Wednesday June 9^th 2010     Energy Transitions Past and Prospective

Location: Council Chamber, Glamorgan Building       3pm-5pm followed by a drinks reception

This first seminar in the series focuses on the topic of energy system transitions. The aim of this seminar will be to explore the potential for analyses of past transitions in energy systems to inform the development and understanding of future transitions.

Presentations by Professor Frank Geels (Sussex, Science and Technology Policy Research) and Professor Peter Pearson (Cardiff, Low Carbon Research Institute, School of Architecture)

Thursday 29^th July 2010         Infrastructure, Planning and Energy           

Location: Council Chamber, Main Building    10am - 12 followed by a buffet lunch

This seminar will address issues associated with infrastructures and the planning process in relation to energy. Potential areas for discussion will include the implications of the National Planning Statements for energy; infrastructure implications of different energy system configurations (e.g. distributed and centralised distribution); and regional contexts for governing and planning energy infrastructure. 

Presentations by Dr Richard Cowell (Cardiff, School of City and Regional Planning) and Professor Malcolm Eames (Cardiff, Welsh School of Architecture) 

Thursday 9^th September 2010           Energy and Everyday Life

Location: Council Chamber, Main Building    10am - 12 followed by a buffet lunch

This seminar will examine aspects of the way energy features in our everyday lives, involving discussion of approaches to understanding energy as part of the everyday, as well as of opportunities for reducing energy consumption and the associated complexities. 

Presentations by Margaret Minhinnick (Director Sustainable Wales) and Professor Elizabeth Shove (Lancaster, Department of Sociology)

Thursday 2^nd December 2010            Nuclear Energy Histories and Futures 

Location: Council Chamber, Main Building    10am - 12 followed by a buffet lunch

This final seminar in the series will provide a forum for discussion focused around nuclear energy technologies. In the context of a newly refreshed political interest in nuclear power as a ‘low carbon’ technology and talk of a ‘nuclear renaissance’ internationally, the seminar will address past and future trajectories of this particular energy technology, along with related processes of change (e.g. in public perspectives or policy). 

Presentations by Professor Nick Pidgeon (Cardiff, School of Psychology) and Dr Ian Welsh (Cardiff, School of Social Sciences)