Julie Ann Delos Reyes

Julie Ann Delos Reyes
Postdoctoral fellow

Research interests:

resource geographies, energy transition, nature-society relations, financialisation, environmental governance

Research summary:

My research takes a transdisciplinary, political ecology approach to understanding energy transition in the Philippines and the broader East/Southeast Asian region. Looking in particular at the dynamics of coal phase out, it aims to shed light on the conditions that impede the shift to low carbon sources in the power generation mix. It will map out the key actors and interests, nationally and regionally, that are implicated in the production and use of coal for electricity generation; identify the sources of socio-economic and biophysical ‘lock-ins’; and recommend solutions to facilitate the shift away from coal dependence. The research subscribes to, and aims to further advance, a view of ‘energy transition’ as a fundamentally ecological process, a realignment in the way society relates with nature. Moving beyond current understanding of transition as mainly a technological shift, the social relations of power that underpin such a process, i.e. that preserve the dominance of the incumbent fossil fuel energy regime, will be a key focus of analysis.

Research publications:

• 1. Bridge, G., Banoub, D., de los Reyes, J.A., Ertor, I. And Gonzalez Hidalgo, M. (forthcoming). ‘Rethinking resource booms: industrial dynamics on the commodity frontier’, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space [accepted, subject to minor revisions]
• 2. Kravchuk, A., Neboha, M., and de los Reyes, J. (2018) Offshoring prosperity: Agroholdings and tax avoidance in Ukraine. Available at http://longreads.tni.org/offshoring-prosperity-ukraine/, December 2018.
• 3. de los Reyes, J. A. (2017). Mining shareholder value: Institutional shareholders, transnational corporations and the geography of gold mining. Geoforum, 84, 251-264.
• 4. de los Reyes, J., Milanez, F., De Rosa, S.P., and Velegrakis, G. (2016) “Conceptualising Disaster Capitalism in Political Ecology” In Beltran, M., Kotsila, P., García López, G., Velegrakis, G. and Velicu, I. in Political Ecology for Civil Society. Available at http://www.politicalecology.eu/documents/events/94-entitle-manual-may-2016/file
• 5. de los Reyes, J. (2016). ‘Who owns the world’s largest gold mining companies and why it matters?’ In Beltran, M., Kotsila, P., García López, G., Velegrakis, G. and Velicu, I. in Political Ecology for Civil Society. Available at http://www.politicalecology.eu/documents/events/94-entitle-manual-may-2016/file