Profile
Uttara Narayan is interested in understanding the varieties of energy justice and their application across scales of the energy transition that hold differing degrees of power across actors. Her current research focuses on the relationship between energy demand and racialisation in the UK. Her work as part of CREDS focused on ways to envision racial justice within the UK's energy demand landscape. She is currently a joint-PI on the ACCESS Flexible Fund project, REPAIR (Research on Energy through PArticipatory Insights from community Representatives) that aims to engage with racially disadvantaged communities in East Oxford to understand their energy needs.
Previously, Uttara worked for the World Resources Institute on energy governance in India. She applied political economy and social justice principles to clean energy transition interventions. This involved ensuring that decision-making instruments such as data and policy are made inclusive through the representation of multi-scalar actors. She also worked on expanding the interpretation of a just transition to consider the consequences of exclusion in utility-scale renewable energy installations.
Uttara holds an MA in Development Studies from IIT-Madras, and an MPP from the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. She pursued the latter with the help of the Chevening and Weidenfeld Hoffman Trust scholarships.