Katharina BielyFlemish Institute for Technological Research | VITO · Nexus
Katharina Biely
PhD
sustainability transitions researcher and out-of-the-box thinker
About
32
Publications
17,621
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
209
Citations
Introduction
I am a sustainability transition researcher with a strong interdisciplinary background. I study transitions holistically in several fields and enjoy applying systems thinking. I am further interested in: the agri-food system, (ecological) economics, power relations, the energy transition, the bioeconomy
Additional affiliations
September 2022 - September 2024
September 2015 - December 2018
Position
- PhD Student
Description
- I worked in project management for the Horizon 2020 project SUFISA, published several papers and presented at international conferences. The main topic of my PhD is market power and sustainability.
January 2021 - August 2022
Education
September 2015 - December 2020
February 2008 - March 2014
Publications
Publications (32)
Recent research indicates that disruptiveness in science has decreased, triggering discussions about the reason for this. Earlier Thomas Kuhn discussed why revolutions in science are slow but inevitable processes. To better understand transition processes within a scientific discipline, this article draws on a novel transition concept. The concept...
How scientists frame problems impact the solutions offered. Since the late 1940s development has been equated with modernization, technology adoption, and economic growth. Contrasting to this technocentric view, an ecocentric view has developed since the 1960s. Despite the criticism of technocentric views and increasing evidence that modern human s...
Antonio Gramsci's work has recently been used to explain why socio-technical transitions are not taking place. This literature builds on the Gramscian concepts of transformismo, passive revolutions, or war of positions. Gramsci's work can be insightful for transition scholars as he analyzed why transitions did not take place, as well as what the co...
The installation of solar panels by residential households is vital for the energy transition. However, the rapid uptake of solar panels by households leads to congestion in the electricity grid. Specifically, when the sun shines, these solar panels simultaneously produce a lot of electricity that is fed into the grid, which is inefficient and can...
CO2 emissions need to be reduced drastically to fight climate change and minimise the further increase of average global temperatures. The decarbonisation of the energy system aims at reducing CO2 emissions and is thus urgently needed. This transition is facilitated by inter alia switching to renewable energy sources and more efficient technologies...
Sustainability science and sustainability transition studies are interdisciplinary fields. Interdisciplinarity is understood to support out-of-the-box thinking and thus facilitate scientific advancements. Interdisciplinary research projects dealing with complex issues might need project management approaches that support learning, adaptation, and i...
Complex problems such as sustainability, call for inter- and transdisciplinary resaarch approaches. Although the call for such approaches is not new, it remains challenging to implement interdisciplinary research projects (Fischer, Tobi, & Ronteltap, 2011). Project frameworks have been developed specifically for interdisciplinary settings (e.g., To...
How scientists frame problems impact the solutions offered. Since the late 1940s, with the help of scientists, progress and development have been equated with modernization, the adoption of technologies, and economic growth. Contrasting to this technocentric view on development and progress an ecocentric view has developed since the 1960s. This was...
The Investment Theme organizes bi-annual Community Meeting. At the 2nd Community Meeting on the 8th of November 2022, a vision exercise was conducted. The vision exercise consisted of three parts, 1) individual reflection, 2) group discussion, 3) plenary feedback. In this document, the individual reflection is analyzed.
Interdisciplinary research is becoming increasingly important to tackle complex problems such as climate change. Human behavior is one key factor that needs to be considered to find solutions to these complex problems. Working in an interdisciplinary field requires scientists to engage in tedious studies of disciplines that are beyond their core ex...
Vertical integration is a means of increasing market power. For some agricultural products, it is easier for farmers to exert control over their product beyond the farm gate, but for others it is more difficult. Cases in the latter category have two main characteristics. First, the farmer cannot sell the respective product to final consumers withou...
The poster describes an alternative sustainability transition concept that bridges between social-ecological and socio-technical transition theory. It is also inspired by resilience theory, systems thinking (leverage points), behavioral science, as well as the work of Gramsci.
This working paper summarizes some behavioral (change) models that could be connected to sustainability transition themes. The intention was to provide this short overview as a starting point for researchers who do not have a background in behavioral science, but who aim to include behavioral science perspectives to sustainability transition resear...
Perfectly operating markets only exist in theory. Market failures are known to not only inhibit the proper functioning of the market, but also affect sustainability and thus a sustainability transition. In this regard, much attention has been paid to externalities or missing markets, even though these are not the only market failures. In this paper...
In the next decade, transition researchers need to embrace perspectives, theories, and methods from the scientific field of psychology. An integrative research approach that covers the individual, group, and system level, executed in interdisciplinary research teams is necessary for more effective analysis and applications of sustainability transit...
Increasing market concentration has caused the rise of market power issues. Particularly in the agri-food sector, increased concentration and thus market power can be observed. Due to the hourglass shape of the value chain within the agri-food system, markets tend to be concentrated on retail as well as on farm- input (seeds, fertilizers, etc.) lev...
It has been acknowledged that power is a fundamental aspect that needs to be considered when performing a value chain analysis. The structure of the value chain is indicative of the power distribution along the chain. By employing systems thinking the structure of the value chain can be further investigated and inferences on market power issues can...
Market power is a complex matter that is approximated with quantitative indicators within economics. However, these indicators may not fully capture market power, or they may fail to identify it, although it may be present. Moreover, a quantitative approach restricts market power as a concept, impeding the ability to discuss its relationship with o...
According to the theory of Industrial Organization market power is determined by the structure of the market. From a particular structure, market agents' conduct and performance can be inferred. This relationship is called the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm. However, due to certain shortcomings, this paradigm is dismissed and substitu...
Vertical integration is a means to increase market power. While for some agricultural products it is easier for farmers to exert control over their product beyond the farm gate, for others it is more difficult. The latter instance shows two main characteristics. First, the farmer cannot sell the respective product to final consumers without process...
According to the theory of Industrial Organization market power is determined by the structure of the market. From a particular structure, market agents’ conduct and performance can be inferred. This relationship is called the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm. However, due to certain shortcomings, this paradigm is dismissed and substitu...
Since the introduction of the sustainability challenge, scientists disagree over the interpretation of the term “sustainability.” Weak and strong sustainability are the two main interpretations of sustainability, which are opposing each other. Some researchers stated that the interpretation of the term depends on the context; others disagree pointi...
Over the last several decades, policymakers and stakeholders in the European Union (EU) have put considerable effort into increasing the adoption of organic farming, with the overall objective of its sustainable development. However, the growth of the organic sector has come with many challenges that jeopardize its sustainability. The question then...
Questions
Questions (4)
I received an invite to contribute to a new journal. And of course, the first question to clarify: is it predatory? Has anyone an insight in https://www.hos.pub/ho/sustainability.
I have not heard about this journal or publisher before. I could not find anything online to confirm that it is predatory.
For a research project, I am investigating what drastic lifestyle changes people are making to support sustainability.
With the adjective drastic I want to indicate that these lifestyle choices are not easy to implement. Thus, I am looking for lifestyle changes that need dedication in order to overcome barriers that are connected with these choices.
Further, I am looking for choices. Therefore, the adoption of a certain lifestyle is not forced. For example, not using a private car can be a voluntary choice, or it can be dictated by economic conditions.
These are the ones I have listed so far:
- zero waste
- living in an eco-village
- not using a private car
- living off-grid
- minimalism
- veganism
- living in a tiny house
- not having children
- never travelling by plain
Which one would you exclude and why?
Which lifestyle choice would you add? Please also indicate why.
Hi everyone,
I am looking for a book or papers that discuss the development and evolution of economic systems?
I am thankful for recommendations!
Warmly,
Katharina
I want to start a project for which I want to use contingent valuation. I thought about an online questionnaire asking people's WTP and WTA, but I have never conducted such a study. Is there anyone who could help me with it. I thought that the questions will depend on the formulas used afterwards for calculation. Since I have no clue about the formulas and the calculation I need help with this. I good book guiding practitioners would also be helpful.
Thanks
