Dr Hannah Charles

Background

As the Postdoctoral Research Associate on the Residential Air-conditioning Demand Futures (RADFutures) project, my role is to explore social and cultural factors that contribute to the uptake of air-conditioning within UK housing. The project is looking at the relationship between air-conditioning behaviours, summer energy consumption and the impact this can have on meeting net zero goals. Within the RADFutures team, we are developing a socio-technical approach to explore factors that contribute to air-conditioning behaviours in homes, using qualitative interviews and quantitative analysis of housing and energy data. The RADFutures project is part of the EDRC Futures theme and explores how demand for air-conditioning is changing over time. 

Before starting at the University of Reading, I carried out a PhD at the University of Manchester. This was a CASE studentship (partnered with a housing provider) that explored social housing retrofit, and how retrofitting housing can align with the low carbon transformation needed to meet net zero goals. My work focuses on issues of energy justice, housing governance, and the politics of decarbonisation.