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News 2025
ERI researcher Breffní Lennon wins UNIC Best Paper Award
Dr Breffní Lennon, Research Fellow at the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) and School of Engineering and Architecture, is a winner of the UNIC Best Paper Award for his paper on sustainability and citizen energy communities, co-written with Dr Niall Dunphy, Senior Research Fellow in the School of Engineering and Architecture/ERI.
Breffní took part in an awards ceremony on 9 May at the UNIC Thematic Conference at Malmö University, Sweden.
The UNIC Best Paper Awards recognise outstanding work that align with UNIC's mission to foster resilience and renewal in Europe’s post-industrial urban centers. Open to original, unpublished or published papers on the themes of Urban resilience, sustainability and the future of inclusive post-industrial societies, they were judged through a diverse, cross-institutional peer process that found them exciting contributions to UNIC’s evolving Thematic Lines. Entries came from across UNIC universities, tackling issues ranging from societal participation and “smart cities” to city branding and sustainability. Breffní and Niall’s paper was one of two papers awarded the final prize.
Breffní and Niall’s winning paper is titled, “Sustaining energetic communities: energy citizenship and participation in an age of upheaval and transition”. The human use of energy is at the heart of our current global upheavals, from climate and biodiversity to geopolitics and conflict. Building on UNIC’s Thematic Line ”Sustainability and Green Cities”, Breffní and Niall’s compelling work underscores how the correlation between the (meta)physical flows taken by the various forms of energy we depend on—and the transitory social, cultural, economic, and political relationships that frame them—require much deeper study if we are to achieve the types of sustainable communities envisaged by the United Nations as part of its sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030.
“I am very honoured to have our work acknowledged in this way, particularly given the depth of knowledge that exists amongst the different researchers across UNIC. I’m very delighted to be recognised by my peers,” said Breffní. “The paper highlights how energy flows through various forms of natural and social circuitry and how these energyscapes impact the drivers, motivations, and barriers to participation for many citizens, who invariably must decide if and how to engage (or indeed not to engage) for a variety of intersecting reasons.”