Postgraduate research opportunities Understanding the barriers of adopting energy efficiency improvements in residential properties and the economy-wide implications of addressing them

An exciting 3-year full-time funded PhD studentship opportunity has arisen at the Centre for Energy Policy (CEP), at the University of Strathclyde, for a project expanding CEP’s portfolio of research on energy efficiency in residential properties. 

This Project aims to analyse the effectiveness of current policy actions promoting residential energy efficiency improvement and identify the economy-wide implications of different actions to address barriers to the adoption of efficiency improvement measures.

Residential energy efficiency has been an integral component of net zero strategies in the UK and internationally, but analyses from the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) highlight that the improvement of energy efficiency in residential properties is below the levels required to achieve the country’s net zero objectives.

As part of the project, we will evaluate the effectiveness of existing energy efficiency improvement policies, identifying to what extent the available resources have been utilised and their impact on the efficiency of residential properties. We will explore what barriers have, or may have, been in place, preventing better outcomes, while considering how these barriers could be removed. In analysing the latter, we will identify the costs and challenges involved and explore how they interact with the retrofitting process.

This will allow us to develop a better understanding of the relationship between the costs of different approaches to address the aforementioned barriers and the benefits that may be unlocked at different timeframes.

This PhD project will give the successful candidate the opportunity to train in and further develop their skills on reviewing the existing body of evidence, engaging with appropriate stakeholders and conduct simulations using computable general equilibrium (CGE) economy-wide modelling.

Further information

Why undertake a PhD at the University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Energy Policy?

Our Ethos is Working to ensure transitions to mid-century net zero targets deliver sustainable & equitable prosperity.

The Centre brings together a unique blend of economy-wide modelling, political economy and public policy analysis experience and expertise to understanding the wider economic and societal outcomes of a range of decarbonisation actions at local, regional, national, and international levels and how economically and politically feasible pathways to net zero can be identified and shaped.

As a CEP PhD researcher, you will be able to draw on this expertise as part of your PhD research and develop and apply your learning through live research projects that CEP leads, with focus on real and measurable impact with key policy decision makers within the UK and internationally. Read more about the Centre for Energy Policy.