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Visiting Associate Professor
Name: Lucy Heather Baker
SARChI TRCTI Visiting Scholars听 Staff Members
Contact Details:
Email:听Lucy.Baker@open.ac.uk
About Dr Lucy Heather Baker
Lucy Baker has a background in development studies with empirical and theoretical expertise in development studies, political economy, and energy transitions.听 Her three main areas of research can be summarised as: i) ownership, finance and renewable energy; ii) governing electricity in a time of technological disruption; and iii) technological capabilities and global production networks in renewable energy.
She has undertaken extensive research into the political economy of electricity in South Africa. She is currently involved in a GCRF-funded project researching the sustainability and governance of mini grids in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Senegal.
Lucy co-convenes the Masters鈥� module on Energy and Development at the 欧美福利100000 of Sussex. She is an editor of the journal Geoforum.
Lucy completed her PhD in 鈥楾he political economy of socio-technical transitions in South Africa鈥檚 electricity sector鈥� in 2012, at the 欧美福利100000 of East Anglia, UK.
Prior to joining academia, Lucy worked for ten years with non-governmental organisations: as policy and networking officer at the Bretton Woods Project, leading research and campaigns on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of development finance in low and middle-income countries; for Amnesty International as a human rights campaigner; and as a communications officer for Oxfam鈥檚 Latin America Programme.
She has worked in various countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America throughout her professional and academic career.
A native speaker of English, Lucy speaks and writes Spanish, French and Portuguese to a high level.
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Education
MA: Hispanic Studies and French, 欧美福利100000 of Edinburgh
MSc: Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, 欧美福利100000 of London
PhD: Development Studies, 欧美福利100000 of East Anglia
Selected publications
Baker L. (2021) 鈥楶rocurement, finance and the energy transition: Between global processes and territorial realities鈥�, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, February 2021
Baker, L. Hook, A. and Sovacool, B. (2021) 鈥楶ower struggles: Governing renewable electricity in a time of technological disruption鈥�, Geoforum, 118:93-105
Baker, L. Burton, J. &Trollip, H (2020) 鈥楾he Energy Politics of South Africa鈥�, in Hancock, K.J & Emmons, J. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Energy Politics, pp OUP, 711-730,
Kirshner, J., Baker, L., Smith, A. and Bulkeley, H. (2019) 鈥楢 regime in the making? Examining the geographies of solar PV electricity in Southern Africa鈥�, Geoforum in press
Baker, L. and Burton, J. (2018) 鈥楾he politics of procurement and the low-carbon transition in South Africa鈥�. in: Kuzemko, Caroline, Keating, Michael F and Goldthau, Andreas (eds.) Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy and Natural Resources, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 91-106
Baker, L. and Phillips, J. (2018) 鈥楾ensions in the transition: The politics of electricity distribution in South Africa鈥�, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 37(1)177-196
Baker, L. (2018) 鈥極f embodied emissions and inequality: Rethinking energy consumption鈥�, Energy Research and Social Science, 36: 52-60
Baker, L. (2017) 鈥楥ommercial-Scale Renewable Energy in South Africa and its Progress to Date鈥�, in IDS Bulletin, Vol 48, No 5-6 Green Power for Africa: Overcoming the Main Constraints
Baker, L. (2017) 鈥楶ost-apartheid electricity policy and the emergence of South Africa’s renewable energy sector鈥� in, Arent, D. et al. (eds) (2017) The Political Economy of Clean Energy Transitions, WIDER Studies in Development Economics. Oxford 欧美福利100000 Press
Baker, L. and Sovacool, B. (2017) 鈥楾he political economy of technological capabilities and global production networks in South Africa鈥檚 wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) industries鈥� Political Geography, 60: 1-12
Baker, L. (2015) 鈥楾he evolving role of finance in South Africa鈥檚 renewable energy sector鈥�, Geoforum 64(0):146-156
Baker, L. (2014) 鈥楻enewable energy in South Africa’s minerals-energy complex: a 鈥榣ow carbon鈥� transition?鈥� Review of African Political Economy, 42(144): 245-261
Baker, L., Newell, N. & Philips, J. (2014) 鈥楾he political economy of socio-technical transitions in South Africa鈥�, New Political Economy, 19 (6), 791-818
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