Energy Justice and Citizenship: Refugee and Asylum Seeker Communities' Experiences of Energy Poverty and Infrastructural Exclusion in the UK

这项研究的目的是促进关于英国难民和寻求庇护者中能源贫困和基础设施排斥的社会技术基础的跨学科知识。该博士项目通过与多个利益攸关方，包括高层决策者，如商业、能源和工业战略部(BEIS)、交通部(DFT)、大曼彻斯特联合管理局(GMCA)、公民咨询和国家能源行动(NEA)合作，解决了在这方面先前没有系统研究的一个关键差距，以确保研究渗透到政策和实践中。新冠肺炎大流行极大地影响了少数族裔社区，使英国贫困人口数量增加到1500多万(巴特勒，2020年)，在此之后，塔利班接管了英国，进入英国的阿富汗难民人数增加，而且预计英国能源价格将在2021年冬季上涨，届时可能会有500,000人无法取暖(结束燃料贫困联盟，2021年)，因此了解难民和更广泛的少数族裔社区为什么以及如何受到能源贫困的不同影响至关重要。揭露和发展对这些需求和背景的研究，这些需求和背景目前在英国关于能源贫困的文献和政策中严重不足，这将有助于制定关于能源、住房和脱碳努力的更好、更公平和更具包容性的政策和法规(Blakelock，2021)。

The aim of this research is to advance interdisciplinary knowledge on the socio-technical underpinnings of energy poverty and infrastructural exclusion among refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. This PhD project addresses a critical gap in understanding where there has been no prior systematic research in this context, by collaborating with multiple stakeholders, including high-level policymakers such as Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Department for Transport (DfT), Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Citizens Advice and National Energy Action (NEA) to ensure permeability of the research into policy and practice. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately impacted ethnic minority communities and pushed the number of people in the UK living in poverty to over 15 million (Butler, 2020), the number of Afghan refugees entering the UK following the Taliban takeover of the country, as well as in anticipation of the UK energy price hike in the winter of 2021, which could see 500,000 more people unable to heat their homes (End Fuel Poverty Coalition, 2021), understanding why and how refugee and broader ethnic minority communities are differentially affected by energy poverty is crucial. Exposing and developing research on these needs and contexts that are currently critically underrepresented in the UK literature and policy on energy poverty, will feed into developing better, fairer and more inclusive policy and regulation with regards to energy, housing and decarbonisation efforts (Blakelock, 2021).