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Pathways to Sustainability consists of nine thematic communities, each dealing with a different aspect of sustainability. Time to sit down with the three Troika-members (leaders) of the Energy in Transition community. How do they, from their role, contribute to advancing the energy transition in the Netherlands, Europe and the world. Madeleine Gibescu (GEO), Nikkie Wiegink (FSBS) and Friedemann Polzin (LEG) clarify.

What does the work of a Troika entail?

"First of all, we represent three faculties," Nikkie Wiegink explains. "Our goal is to create a community so that everyone in the university who is working on the energy transition can find an interdisciplinary home." Madeleine Gibescu adds: "Taking an interdisciplinary approach to this challenge is essential. You can develop the most advanced technology imaginable, but without proper integration into society or knowledge of how to make it economically viable, the transition can never be realized." "Indeed," says Friedemann Polzin, "the financial framework is an important driver for accelerating or slowing down the transition. These trade-offs must be made visible."

So what did you organize so far?

"First of all, in order to provide a good foundation for the community, we organized a seed money call. We got a lot of good proposals with original ideas and nice interdisciplinary collaborations." says Madeleine. "In addition, with the help of Udeke Huiskamp, our community manager, we organized several community events to stimulate interactions between different faculties." Friedemann responds: "At these events we involve a whole range of junior and senior researchers, all contributing from their own viewpoints resulting in interesting discussions." Nikkie agrees: "Some time has passed now, and contacts made at these events have resulted in three Signature projects all focused around various aspects of the energy transition!"

In 2025, you will hand over your role as Troika to other colleagues, what do you hope to have accomplished by then?

"I aim for the relationships that have started at our community events to continue long after we pass on our responsibilities. Not only in the area of research, but also education," says Madeleine. Nikkie adds: "In addition, I would love to establish more partnerships with other communities. Udeke is an important link in that, she has a lot of contacts with the community managers of the other communities." "The energy transition theme would undoubtedly need our attention for some time to come, and I hope that the various projects will have had visible (policy) impact by then," says Friedemann.

What drives you to take on this role?

"It's a great opportunity to get to know researchers at other faculties, and hear how they look at the energy transition from a completely different perspective. That's a big eye opener for me," Madeleine says, "the most interesting research is interdisciplinary, and this role is an additional realization that you can't do it alone. It broadens my view, and I understand better how the energy transition works. It increases societal relevance, which makes me feel that the research I do is more impactful." Nikkie agrees, adding: "For me, it also satisfies an intellectual curiosity. In addition, you learn the perspective of other fields of research on the energy transition. That can also be frustrating, because we all have a different picture when we think of the energy transition. But if you can arrive at a shared language together and dive deeper into the questions, you see that all these questions connect our research areas." Friedemann: "Personally, I think we have no time to waste, so approaching Pathways to Sustainability and especially Energy in Transition as practice-based research, hopefully contributes immediately to choices made by policy makers or within companies. That gives me great satisfaction."