DIALOGUES will support the Energy Union with operational research on energy citizenship that enables citizens to take a central role in the energy transition.
To reach this objective the project will operationalise, contextualize, measure, and support the framework environments, policies and institutions that allow deep, inclusive energy citizenship to emerge.
The key focus of DIALOGUES is on co-creating the energy citizenship principles that include the perspectives of groups currently on the margins of the energy transition such as low-income households and energy poor.
DIALOGUES will utilize tested interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary techniques, with a spotlight on open innovation and co-design of the research process through novel Citizen Action Labs in 8 countries.
In the analysis stage of DIALOGUES, policymakers and stakeholders from different levels of analysis, namely community, local/regional, and national/supranational, will be included through co-creative workshops and policy briefs. A Policy Advisory Group of leading energy experts, research centres and institutions, local governments, city networks and NGOs will frame the DIALOGUES research process to ensure maximum impact on all geo-political levels. The project will foster deep, multilateral exchanges with the 72 supporting organisations, in 13 nations, including Canada whose partnership allows DIALOGUES to extend the dissemination network significantly and improve scientific robustness through sharing best-practices and comparative analysis.
For the policy and research communities, DIALOGUES will move the idea of energy citizenship forward to an operational concept that offers actionable policy insights, applied research tools and a unifying theory for citizen-oriented energy research. The project will develop tools to measure the degree, and map the modes, of expressing energy citizenship, related KPIs, a policy decision tool, and a Knowledge Platform linking all project data and results.
Keywords: Energy behaviour, energy citizenship, energy transition, energy union
