dr. E.J. Aukes (Ewert)

I am interested in understanding the meaning people attach to the environment and the way in which this meaning is conveyed in (policymaking) interactions. I think that social interactions are always embedded in a social environment, which is why I prefer qualitative methods because of their contextual nature. Nonetheless, I believe that the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods can deliver fruitful results. This forms the basis for my openness to collaboration with quantitative-oriented scholars within my discipline, as well as scholars from other disciplines. In addition, teaching represents an important part of my scholarly identity.

Expertise

• Social Sciences

  • Governance
  • Policy
  • Project
  • Science
  • Diplomacy
  • Forests
  • Actors

• Computer Science

  • Innovations

Organisations

I am interested in understanding the meaning people attach to the environment and the way in which this meaning is conveyed in (policymaking) interactions. I think that social interactions are always embedded in a social environment, which is why I prefer qualitative methods because of their contextual nature. Nonetheless, I believe that the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods can deliver fruitful results. This forms the basis for my openness to collaboration with quantitative-oriented scholars within my discipline, as well as scholars from other disciplines. In addition, teaching represents an important part of my scholarly identity.

Publications

Research profiles

Affiliated study programs

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2023/2024

Current projects

SERENE

Sustainable and Integrated Energy Systems in Local Communities

The aim of the SERENE project is to develop and demonstrate sustainable, integrated, cost-effective and customer centric solutions for local communities. The idea is to integrate different energy system carriers and new renewable generation units in the local communities based on their social and technical status today to meet their energy needs in the coming years. The users has to be involved in the changes of the energy system and be informed about different technical opportunities and business cases to make decisions about their participation. Depending on the actual site, the new energy system involve different storage technologies (battery energy storages, heat storages, water storage-systems), demand response systems to enhance the flexibility of the systems (activating for instance electric vehicle charging stations and heat demand supplies), electric transportation systems like electrical vehicles or buses, heating system improvements using heat-pumps and integration of new renewable generation sources mainly in form of photo voltaics. The SERENE project will establish demonstrations in local villages in three European countries - Denmark, The Netherlands and Poland. The experiences gained at the demonstration sites will be analyzed and evaluated for replicability in firstly Europe but also world wide. Technical benchmark models and solutions will be set up together with their business models, and it is evaluated how different legal aspects form the involved countries will affect the possibility for replication. Further, the needed user involvement and their interest to join are evaluated seen from both geographic, social, environmental and economic conditions and characteristics.

SUSTENANCE

Sustainable energy system for achieving novel carbon neutral energy communities

The overall purpose of the SUSTENANCE project is to set up sustainable energy systems for achieving novel carbon neutral energy communities. The project focus on the development of smart technological concepts ensuring a green transition of the energy systems with higher share of local renewable energy and more efficient integrated energy solutions for the electrical, heat, water, waste as well as transportation infrastructure. The set up solutions will at the same time have good socio-economic impact in the local communities and ensure ecofriendly solutions and good infrastructures, which provides support to sustaining the essentials of life. The demonstration activities are set up in four countries: Denmark, India, Netherlands and Poland. These countries has different local energy resources, socio-economic, user behavior, political structures, market conditions and regulations. The project will show how same technical concepts such as coupling of different energy vectors, storage solutions, demand response, intelligent control schemes and digitalization can be applied to all demonstration cases despite the huge differences in the local conditions and regulations. Road maps will be set up based on these technical solutions together with guidelines for methods for user engagement and ensuring cooperation among the users in relevant cases leading to cooperatives. Finally, business cases will be set up for the different demonstration sites seen from both user perspective, small enterprises and utility point of view taking into account the local conditions. In this way, synergy effects with inputs from the different demonstration sites are expected and the results give abundant possibilities for maximum impact and replication in other local communities in the four countries as well as in societies worldwide.

Finished projects

InnoForESt

Smart information, governance and business innovations for sustainable supply and payment mechanisms for forest ecosystem services

InnoForESt seeks to spark a transformation of the European forest sector by stimulating innovations for the sustainable supply and financing of forest ecosystem services. European forests provide a broad range of ecosystem goods and services vital to society, however their sustainable provision remain challenging. InnoForESt is a European project funded by the Horizon 2020-Innovation Action to further explore the delivery of forest ecosystem services and foster the development of innovative policy, management, and business solutions. The project brings together a consortium of five European universities, seven environmental and forestry agencies, seven NGOs and a variety of SMEs, forest owners and networks. InnoForESt will support the governance of viable innovations and a multi-actor network by building on pioneer policy tools and business models, by establishing new alliances, and by involving key stakeholders from forest and forest-related policy, administration and business. The project is based on six representative case studies. They focus on successful policy and business initiatives as pioneer innovations and represent a range of biogeographical regions of European forests. This cases are used to develop similar innovations, building on and simultaneously upscaling existing innovations. This will lead to the more coordinated, efficient and sustainable governance and financing of forest ecosystem services in Europe.

S4D4C

Using Science for/in Diplomacy for Adressing Societal Challenges

European societies face a number of increasingly urgent and complex challenges. These challenges are becoming more interdependent and global in nature. The EU plays a leading role in addressing these global challenges. Global challenges require coordinated international efforts, which makes them central to foreign policy. In addition to diplomatic skills needed to balance interests and capacities of actors, there is also a need for greater expertise and, more concretely, scientific knowledge. Diplomats cannot be expected to have or to easily obtain this knowledge, even less so in today’s dynamic research and innovation systems. For the most part, they have to rely on scientific advice. However, communication between the scientific and diplomatic communities is not straightforward. The models, processes and resources for this sort of scientific advice are also not yet systematically available. There is potential for better harnessing European science and science cooperation for European science diplomacy and foreign policy goals, both at EU and MS level. Not only can new approaches for scientific advice in EU foreign policy benefit from advances in research (e.g. new climate models), but novel ways of carrying out research can also offer opportunities for foreign policy impact. Science diplomats can make use of these opportunities, including aspects of open science, internationalisation, and Responsible Research and Innovation. In the current political and societal landscape, the needs, interests and opportunities pertaining to science diplomacy have increased. The S4D4C project aims to ensure that the needs are understood and that the opportunities are effectively communicated into EU policies to address future challenges.

Address

University of Twente

Ravelijn (building no. 10), room 1137
Hallenweg 17
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

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