Dr Eimear Heaslip

Eimear is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher with the ENERGISE project and is based in the School of Geography at NUI Galway. ENERGISE is a pan-European Horizon 2020 funded project investigating the cultural influences on household energy use. It recognises that cultural change is a key ingredient in successful energy transitions. Individual energy consumption is a function of who we are, where we come from, and the socio-cultural and material contexts in which we live. In 2007, Eimear completed her BArch (HONS) in Architecture at University College Dublin. Upon completing her BArch, Eimear spent several years working as a graduate architect specialising in Passive House design and low energy building design. In 2012 Eimear returned to her studies and completed a MSc in Environmental Systems in GMIT. During this time, she developed an interest in how community participation in energy management practices are crucial to Ireland’s transition to a sustainable society. Eimear received the “Student of the Year” award and following this received the GMIT “President’s Forty Year Scholarship” to undertake a funded PhD project to continue her studies. Her PhD thesis was titled: “Community Low Carbon Energy Transitions in Irish Islands: A Transdisciplinary Approach”. Her PhD research was based on a case study of Inis Oírr Island in the West of Ireland. Eimear’s PhD was transdisciplinary, fusing social scientific and engineering techniques to develop a technical energy plan with the community in Inis Oírr. Her research is in exploring, describing and analysing the development of situated energy knowledges and the role of community knowledge networks in the development of sustainable energy communities.