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In this reply to Thaler, we take the opportunity to explore two main aspects of his piece to continue the discussion: (1) the integration of data from the social and natural sciences, and (2) the importance of transdisciplinary research. We agree, and highlight that necessary learning, reflections and participation processes are time-intensive for researchers, practitioners and participants. We believe that these discussion pieces are important for informing, engaging, and debating challenges and practices, providing continued opportunities to learn from one another, enabling new forms of research and collaborations to flourish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a justice discourse is not always explicit in this applied work, it can be argued that addressing energy poverty is per se a move to improve energy justice, where energy justice is an overarching, umbrella concern. Whilst the strands of work relating to capability-based understandings of energy poverty, and capability-based frameworks for assessing the positive and, to some extent, negative impacts of energy system developments are becoming more established, other areas are more nascent. This special issue emerges from the conference "Energy justice and the Capability Approach - interdisciplinary perspectives", which took place in Malmö in the south of Sweden 12-13 September 2018. Previous Research Applying the Capability Approach to Questions of Energy Justice To date, a small body of published work has analysed different normative issues of energy production and consumption with the help of the Capability Approach from a somewhat philosophical standpoint. [Extracted from the article]

Energy poverty is a multidimensional issue and the capability approach is fruitful to show how energy-poor households are restricted in many aspects of well-being. With reference to Nussbaum's Central Capabilities, and based on qualitative interviews, this contribution aims to illustrate how energy-poor people are limited in five capabilities in their daily life and how these restricted capabilities sometimes reinforce each other in vicious circles. The capabilities analysed are related to material property ("Control over one's material environment"), recreational activities ("Play"), culture ("Senses, imagination and thoughts"), expression and management of emotions ("Emotions"), and to health and adequate nutrition ("Bodily Health"). These five capabilities are chosen for this contribution and analysed in this order because a recent quantitative study for Belgium has shown that the differences in their deployment are the highest between energy-poor households and energy-rich ones. Data for the present contribution are drawn from 60 in-depth interviews with persons in energy poverty that were carried out in 2014–2017 in the three Regions of Belgium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this reply we thank both authors for their thoughtful insights on our original opinion piece "Guiding principles for hydrologists conducting interdisciplinary research and fieldwork with participants." We believe these discussions will help to inspire and guide current and future researchers and illustrate how to continue to bring together physical and social data, experiences, and perspectives, and bridge the gap between the two disciplines with respect to socio-hydrological topics. Furthermore, we are confident that these insights and experiences will help foster a deeper understanding for hydrologists and natural scientists engaging with these discussions and research. Here we focus on two important themes that cut across both Quandt and Haeffner's replies: (1) further discussions on the importance of perceptions and lived experiences; and (2) further discussions on collaborative working and some of the major external barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore and address complex water-related issues, true collaborative, interdisciplinary research at the interface of hydrology and social science is necessary. Accordingly, hydrologists are increasingly working with social sciences and becoming involved in fieldwork with participants. With the overarching aim of facilitating collaboration and interdisciplinary water research, here we discuss important considerations and guiding principles for hydrologists, both those new to and those already familiar with interdisciplinary research, who are: (i) involved in fieldwork with participants; and (ii) working more collaboratively with social scientists. Drawing on first-hand experiences, this paper combines theory and experience from hydrologists and social scientists from their various interdisciplinary research projects to better understand key ethical, theoretical and practical considerations when working with participants. Complementary to this, we discuss the barriers and opportunities in collaborative interdisciplinary research. Facilitating these practices and understandings for hydrologists is essential to strengthen collaboration and to develop more holistic, successful research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent turn towards a more contextually sensitive apprehension of the challenge of making everyday life less resource hungry has been partly underwritten by widespread evidence that the environmental values people commonly profess to hold do not often translate into correspondingly low impact actions. Yet sometimes the contexts of everyday life can also conspire to make people limit their consumption without ever explicitly connecting this to the environmental agenda. This paper considers this phenomenon with reference to UK studies from both ends of the generational spectrum. The first questioned how older people keep warm at home during winter and the second examined how young people get rid of no longer wanted possessions. Both found that, though the respondents involved were acting in certain ways that may be deemed comparatively low impact, they were hitherto relatively indifferent to the idea of characterising these actions as such. We outline three ways in which sustainability advocates might respond to the existence of such “inadvertent environmentalists” and consider how they might inspire studies that generate fresh intervention ideas instead of lingering on the dispiriting recognition that people do not often feel able to act for the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a set of criteria for evaluation of serious games (SGs) which are intended as effective methods of engaging energy users and lowering consumption. We discuss opportunities for using SGs in energy research which go beyond existing feedback mechanisms, including use of immersive virtual worlds for learning and testing behaviours, and sparking conversations within households. From a review of existing SG evaluation criteria, we define a tailored set of criteria for energy SG development and evaluation. The criteria emphasise the need for the game to increase energy literacy through applicability to real-life energy use/management; clear, actionable goals and feedback; ways of comparing usage socially and personal relevance. Three existing energy games are evaluated according to this framework. The paper concludes by outlining directions for future development of SGs as an effective tool in social science research, including games which inspire reflection on trade-offs and usage at different scales. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is concerned with the nature and significance of inequality in the environmental experience of children and young people. We argue that research in this area needs to widen in perspective and address a complex set of environmental attributes that matter to children and young people, and to their development. Discussing a study conducted in three differing locations in Scotland, the paper examines the local places that were important to children and young people, and the factors that affected the benefits they derived from them. The results illustrate that unequal experiences arise partly through different material provision of environmental goods, but also issues of quality and maintenance, and that relational dynamics have a crucial role. An important concern is not just the quality of experiences in the present, but the effects that environmental experiences in early life have on skills and capacities taken forward into adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]