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Paper short abstract

An ethnography of Swiss energy modelling shows how inter‑ and transdisciplinary integration becomes a site of political struggle between dominant and reflexive epistemologies. Challenging pragmatism and feasibility discourses is necessary to expand imagined energy futures.

Paper long abstract

Energy research and modelling play a crucial role at the interface of science and policymaking. While modelers remain interested in influencing the course of the energy transition policy, they also remain dependent on the policy agendas set by public administrations and implemented through grant schemes and research funding. In Switzerland, the increasing pressure for delivering solution-oriented energy research goes hand in hand with state support for inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches. These approaches are expected to increase epistemic diversity within energy research by integrating knowledge and methodologies from Social Sciences and Humanities and incorporating stakeholders’ perspectives.

This presentation is based on multi-sited ethnography done across several research teams in Switzerland, aimed at understanding practices and motivations for collaboration among diverse research teams, researchers’ perceptions of integration efforts, and the discourses that shape inter- and transdisciplinary work. Through Gramscian theoretical lenses, I investigate both the dominant, taken-for-granted epistemological assumptions among modelers and researchers that reinforce political consensus, as well as the reflexive, counter-hegemonic ideas that seek to contest and expand the range of energy alternatives.

I show how the discussion about the barriers to integration is connected with the political dimensions of research epistemologies. While certain epistemologies remain dominant and are explicitly encouraged by policymakers, more reflexive and critical ones struggle to gain traction. Discourses of ‘pragmatism’ and ‘feasibility’ marginalize these alternative perspectives and limit the imagination of possible energy futures. I conclude by presenting a set of recommendations for how reflexivity can be more effectively incorporated into energy research projects.