Background

I am a human geographer with four interconnecting areas of research interest:

1. Energy and Infrastructures: My research has focused on the economic, social and environmental dimensions of energy and infrastructure networks.
2. Everyday life: Central to my research is an ongoing interest in understanding how everyday life is conducted, shaped, and experienced.
   
3. Economic Geographies: I am interested in multi-scalar and spatially connective economies of places and practices. I pursue this interest in research on infrastructures, innovation and technology.
4. Integration of qualitative, quantitative and spatial data: I like the challenge of working with a range of data types to derive insight and see this as central to my work as a researcher and teacher. 

Teaching

Modules I lead:

• GEO2224 Sustainable Urban Development: Barcelona Fieldcourse
• GEO3134 Geographies of Sustainability

• GEO2099 Economic Geography
• GEO8017 Human Geography: Concepts in Action

Research

My research in geography sits at the interfaces between social and technical disciplines, between qualitative and quantitative research approaches and between academics and stakeholders.

My research currently focusses on:

1. The national centre for energy system integration (CESI).
   
2. Hydrogen: Here I am looking at the possible use of hydrogen as an energy source for UK homes and businesses. Drawing on theories of practice, ideas about risk perception and acceptance and geographies of fear.
3. Interactions between energy, local economy, work, health and other intersecting geographies of daily life.

I am keen to meet students and researchers at any career stage to develop new research.

Publications

• Powells G, Fell M. Flexibility capital and flexibility justice in smart energy systems. Energy Research & Social Science 2019, 54, 56-59.
• Lovell H, Powells G. Smart Grid Knowledges and the State. Area 2020. In Press.
• Scott M, Powells G. Towards a new social science research agenda for hydrogen transitions: Social practices, energy justice, and place attachment. Energy Research & Social Science 2020, 61, 101346.
• Scott M, Powells G. Blended Hydrogen: The UK Public's Perspective. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Newcastle University, 2019.
• Scott M, Powells G. Sensing hydrogen transitions in homes through social practices: cooking, heating, and the decomposition of demand. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2020, 45(7), 3870-3882.
• Powells G, Bulkeley H, McLean A. Geographies of Smart Urban Power. In: Marvin, S; Luque-Ayala, A; McFarlane, C, ed. Smart Urbanism: Utopian Vision or False Dawn?. London: Routledge, 2016, pp.125-144.
• Bulkeley H, Powells G, Bell S. Smart Grids and the Constitution of Solar Electricity Conduct. Environment and Planning: A 2016, 48(1), 7-23.
• Powells G, Blake L. Urban Science Networks and Local Economy: The Case of Newcastle Upon Tyne. In: Evans, J; Karvonen, A; Raven, R, ed. The Experimental City. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016, pp.137-149.
• Powells G, Bell S, Judson E, Lyon S, Wardle R, Capova K, Bulkeley H. Fostering active network management through SMEs practices. Energy Efficiency 2015.
• Bell S, Judson E, Bulkeley H, Powells G, Capova K, Lynch D. Sociality and electricity: the influence of household dynamics on everyday consumption. Energy Research & Social Science 2015, 9, 98-106.
• Judson EP, Bell S, Bulkeley H, Powells G, Lyon S. The co-construction of energy provision and everyday practice: integrating heat pumps in social housing in England. Science & Technology Studies 2015, 28(3), 26-53.
• Powells G, Bulkeley H, Bell S, Judson E. Peak electricity demand and the flexibility of everyday life. Geoforum 2014, 55, 43-52.
• Bulkeley H, Powells G, Bell S, Lyon S. Smart grids and the governing of energy use: reconfiguring practices?. In: Strengers, Y.; Maller, C, ed. Social Practices, Intervention and Sustainability: Beyond behaviour change. Abingdon: Routledge, 2014, pp.112-126.
• Powells G. Housing Dynamics: Environmental Aspects. In: Smith, SJ, ed. International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home. San Diego: Elsevier, 2010, pp.429-435.
• Smith SJ, Searle B, Powells G. Introduction. In: Smith, SJ; Searle, B, ed. The Blackwell Companion to the Economics of Housing: The Housing Wealth of Nations. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
• Powells G. Complexity, entanglement, and overflow in the new carbon economy: the case of the UK’s Energy Efficiency Commitment. Environment and Planning A 2009, 41(10), 2342 – 2356.
• Powells G. The Political Economy of Sustainable Energy – By Catherine Mitchell. Geographical Journal 2009, 175(4), 315-316.
• Hopkins P, Newcastle Social Geographies Collective, Pain R, Shaw R, Gao Q, Bonnett A, Jones C, Richardson M, Rzedzian S, Benwell MC, Lin W, McAreavey R, Stenning A, Blazek M, Pande R, Najib K, Finlay R, Nayak A, Ridley G, Mearns G, Bonner-Thompson C, McLaughlin J, Boussalem A, Iqbal N, Heslop J, Jarvis H, Burrows R, Bambra C, Copeland A, Tate S, Campbell E, Thompson M, James A, Raynor R, Cunningham N, Powells G, Herbert J, Hocknell S, ed. Social Geographies: An Introduction. London, UK: Rowman and Littlefield, 2020.