Dr Vigya Sharma

Research Fellow, Energy & Poverty Research Group

Biography

Vigya is a Research Fellow with the Energy and Poverty Research Group (EPRG). She is also an Honorary Fellow with the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM), Sustainable Minerals Institute at UQ where she was a Postdoctoral Fellow until May 2015. Initially trained as an engineer in India, Vigya has since transitioned to the social sciences. She holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Infrastructure from Kungl Tekniska Hogskolan, Stockholm, Sweden and PhD in Sustainability and International Development from The University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research is at the intersection of climate change, resources, and livelihoods and development. Presently, she is investigating the ethical case for Australian coal exports to India as well as the role of energy access in helping societies better adapt to changing climatic conditions. One of her key emerging research interests is in the area of Energy and Gender; she is currently supervising PhD research investigating gender and energy entrepreneurship linkages in remote developing regions such as PNG.