Energy Politics, Policy, and Governance

About

The Research Network on Energy Politics, Policy and Governance (Energy-PPG) serves as a platform for scholars studying energy policy and related issues within the European context and beyond. Its focus is on the complex nature of energy policy, politics and governance that includes topics like steering energy transitions, assuring energy security or achieving energy efficiency, to mention only some. 

Aims & Objectives

The aims and objectives are:

• Building and integrating the energy studies community in Political Science
• Creating a platform for sharing new research and establishing transnational contacts
• Increasing the quality of energy policy, politics and governance research and promoting it in the broader political science community
• Supporting junior researchers and helping them gain experience and visibility in the field
• Organizing events within and beyond the ECPR
   

Activities

Energy is a complex technological issue, and it is quite unique. It is all-encompassing by nature – cutting across scales, from international (e.g. energy trade and diplomacy), regional (European energy governance), national (regulation and policy mixes, interest groups, etc.) all the way to local (e.g. public acceptance of energy infrastructures, problems of civic participation in decision making, etc.). As such, energy studies in political science bring together scholars from all sub-disciplines: IR, foreign policy analysis, international political economy, comparative politics, political sociology, public policy and administration studies, as well as political psychology and last but not least political theory and philosophy. 
The Energy-PPG Network grew out of many years of discussing energy policy at ECPR General Conference. Several panels in Prague in 2016, two Sections in Oslo in 2017, a total of three energy-related sections in Hamburg in 2017 and two sections held side by side in Wroclaw (18 panels altogether) in 2019 and Innsbruck in 2022 have all boasted very high levels of attendance, visibly above the ECPR General Conference average. They attracted not only wide a spectrum of panelists, from dozens of ECPR member institutions, but also engaged audiences that contributed to lively discussions.
The Network’s Steering Committee works to integrate our community, organizes the annual sections at the General Conference as well as other events, runs the Online Seminar and is particularly eager to reach out to junior scholars in the field, helping them to connect with peers, get support from more experienced colleagues and obtain a platform to present their ongoing work. 
 

The Energy-PPG network:

• Uses its mailing list and social media to inform about events, share important calls for papers, job offers and prize opportunities;
• Organizes the annual General Conference sections as well as other events
• Convenes the Online Seminar series, aimed at sharing ‘work in progress’
• From 2023 onwards awards a Best Paper Prize to junior scholars attending the ECPR General Conference 

Best Paper Prize

The Energy-PPG Best Paper Prize is an annual award honoring an outstanding scholarly contribution to the field of energy research. It is given to Early Career Researchers and aims at supporting the next generation of scholars in the area of Energy Politics, Policy, and Governance. 

Eligibility 
•    Papers authored by Early Career Researchers (up to five professional years after completing their PhD) 
•    Papers need to be submitted to and accepted by a panel sponsored by the ECPR Energy-PPG. This year there are two sections S22 ‘Energy Politics: Governing Transition in an Uncertain World’, and S60 ‘Towards Carbon Neutrality: Decarbonization, Energy Transition & the Challenges of Climate Action’ 

Application 
•    Papers put forward for the award can be through self-nominations or through nomination by the panel chair 
•    Submissions will be reviewed by the EPPG review panel. In case of equal merit, the committee will take diversity into account. The winner will be announced during the annual business meeting of the EPPG Research Network at the annual ECPR Conference 
•    Deadline: 18 August 2023 
•    Submission: paper nominations should be sent to andreas.goldthau@uni-erfurt.de, indicating author and title, and include a PDF copy of the nominated article. 
•    Note: only full papers will be accepted for nomination 

We particularly encourage applications from female as well as diverse gender and background early career researchers and scholars.