Rihab Khalid

I am an interdisciplinary researcher in sustainable energy consumption and demand management, focusing on socio-technical approaches to societal transitions. In particular, I am interested in the intersections of gender, energy infrastructure and space use in Pakistan and more broadly in the Global South. My work takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding energy demand, amalgamating socio-cultural theories with more technically grounded understandings of consumption in the context of architectural and urban spaces.I am committed to problem-driven research to tackle societal challenges, and to improve energy efficiency and sufficiency to meet climate change targets through sustainable socio-technical transitions.

I am currently Co-I on the QR-GCRF project: ‘Gender equity and energy access in the Global South’, headed by the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. The project aims to investigate what the UN Sustainable Development Goal of "access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy" (SDG7) means to the professionals working on matters of energy access, and in particular what the implications are for gender equality (SDG5), in the Global South. While much research, policy and practice address these SDGs separately, there are major gaps in knowledge and action on how energy access and gender equality intersect. Through collaboration with 11 partners across six countries, the project is undertaking 80 semi-structured interviews spanning Nigeria, Ghana, India and Pakistan. Interviews will be targeted towards professionals working on different aspects of the (developing) energy system to understand how their (gendered) expectations are shaping the systems of provision. Findings from the study will be used to produce policy recommendations for each region.