Dr Tom Hambley

Thomas Hambley For media enquiries please contact the Press Team
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Global Sustainability Institute

Faculty:
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Location:
Cambridge
Areas of Expertise:
Consumption and change

Tom is a postdoctoral research fellow for the Sustainable Futures Research Theme in our Global Sustainability Institute (GSI). He is working to deepen collaboration between ARU and regional partnerships, stakeholders, organisations, and institutions on sustainability and environmental projects.

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn

Background

Tom is an environmental psychologist and social scientist with an extensive qualitative research background exploring place relationships and engagement for renewable energy technologies. He joined the Global Sustainability Institute in September 2019 as a PhD researcher, completing his doctoral thesis exploring place relationships during engagement for geothermal projects from the project developer perspective.

Prior to his PhD, Tom completed an MA in Climate Change: History, Culture, Society at King’s College London, and a BA in Geography from the University of Southampton. His dissertations at both explored community responses to renewable energy technologies through the lens of place relationships.

Research interests
  • The relationship between people and place in the context of the energy transition
  • Theories of engagement and participation with the energy system
  • Policy for the implementation of renewable energy in the UK and internationally
  • The role of social science in facilitating a fair and just energy transition
Qualifications
  • PhD, Global Sustainability Institute, ARU (2024)
  • MA Climate Change: History, Culture, Society, King’s College London (2018-19)
  • BA Geography, University of Southampton (2014-17)
Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange
  • Place-Based Urban Energy Transitions (PBUET) Symposium. Funded through: ARU Sustainable Futures Knowledge Exchange Funding Call 2023
  • Publics and Local Approaches to Cambridge’s Energy Transition (PLACE Transition). Funded through: ARU ‘Let’s Shape Research Together’ Participatory Research Funding 2023-2024
Selected recent publications

Hambley, T. (2024) 'Place relationships in geothermal project developer approaches to engagement', PhD thesis, Anglia Ruskin University.

Hambley, T. et al. (2023) 'Regulation and public decision making in geothermal energy – Workshop report', NERC.

Unconventional Hydrocarbons in the UK Energy System (UKUH) project.

Hambley, T., Renewable Energy Association, ElectraLink (2019) 'Flexible Futures: Using data to understand and navigate the new power market'.