School of Social and Political Science

Faye Wade

Chancellor's Fellow/ Senior Lecturer

Faye Wade Headshot
Faye.Wade@ed.ac.uk
2.93
Old Surgeons Hall
High School Yards
Edinburgh
UK
EH1 1LZ

Research interests

Childhood & Youth Cities Energy, environment and sustainability Work & Economy

Current Research

I am currently a Co-Investigator in the UKRI Energy Demand Research Centre. Within this I am a member of the Place theme, where I am undertaking two major research projects:

1) Investigating young people's perceptions of and access to low carbon jobs. This project includes working closely with schools and youth groups to explore how young people from varied socio-economic backgrounds perceive different local jobs that could be associated with energy demand reduction, for example, heating engineers and electricians. The project will consider how these perceptions vary in places with different industrial histories, built environments and low carbon futures.

2) Exploring the circulation of everyday talk about energy demand within communities. This is being delivered together with Shawn Bodden; the project focuses on the everyday social interactions within community networks and the role they might play in introducing conversations about, and undertaking informal work to deliver, energy demand reduction. The project will look at how these interactions might vary in places with distinct socio-demographic characteristics and energy demand reduction trajectories.

Together with Dr Sarah Parry, I Co-Lead the Sustainable Households theme in the SFC-funded Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods. This Alliance is designed to consolidate Scotland’s sustainability research strengths, particularly amongst those working in the social sciences, arts and humanities, and leverage funding into Edinburgh and other Scottish Universities. 

Recent Publications and Peer Reviewed Conference Papers

These are all listed under the 'Publications' tab. This is automatically updated with new publications.

Recent Industry and policy reports

Wade F., 2022. Pathways to engagement with low carbon heat: an industry perspective. Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employer’s Federation/ Construction Scotland Innovation Centre/ Energy Saving Trust

Killip, G, Fawcett, T, Jofeh, C, Owen, A M, Topouzi, M, Wade, F, 2021. Building on our strengths: a market transformation approach to energy retrofit in UK homes, Federation of Master Builders/Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions.

Wade F, Webb J, 2020. LHEES Phase 2 Pilots: Evaluation Report. Report to Scottish Government.

Wade F, Webb J & Creamer E, 2020. Energy Efficient Scotland Phase 2 Pilots: Final Social Evaluation Report. Report to Scottish Government.

Wade F, Webb J, Creamer E, 2019. Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies: Phase 1 Pilots. Social Evaluation Report Report to Scottish Government.

 

Background

My research focuses on the sociology of knowledge and expertise critical to delivering transformation in our energy system. In particular, I focus on the construction professionals and organisations responsible for delivering the buildings and infrastructure needed to tackle climate change.

I first joined The University of Edinburgh in 2016, in the department of Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, where I taught courses in Energy Policy & Sustainability, and Investigating Energy Consumption. I later moved into Sociology, working with Prof. Jan Webb on a social evaluation of the Energy Efficient Scotland programme; the Scottish Government's cornerstone strategy for reducing energy consumption and decarbonising heat in the built environment. The results of this fed directly into Scottish Government's policy-making process. We have also explored how distinct policy framings across devolved governments enable the involvement of local and regional actors in the development of innovative energy infrastructure.

Prior to this, I completed my PhD at the UCL Energy Institute. This was an ethnographic investigation of the professional identity and practices of heating engineers, and how these shape the central heating technologies installed in homes and how they come to be used.

I am a member of the Editorial Board for the international journal Buildings & Cities.

Qualifications

PhD, Energy and Human Dimensions, UCL

MRes, Energy Demand Studies, UCL

MChem, Chemistry with a Year in Industry, University of York

Topics interested in supervising

I am interested in supervising Master's dissertations and PhDs on the topics of energy and society; sociologies of work; building and construction professionals; energy in the built environment.

If you are interested in being supervised by Faye Wade, please see the links below (opening in new windows) for more information:

 

 

Works within

By appointment

Faye Wade's Research Explorer profile