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Loughborough University
,
Loughborough, Leicestershire
Research Associate Energy in Humanitarian Settings (MECS)
Overview
Job Description
School of Social Sciences and Humanities - Geography and Environment Fixed-Term for 30 months. Loughborough University is seeking to appoint a Research Associate: Energy in Humanitarian Settings, for the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme, working in close collaboration with the existing MECS team and MECS programme partners. The post holder will be required to travel to work with partners across the UK and overseas when it becomes safe to do so. Whilst Covid-19 restrictions are in place the role will be entirely desk-based. 1.8 billion people have access to electricity but still cook with biomass. Load shedding, weak grids, affordability of electricity, accessibility of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), tradition, perceptions, energy governance, and a lack of suitable cooking appliances all act as barriers to scaling up the use of electricity or gas for cooking - clean cooking. The Modern Energy Cooking Services Programme (MECS), is a 39.8 million, 5-year programme funded by UKAid through the Department for International Development, led by Loughborough University. We already know that increasing access through renewable energy generation is becoming more affordable and opening new windows of opportunity. New business models and smart monitoring are improving the reliability of LPG distribution, appliances can be made more energy efficient but still cook favourite foods so they taste right, and cooking with electricity is becoming increasingly affordable with issues of reliability and sustainability being overcome. We want to build on these opportunities and the new knowledge emerging from the MECS programme to break out of business-as-usual approaches and rapidly accelerate the transition from biomass to clean cooking on a global scale. The MECS programme is organised into four core workstreams: UK universities and innovators, southern partners, a challenge fund and scale-up. These four workstreams come together to achieve the ultimate ambition of the programme which is to change the narrative on clean cooking. The Research Associate will support the delivery of the Modern Energy Cooking Services programme with a specific focus on clean cooking in humanitarian and displacement settings. The workstream is split into 3 core work packages: 1) understanding transition pathways for MECS in displacement situations; 2) demonstrate technology, innovation and delivery models; 3) capacity building and scale up. The Research Associate will be expected to lead on work packages 1 and 2 and support on 3. MECS works across 15 priority countries. For the humanitarian work stream, activities are likely to be focused on 3-5 countries. Informal enquiries should be made by email to Dr Long Seng To: L.To@lboro.ac.uk. Application Closing Date: 16 July 2020 Interviews will take place during the week beginning 10 August 2020 Please follow this link for further information about MECS: Please follow this link for details of the post....[more details]