Governing Body Fellow wins Leverhulme Fellowship to explore Energy in the Global South

Wolfson Governing Body Fellow Professor Nikita Sud has been awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship to research her new monograph, Powered by the South: Energy, Extraction, and Assertion in the Majority World (forthcoming with Princeton University Press).

This prestigious award will allow Professor Sud to further her ground-breaking research into the political impact of the climate crisis. Drawing upon her expertise in history and the interdisciplinary social sciences, Professor Sud’s work endeavours to understand the flows of energy, and the contests they have provoked, that have defined the trajectory of the Global South. This includes the colonial quest for timber, flora and fauna; trade in humans, extending to indenture and slavery; and only later the fossilised energy, in the form of coal and oil, that has shaped the modern world.

With the support of the Leverhulme Research Fellowship, Professor Sud aims to delve deeper into the contemporary dimensions of her project. She will continue to explore the consequences of the transition to green energy, a phenomenon that is significantly impacting economies, societies, and political structures across the globe. While it has the potential to effect positive environmental change, Professor Sud’s work also probes the challenges and complexities of the energy transition. 

Professor Sud’s methodology revolves around fieldwork conducted in some of the world’s most coal-dependent nations undergoing rapid energy transitions. Through immersive engagement in the field, she hopes to gain an insight into the multifaceted nature of energy transitions and their implications for communities in the Global South.

The recognition of Professor Sud’s work through the Leverhulme Research Fellowship underscores the importance of her contributions to the study of global energy and to our understanding of the intricate interplay between energy, extraction, and assertion in the Majority World.