I have been committed to environmental sustainability for some time now, and I have looked to contribute to tackling climate change in both my professional and personal life. In my ‘previous life’ working as a Strategy Consultant for a Southern African Financial Services Group, I developed the Group’s Sustainability Strategy, including working alongside the finance team to roll out the bank’s Green Bond. Personally, I changed my consumption to more sustainable products, from frequenting the ‘zero-waste’ store to changing to a lower-carbon diet.
Why I chose Durham for my PhD?
I decided to undertake my postgraduate studies as I want to become a professor in environmental economics. I undertook my MSc in Economics at the University of Exeter, and did my thesis on the UK’s waste management strategy, investigating whether England would reach its recycling target by 2035. My key finding was – tackle food waste! I hope that in the near future, all councils across the UK include food waste collection, as this will go a long way towards reducing waste sent to the landfill and the related carbon emissions. Personally, I switched to composting and taking my food waste to collection bins.
I applied to Durham University for my PhD as I was excited to join the Centre for Environmental and Energy Economics, which includes some of the top academics in the field of environmental economics. I believe that tackling climate change is the biggest issue we face globally, and that applying economic theory to addressing it, from policy design to international environmental agreements, is fundamental to overcoming this global challenge.
My PhD research
When I started my PhD, initially, my research proposal was to investigate the impact of policy changes to Feed-in Tariffs on UK households’ adoption of solar panels. I come from South Africa, where solar panels have become a necessary investment for households and businesses, to tackle the ongoing crisis of the national electricity provision (or lack thereof).
Central heating and the environmental impact of natural gas were not at the forefront of my mind. This changed quickly after experiencing my first winter in Durham! I was fortunate enough to be included by my supervisor, Prof. Laura Marsilliani, in the geothermal energy from mines and solar geothermal heat (GEMS) research project. This project was fundamental to my PhD research. I gained broad exposure to the landscape of heating in the UK – from the local coalmining heritage to the groundbreaking research into developing geothermal district heating solutions.
Within the GEMS project, we worked alongside Earth Sciences, Anthropology and Engineering researchers to understand how to address the environmental, social, political and technical issues in developing geothermal heat. We designed a household survey with a discrete choice experiment that captured households’ stated preferences for low-carbon heating solutions. The data from this survey has been used in the empirical analysis of choice modelling in my PhD research. I was awarded first prize at the Durham Energy Day 2023 for my research poster.
Teaching assistant
I also gained extensive knowledge from taking a Teaching Assistant role for the modules Economics of Sustainability and Environmental Economics and Policy. Through the discussion-based seminars with the students, I learnt a great deal about global sustainability issues on topics ranging from agriculture, forestry, fisheries and international climate agreements. It was immensely rewarding to engage with students on these topics and to challenge both them and myself to contemplate how economic policy can be utilised to address sustainability across industries and globally for the future.
My plans and hopes for the future
Throughout my PhD, I have looked to engage broadly on the topic of decarbonising heat in the UK. This has ranged from attending and presenting at academic seminars, workshops and conferences in the UK and abroad, being an active member of the Durham Energy Institute, the Centre for Environmental and Energy Economics and the Centre for Sustainable Development Law and Policy, presenting my research to policymakers at Durham, Westminster and the Senned, and discussing low-carbon heating systems with local community members at outreach events. I have found that all facets of engagement on the topic have been rewarding.
Going forward, I am pursuing a role teaching and researching in environmental economics. I understand the key role research can play in shaping thinking and ideally impacting policy design in the field of environmental economics at both the country and international level. I have also been filled with appreciation from engaging with students on their own sustainability behaviour, and hopefully encouraging them (and myself) to engage in a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.
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