Energy transitions are expected to redistribute economic benefits to new actors, from local communities to countries with renewable resources. My research explores the classic political economy question of who benefits, looking at the role of communities, states, and firms. At the community level, I look at attitudes towards energy transitions in Jordan, a lower-middle income country rapidly transitioning to renewables with attractive jobs in this industry. Despite the top-down nature of energy policymaking in the authoritarian political context, household surveys reveal that people are highly supportive of energy transitions, especially if they perceive renewables as benefitting their communities. However, there are tensions between countries and firms that make it difficult for countries to see the kinds of local benefits present in Jordan in many other contexts. I argue that the transfer of green technologies promised in the Paris Agreement is not materializing at a large scale, des
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1/23/2025
The state is back, and it means business. Since the turn of the 21st century, state-owned enterprises, sovereign funds, and policy banks have vastly expanded their control over assets and markets. Concurrently, governments have experimented with increasingly assertive modalities of statism, from techno-industrial policies and spatial development strategies to economic nationalism and trade and investment restrictions.
This book argues that we are currently witnessing a historic arc in the trajectories of state intervention, characterized by a drastic reconfiguration of the state's role as promoter, supervisor, shareholder-investor, and direct owner of capital across the world economy. It offers a comprehensive analysis of this “new state capitalism”, as commentators increasingly refer to it, and maps out its key empirical manifestations across a range of geographies, cases, and issue areas.
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11/18/2024
Emeritus Professor Diana Laurillard presents 20 years of the UCL Knowledge Lab: Developing the future of human-centred design knowledge
UCL Knowledge Lab has evolved rapidly from its conception as the London Knowledge Lab 20 years ago. It was born of the complementary interests of Birkbeck’s computer scientists and the IOE’s educational technologists – we all believed that we had a lot to learn from each other, and a new unit would inspire fruitful collaboration. It did. And in a fast-changing field we can now track many different journeys and milestones towards our current range of themes on how digital technology, media and AI contribute to human learning, communication, culture, society, education, arts and play. What binds us together is the conviction that all those modalities can inspire and serve innovative ways of engaging with each other within all our societal systems. Our shared approach to what we do is a design-based methodology that uses the sciences, works with end users
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11/1/2024
In this insightful conversation, Kate and Ruby Williams join Alison Wiggins to share Ruby's deeply personal experiences with hair discrimination. Together, they discuss the emotional impact of such discrimination and how Ruby and Kate transformed their pain into a powerful motivation to advocate for change. Reflecting on Ruby’s journey, they explore broader issues of anti-Black racism and discuss their efforts to foster understanding and push for protections against such injustices. This interview offers an essential perspective on resilience, advocacy, and the importance of combating systemic discrimination to create inclusive and respectful spaces.
Recorded October 2024
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10/31/2024
UCL IIPP in conversation series 10th Oct 2024
Uncommon Wealth is the little known and shocking history of how Britain treated its former non-white colonies after the end of empire. It is the story of how an interconnected group of British capitalists enabled horrific inequality across the globe, profiting in colonial Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. However, the greed unleashed in this era would boomerang, now leaving many ordinary Britons wondering where their own prosperity has gone. Ranging from Jamaica to Singapore, Ghana to Britain, this is a blistering account of how buried decisions of decades past are ravaging Britain today.
Speaker: Dr Kojo Koram | Reader in Law at Birkbeck College, University of London
Discussant: Reverend Professor Keith Magee | Visiting Professor in Cultural Justice at the UCL IIPP
Chair: Dr Cecilia Rikap | Head of Research and Associate Professor in Economics at the UCL IIPP
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10/14/2024
Recorded Sept 2024
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9/13/2024
Ruth Jacklin outlines the support offered by the Academic Writing Centre to IOE students. Sept 2024
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9/13/2024
