Independent researcher and facilitator
Emilia is an independent researcher and facilitator with experience in the community energy sector, sustainability consulting and climate activism. This personal website is not being actively updated – please see Praxis Research for more recent work.
Please get in touch to discuss working together or to find out more
” Emilia is a thoughtful and creative researcher. Her approach combines a genuine commitment to participatory and action research which will result in tangible practical results, with serious intellectual engagement with current academic and policy debates. “
Kate Burningham, University of Surrey
Emilia has experience with a variety of research methods, including interviews, participant observation, and reflective practice. I have a particular interest in participatory action research at multiple levels, from the first person to the systemic.
She also offers consultancy, particularly on sustainable energy, community engagement, and workshop facilitation and planning.
Emilia is an experienced event organiser, and has project managed events from large day long conferences with up to 400 attendees to more intimate stakeholder meetings.
She draws on her networking skills and appreciation of the bigger picture to identify who needs to be in the room, and find the people who have the most relevant detailed knowledge. In designing an event, Emilia considers the participant experience, the objectives of the workshop (e.g. listen to feedback, share information, build participant relationships), and the context (e.g. business, public sector, community).
Cornwall Energy Island – with BuroHappold Engineering and the Eden Project
Emilia has project managed a series of Cornwall Energy Island events for BuroHappold Engineering, in partnership with the Eden Project, starting in 2015, with a follow-up in 2017, and a climate-emergency focsued event in 2019.
In 2015 the partners created a two-day event with 130 participants, at the Eden Project. This included a mix of keynote speakers, expert infobursts, interactive learning, and action planning over the course of the two days. The approach is detailed in the Energy Island white paper available from the BuroHappold website.
“Emilia’s approach to working with communities and experts is structured but also heartfelt and engaging. Working with Emilia on the Energy Island Project was a fantastic experience from which I personally learned a great deal. The process was evidence based, informed and comprehensive, however importantly it was also fun! “
Phil Hampshire, 3Adapt, formerly BuroHappold Engineering
The 2017 event followed up and updated participants on work that had taken place in Cornwall since 2015, particularly through ERDF funded projects.
In 2019, Cornwall Council had been one of the first local governments in the UK to declare a climate emergency, and the partners convened a follow up event in September 2019 to review their plan for reaching net zero by 2030.
Emilia has also organised a parallel set of local energy transition events focused on the West of England area also hosted by BuroHappold Engineering. This included a Zero Carbon Heat event in 2019 co-hosted with Zero West.
In addition to event and workshop creation for clients, Emilia creates events bringing together different perspectives, or sharing a framing of ideas, where she sees a need or a gap. This includes a Bristol Energy Network to devise an event connecting connecting energy democracy stories of creation and resistance across continents.
Emilia uses her platform to amplify stories of community energy sector success and international efforts towards energy democracy. She has extensive experience of public speaking for expert and non-expert audiences, including academic conferences, business presentations, and community events.
Emilia is the energy and climate change tutor on the Shift Bristol Practical Sustainability course. This includes days in the classroom and a field trip day visiting local renewable energy projects with a variety of governance and ownership structures, as well as coordinating a practical teaching day.
” Emilia has the knack of matching her considerable knowledge and practical experience with innovative approaches to communicating ideas and concepts. This makes her a powerful and enthusiastic teacher and facilitator.”
Trevor Houghton former Energy and Climate Change Tutor, Shift – Practical Sustainability Course
” Lush spaceholding and emotionally sensitive facilitation”
“Very informative, pedagogic, good balance between facts/information and more interactive learning.”
“I liked how the day was (almost) balanced between problems and solutions”
Shift Bristol student feedback
Emilia regularly teaches at the University of Surrey Sustainable Development MSc since 2015. This includes teaching on the community energy sector in the UK and the movement for energy democracy in the Transitions to a Low Carbon Economy module, and teaching on theories and practice of commons governance in the Ecological Economics module.
She has also taught at UWE, bringing a practical case study to a course on the ethics of technology.
“Emilia Melville is an experienced and clear communicator who is very knowledgeable about all things community energy. She is passionate about energy democracy and has a knack of tailoring her talks to wide ranging audiences, bringing people with her to learn and explore complex subjects.”
Jodie Giles, Regen
Emilia’s experience of speaking on energy democracy includes: community energy events organised by Regen, including considering a community role in flexibility markets, and the future of the community energy sector; at the Quaker New Economy programme; at events organised by Carbon Co-op and academic conferences.
Commons: Workshops on commons governance, including the politics of commoning and practical tips for governing commons, are available. These are 1.5 or 2 hours in duration, and suitable for groups of 8 to 30 people.
Energy: Emilia is one of the creators of the Energy Game, based on David MacKay’s book Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air. This is a workshop tool for participants to achieve group consensus on an energy plan that adds up. The original national version has been developed, in collaboration with colleagues at BuroHappold Engineering, to create local West of England and Cornwall versions.
I approach organisational development with a focus on capacity-building and inclusion rather than centralisation. My experience and training in facilitating consensus decision-making enables me to include different voices in a creative and constructive process. Nurturing a wider network of people to build their capacity, particularly in a voluntary setting, means allowing others to make their own mistakes and set direction, whilst being there as ‘backstop’ to pick up the pieces if and when required. It also involves designing projects so that there are tasks available at a variety of levels of skill and capacity, and the potential to gradually become more deeply involved. A movement relies on many people being involved and participating in ways that are meaningful and accessible to them, whatever their circumstances.
“[A] core goal of public policy should be to facilitate the development of institutions that bring out the best in humans”
Elinor and Vincent Ostrom, 2014
A regional initiative to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon society in the West of England.
“Emilia has been absolutely central to the Development of Zero West. As one of her fellow directors I’ve found her commitment and drive invaluable. Her openness to others’ ideas and her ability to facilitate groups and enable positive outcomes have been both crucial and impressive.”
Bob Langton
Founding director
“As the original Chair of the board of the Energy Coop, Emilia forged an enthusiastic but inexperienced group of volunteers into an effective team, forming the nucleus for what has become a £10M community-owned business. Her commitment to basic principles of democracy and equity is inspirational, while her clarity and focus keep discussions to the point and projects on track.”
Peter Thompson, Bristol Energy Co-operative chair
Development of Cambridge University Students Union Green Officer as a joint role, to build capacity, supporting college green officers to implement their ideas and university-wide campaigns through a forum which put them at the centre of decision-making.
Initial advocacy for the development of a living laboratory initiative in the University of Cambridge, inspired by the approach taken in the University of North Carolina. This led to funded development work based in the University Estates office, sponsored by Santander. The Living Laboratory is now an ongoing successful project.
Emilia Melville 