Position Description:
Research Assistantship on renewable energies and policy developments in Africa
Project Overview:
The Climate Policy Lab (CPL) at Fletcher School investigates what policy works and what doesn’t to foster renewable energy generations and consumption in Africa. Africa is well endowed and renewable energy sources. However, translating the potential into reality requires a firm commitment to enhancing the generation and supply of renewable energy sources. Renewable energy resources have become affordable to foster the transition towards a clean and green energy system. However, renewable resource policies and strategies to advance the generations, transmissions, and distributions prevent Africans from utilizing their massive renewable resources of hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal, and hydrogen. Therefore, there is an urgent need for adaptive public policies that address policy barriers and fosters the conversion of the potential energy resources into generations and utilizations.
This research, therefore, aims to assess renewable energy consumption, investment, policy progress, grid connections, barriers, and opportunities in selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. We will use multicriteria performance methods and investment indicators collected from secondary resources and interviews with key stakeholders to analyze the study. We selected a representative country from each SSA Sub-Region for the research, namely Nigeria from West Africa, Ethiopia from East Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from Central Africa, and the Republic of South Africa from Southern Africa. The study is expected to shed light on the significance of renewable energies in ensuring access to electricity, energy security, energy transition, green growth, and energy transformation in the race to NetZero.
The research questions include: what are the policy priorities, barriers, and opportunities to increase the energy mix, energy access, energy efficiency, renewable energy investment, and consumption? How do actors view the current policies and their effectiveness in addressing renewable energy challenges? What opportunities might there be to align the countries’ climate policies/programs/initiatives with access to electricity and NetZero?
Tasks:
The research includes the associated investment and regulatory framework of the selected countries, including regulations, legislative and executive orders associated with energy innovation, green growth, and access to electricity. In addition, the research will need insights into the dynamics of the energy market and pertinent stakeholders’ interactions.
This study is a cutting -edge and provides students with an opportunity to understand the roles of policy and institutional framework to initiate, sustain and transform renewable energy resource developments.
Qualifications:
- Enrolled as a student at Fletcher
- Advanced research skills
- Basic understanding of the African energy and regulatory system
- Familiarity with basic economics
- Be comfortable researching regulatory dockets at the regional, sub-regional, national, and sub-national levels
- Familiarity with GIS and engineering is helpful but not essential.
- Computer skills (e.g., Microsoft Office Suite, internet applications)
- Excellent writing skills
Application:
Please send to sara.rosales@tufts.edu no later than Thursday, May 26:
- A statement of interest and qualifications
- Your CV
Tufts University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and actively seeks candidates from diverse backgrounds.