Researching Preferences for Nuclear Energy in Different National Contexts
I did my PhD in Environmental Economics between 2014 and 2018 in affiliation with the Grantham Institute at LSE. My PhD research explored preferences for nuclear energy and the determinants of its social acceptance after Fukushima, through a combination of methods from Environmental Economics and Environmental Psychology. In particular, I investigated the social costs of nuclear energy in three different contexts, namely Italy, the UK and the United Arab Emirates. For my PhD research I collaborated with the Enel Foundation as well as with YouGov. These collaboration experiences were quite different in character and have facilitated my research in different ways.
Building a Team and Partnering Up with Those Who Have Expertise
During the initial phase of my PhD I had partnered up with the Enel Foundation. The Enel Foundation is a non-profit organisation which conducts research, promotes executive training and disseminates information about sustainable development innovation. Prior to my PhD research, no study on the attitudes of Italians to nuclear energy had been conducted and the Foundation was keen to undertake a rigorous piece of social science research on the topic. I had responded to a “call for research” by the Foundation just before starting the PhD. For the application, I teamed up with a former professor of mine who acted as a mentor in putting together the application. The application was not only successful; it also helped me refine my research topic. Retrospectively, the collaboration with the Enel Foundation had a positive impact on my PhD, although it wasn’t altogether smooth. I’d say the main lesson I learned from this collaboration is that partnering up with people who have expertise and building a team is a crucial resource.
Accessing Data by Adding Value to an Organisation and Initiating a Partnership
For my thesis, I had already been looking at the Italian and UK contexts but I intended to enrichen the comparative focus by expanding the focus and including the UAE in the analysis. I was interested in gaining additional data from a country which was just about to implement nuclear energy and I also knew that adding a third case study would put me in a better position with regard to the highly competitive labour market. The problem was, I needed additional funding because I had used most of my available funding for purchasing the Italy and UK data I needed. I decided to access additional money not through the traditional pathway of research funding but through adopting the rather non-traditional way of partnering up with an organisation that could provide access to data. I thus entered into a careful and lengthy process of negotiating a partnership. I pro-actively reached out to stakeholders who were able to put me in touch with relevant people, mainly via LinkedIn and later on via conference calls. After roughly two months of connecting with and speaking to different people, I finally found the right person to partner up with within the MENA branch of the international market research firm YouGov. Crucially, that person also had a research background and was genuinely interested in hosting me for the duration of my fieldwork in Dubai. This partnership allowed me to create and analyse data which was otherwise not available. In exchange, results produced were used for local media coverage, for instance in a publication with Dubai Carbon.
Significantly, when approaching YouGov (and other potential partners), I did not interact with them as a researcher who demands their time and resources. I rather approached them as a professional who can add value to their organisation thanks to my research skills and expertise. In other words, I was conscious of not taking time from an organisation and presented myself as an expert from LSE with the ability to script software in exchange for accessing data.
Gaining New Skills, Boosting One’s Career Options
The partnership with YouGov turned out to be a decisive factor shaping my post-PhD career development. It led to my first job with YouGov after the PhD. It also provided me with valuable experience which paved the way for my later data manager role at EMAAR. Even though I have recently returned to academia, the partnership has taught me the importance of reaching out and creating relationships. These days, it’s increasingly risky for an aspiring academic to just stay in the office throughout the PhD. The role of the professor is changing. There is a growing need to communicate findings, generate impact and overcome the image of academics being “detached” or “confined in their own worlds”. Conducting collaborative research with a non-academic organisation is one such pathway which can allow academics to acquire additional skills, move beyond mere book learning and create impact.
Advice for Other Researchers Interested in Collaborating with Non-Academic Stakeholders
My key advice for other researchers would be:
- Don’t be put off if the initial response might not be overly enthusiastic when approaching an organisation. It may take time to get to the right person to initiate a partnership.
- When interacting with an organisation, be conscious of their time constraints. Communicate the value you can add to the organisation and don’t be shy to use the LSE name. Make sure the mutual benefits are obvious unless the desired engagement is meant to be a “learning relationship”.
- Always have a Plan B. For instance, I also initiated an affiliation with the American University of Sharjah to have an academic foothold in the field. While the collaboration with YouGov unfolded smoothly, it was reassuring to have additional contacts at the university as a back-up plan.
- Generating alternative options does not mean you have to give up on aspiring to an academic career. But it significantly enhances your opportunities in case the academic pathway does not work out and prevents you from becoming overly fixated on an academic career.