Multi-disciplinarity in circular economy and energy
Thomas is specialised in sustainability and energy issues with a pronounced interest in multi-disciplinarity. He combines insights from geography, institutional economics, and organisation studies to create new theoretical frameworks and empirical insights. His research agenda for the coming years focuses on the nature of collective action.
“I hold that communities can play pivotal roles in addressing large-scale sustainability issues. I consider this vision on collective action ground-breaking as it goes against the dominant view that sustainability challenges are best tackled by market firms and the state alone.”
Most recently, Dr Thomas Bauwens worked in the Utrecht University’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, where he led research and taught on circular economy, energy communities and sustainability transitions. Before that, he was a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and at Oxford University. He holds a PhD in Economics and Management from HEC Management School, University of Liege, Belgium, and a MSc in Economics from the Economic School of Louvain, University of Louvain, Belgium.
His most recent published work includes Conceptualising institutional complexity in the upscaling of community enterprises: lessons from renewable energy and carsharing published in Environmental Innovation & Societal Transition (2022) and Institutional relatedness and the emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in German districts (2021) published in Regional Studies.