Funded PhD Student Position in Community Engagement, Planning, and Energy Justice

​This project collaborates with frontline communities to co-produce key social indicators of energy justice in the development of offshore wind energy along the east coast of the U.S. and to track those indicators over time. This project will: 1) work with East Coast communities affected by offshore wind energy development to collaboratively create measurable indicators for energy justice; 2) qualitatively and quantitatively assess these indicators for port communities including New Bedford, Massachusetts, and New London, Connecticut, over the next three years; and 3) share results with government, community engagement practitioners, industry professionals, and frontline communities. The overall research project is led by colleagues at the University of Rhode Island (URI); Boston University (BU) is another collaborator.​

• Student will be fully funded for up to five years; funding includes a 12-month stipend for the research assistantship (beginning at about $30,000/year) and tuition.
• Student will have access to some travel funds to attend conferences
• Student will be housed in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration with the opportunity to work with researchers from multiple institutions*
  
• Student can be admitted into either the Energy and Environmental Policy Ph.D. program or the Public Policy and Administration Ph.D.​ program in the Biden School. (Ph.D. in Marine Policy can also be accommodated)
• Student will assist the PI and co-PIs in the development of energy justice indicators, community engagement, visioning workshops, development of interview guides, key informant interviews, survey design, implementation and analysis, attend and participate in team meetings, community dissemination of the results, collaboration with research partners at URI and BU and with East Coast community organization partners; coordination with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and USDOE project staff in Wind Energy Technology Office (WETO), and undertake other research tasks.​

We particularly encourage students from under-represented groups to apply.

Interest or background at the intersection of urban planning and justice, urban planning and energy policy, community engagement, marine science and policy, environmental policy and planning or other relevant areas.

Background, knowledge, or expertise in qualitative research methods such as semi-structured interviewing, focus groups, and naturalist observation is required and a plus in survey research and workshop participation or facilitation.​

​If you are applying directly to one of the listed Ph.D. programs, please indicate your interest in working on this project in your statement and application materials. 

*The University of Delaware has several related cross-cutting centers and institutes which you can engage with, including the Delaware Environmental Institute​ (DENIN), the Center for Research in Wind (CReW), the Mangone Climate Change Science and Policy Hub, and the Biden Institute.​

• ​Nina David​
• Jeremy Firestone​​​