with the environment, while at the same time using my teaching experience to communicate the importance of such activities effectively.

PhD Research

My central research question seeks to explore what can be learned by evaluating collaborative energy initiatives between organisations in the private and public sectors.