Grace Bishopp

Grace joined the GSI in 2026 as a PhD Researcher in Sustainability, funded by an ESRC CAM-DTP Knowledge Exchange Studentship. Their doctoral research explores how gender relations and emotional experiences of belonging shape participation in community energy projects in the UK. Drawing on feminist energy systems research and place-based perspectives, they are interested in how everyday experiences, social relationships and connections to place influence who participates in community energy, how they participate, and whose voices and experiences are recognised.

Their research also examines how government policy conceptualises communities and democratic participation, particularly in the context of the UK's expanding support for community-owned renewable energy. By bringing lived experiences of community energy into conversation with policy narratives, their work explores how assumptions about community and participation may overlook inequalities or undervalue social outcomes. Grace holds an MSc in Energy and Climate Policy from the University of Sussex and a BA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Exeter. Their wider research interests include energy justice, just transitions, and the social and political dimensions of energy system change.

• Community energy and energy system change
• Community participation, inclusion and engagement in sustainability initiatives
• The interactions between gender, energy and society
• Just transitions for fossil fuel-dependent communities
• Critical minerals and their role in low-carbon futures

• MSc Energy and Climate Policy, University of Sussex
• BA (Hons) Geography, University of Exeter

Postgraduate Researcher Representative, Energy Geographies Research Group (EnGRG), Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)

Climate Policy Research Contributor, Net Zero Tracker