Dr Huei-Ling (Lynn) Lai

Personal statement:

I am a political ecologist and human geographer trained in the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) at Erasmus University Rotterdam. With my PhD research, I had published on various topics regarding the place-making dynamics and community-based energy and agricultural projects in Taiwan, covering issues of indigenous rights, environmental justice, land grabbing, and rural development. In 2022 and 2023, I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Exeter with Prof. Patrick Devine-Wright and Dr. Jo Hamilton on two UKRI-funded geographical research projects of the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC).

Key topic areas of research or interest:

• Political ecology
• Grassroots innovations and sustainability transitions (e.g. community energy and community-supported agriculture)
• Environmental justice and just transitions
• Sense of place
• Industrial decarbonisation
• Energy geography

Publications:

– Lai, H. L., P. Devine-Wright, J. Hamilton, S. Mander, D. Clery, I. Rattle, A. Martin, S. Ryder, and P. Taylor (2025) “A Place-based Just Transition Framework can Guide Industrial Decarbonisation with a Social Licence”, Energy Research & Social Science 121: 103967. doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.10397

– Lai, H. L. and P. Devine-Wright (2024) “Imagining and Emplacing Net Zero Industrial Clusters: A Critical Analysis of Stakeholder Discourses”, Geo: Geography and Environment 11(1): e00139. doi.org/10.1002/geo2.139

– Lai, H. L. (2023) “From Protected Spaces to Hybrid Spaces: Mobilizing A Place-Centered Enabling Approach for Justice-Sensitive Grassroots Innovation Studies”, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 47:100726. doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2023.100726

– Lai, H. L. (2022) “Placing Land and Food Struggles in Agriculture-Industry Power Asymmetry: Insights from Wanbao Village, Taiwan”, Journal of Peasant Studies 49(7): 1524-1552. doi: 10.1080/03066150.2021.1923009

– Lai, H. L. (2022) “Foregrounding the Community: Geo-Historical Entanglements of Community Energy, Environmental Justice, and Place in Taihsi Village, Taiwan”, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 5(2): 666-693. doi: 10.1177/25148486211000745

– Lai, H. L. (2019) “Situating Community Energy in Development History: Place-making and Identity Politics in the Taromak 100% Green Energy Tribe Initiative, Taiwan”, Geoforum 100: 176-181. doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.01.006