Tomas Moe Skjølsvold

About

Background

I have a masters degree in sociology from the department of sociology and political science (NTNU), with a particular focus on the institutional aspects of development projects in Malawi. In 2012 I received a PhD in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the department of interdiciplinary studies of culture (NTNU). The thesis focussed on innovation in the Norwegian and Swedish bioenergy industries, comparing the two countries as distinct energy cultures.

Researhch interests: societal transitions and transformations

My key research interests are society-wide transformations and transitions. I aim to understand broadly how such transitions unfold, and further, how one can work to make such transitions as democratic, inclusive and responsible as possible. Underlying this is a concern for the way science, technology and society interacts, and how this tends to privilege certain voices and interests, while marginalizing others.

Energy

Much of my work on these issues deals with transitions in energy systems. I am particularly interested in the development of distributed energy systems with a high penetration of small scale renewable energy technology, and what the emergence of such systems might mean for social organization and engagement with the energy system, and with related issues such as the climate change problem. Further, I am interested in how such systems, and their associated opportunities and obstacles are interpreted by different actors across different societal arenas. How do policy makers, technology developers, incumbent actors, scientists, and technology users work to make their interests recognized across society? This leads to a focus on the many controversies associated with transitions, acknowledging that society is fraught with competing interests and visions of what a good future might be.

This interest has led me to the study of technology policy development processes, research on technology development processes, concrete design exercises as well as the use of technology.

Climate science and society

The interest for societal transformation also shines through in other research areas I am involved in, such as the study of climate scientific knowledge production and communication. One of my key interests here have been the relationship between climate science and various “publics”, and how climate scientists might work to open up and democratize their scientific practice, or at least to present a more realistic image of the working processes of scientists. A related theme is found in my interest in gender and family planning, where I am especially interested in how scientific and technological novelties might serve as enablers or repressors of new progressive practices.

I currently teach a masters course on technology, innovation and culture, and have in the past taught courses on ICT technologies and cultural change, energy and society etc. I am very happy to serve as a supervisor to interested and eager students, feel free to get in touch with interesting projects and proposals.

Publications

2016

Haugseth, Jan Frode; Huseby, Vilde Blix; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2016) Ti klimalogikker - En kvalitativ analyse av klimatiltak i norsk offentlig debatt (2007-2013). Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning. volum 56 (3).
Ravn, Malin Noem; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2016) Arbeidet med å lage barn: Lesbiske par og tredjepartsutfordringer i familieskaping. Reproduksjon, kjønn og likestilling i dagens Norge.
Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2016) Climate Change Communication in Norway. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science.

2015

Finstad, Terje; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2015) Materialitet og mening i menneskets tidsalder?. Norsk Medietidsskrift. volum 22 (4).
Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2015) The Global Warming of Climate Science: Climategate and the Construction of Scientific Facts. Climates and Cultures.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2015) Vitenskap, teknologi og samfunn. En introduksjon til STS. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 2015. ISBN 978-82-02-47889-6.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Lindkvist, Carmel Margaret. (2015) Ambivalence, designing users, and user imaginaries in the European smart grid: Insights from an interdisciplinary demonstration project. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 9.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2015) Embedding smart energy technology in built environments: A comparative study of four smart grid demonstration projects. Indoor and Built Environment. volum 24 (7).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Berker, Thomas. (2015) A traveler’s guide to smart grids and the social sciences. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 9.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Swensen, Eirik. (2015) Democracy or war? The communication of the climate issue online. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies. volum 3 (1).

2014

Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2014) Back to the futures: Retrospecting the prospects of smart grid technology. Futures: The journal of policy, planning and futures studies. volum 63.

2013

Henriksen, Ida Marie; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Grønning, Ingeborg. (2013) The Cafè Community. Cafè Society.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2013) Mikkel Bille og Tim Flohr Sørensen: Materialitet. En indføring i kultur, identitet og teknologi. Sosiologisk Tidsskrift. volum 21 (3).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2013) What We Disagree about When We Disagree about Sustainability. Society & Natural Resources. volum 26 (11).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Dugstad, Jon. (2013) Building on Norway's Energy Goldmine: Policies for Expertise, Export, and Market Efficiencies. Renewable Energy Governance: Complexities and Challenges.

2012

Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2012) Curb Your Enthusiasm: On Media Communication of Bioenergy and the Role of the News Media in Technology Diffusion. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture. volum 6 (4).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2012) Den vanskelige energikulturen. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2012) Publics in the Pipeline. On Bioenergy and its Imagined Publics in Norway and Sweden. Past and Present Energy Societies. How Energy Connects Politics, Technologies and Cultures.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Hansen, Gard Hopsdal; Kvisvik, Bjørn Christian. (2012) Den Nye Oljen. Dagens næringsliv.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Sørensen, Knut Holtan. (2012) Towards a new sociology of innovation. The case of bioenergy in Norway and Sweden. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet. 2012. ISBN 978-82-471-3717-8.

2011

Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2011) Tor A. Benjaminsen og Hanne Svarstad: Politisk økologi. Miljø, mennesker og makt. Sosiologisk Tidsskrift. volum 19 (3).

2010

Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2010) The Global Warming of Climate Science: Climategate and the Construction of Scientific Facts. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science. volum 24 (3).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2010) One size fits all? Designer-institutions: Lessons from two flawed attempts in Malawi. International Journal of the Commons. volum 4 (2).

2009

Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2009) Achieving a balanced view? A comparative analysis of newspaper coverage of climate change in Norway and Sweden, 2002 -2008. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES).

Journal publications

Haugland, Bård Torvetjønn; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2020) Promise of the obsolete: expectations for and experiments with self-driving vehicles in Norway. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy. volum 16 (1).
Ingeborgrud, Lina; Heidenreich, Sara; Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Foulds, Chris; Robison, Rosie; Buchmann, Katrin; Mourik, Ruth. (2020) Expanding the scope and implications of energy research: A guide to key themes and concepts from the Social Sciences and Humanities. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 63:101398.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Throndsen, William. (2020) European island imaginaries: Examining the actors, innovations, and renewable energy transitions of 8 islands. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 65.
Haunstrup Christensen, Toke; Friis, Freja; Bettin, Steffen; Throndsen, William; Michael, Ornetzeder; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2019) The role of competences, engagement, and devices in configuring the impact of prices in energy demand response: Findings from three smart energy pilots with households. Energy Policy.
Ryghaug, Marianne; Ornetzeder, Michael; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Throndsen, William. (2019) The Role of Experiments and Demonstration Projects in Efforts of Upscaling: An Analysis of Two Projects Attempting to Reconfigure Production and Consumption in Energy and Mobility. Sustainability. volum 11 (20).
Schwarzinger, Stephan; Bird, David Neil; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2019) Identifying Consumer Lifestyles through Their Energy Impacts: Transforming Social Science Data into Policy-Relevant Group-Level Knowledge. Sustainability. volum 11 (21).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Fjellså, Ingvild Firman; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2019) Det fleksible mennesket 2.0: Om sosiale relasjoner i fremtidens digitale elektrisitetssystem. Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift. volum 3 (3).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2019) Temporal echoes and cross-geography policy effects: Multiple levels of transition governance and the electric vehicle breakthrough. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions.
Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Heidenreich, Sara. (2018) Creating energy citizenship through material participation. Social Studies of Science. volum 48 (2).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Throndsen, William; Ryghaug, Marianne; Fjellså, Ingvild Firman; Koksvik, Gitte. (2018) Orchestrating households as collectives of participation in the distributed energy transition: New empirical and conceptual insights. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 46.
Christensen, Toke Haunstrup; Friis, Freja; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2017) Changing practices of energy consumption: The influence of smart grid solutions in households. Eceee ... summer study proceedings.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Jørgensen, Susanne; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2017) Users, design and the role of feedback technologies in the Norwegian energy transition: An empirical study and some radical challenges. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 25.
Throndsen, William; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Christensen, Toke Haunstrup. (2017) From consumer to prosumer. Enrolling users into a Norwegian PV pilot. Eceee ... summer study proceedings.
Haugseth, Jan Frode; Huseby, Vilde Blix; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2016) Ti klimalogikker - En kvalitativ analyse av klimatiltak i norsk offentlig debatt (2007-2013). Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning. volum 56 (3).
Finstad, Terje; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2015) Materialitet og mening i menneskets tidsalder?. Norsk Medietidsskrift. volum 22 (4).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Lindkvist, Carmel Margaret. (2015) Ambivalence, designing users, and user imaginaries in the European smart grid: Insights from an interdisciplinary demonstration project. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 9.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2015) Embedding smart energy technology in built environments: A comparative study of four smart grid demonstration projects. Indoor and Built Environment. volum 24 (7).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Berker, Thomas. (2015) A traveler’s guide to smart grids and the social sciences. Energy Research & Social Science. volum 9.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Swensen, Eirik. (2015) Democracy or war? The communication of the climate issue online. Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies. volum 3 (1).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2014) Back to the futures: Retrospecting the prospects of smart grid technology. Futures: The journal of policy, planning and futures studies. volum 63.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2013) Mikkel Bille og Tim Flohr Sørensen: Materialitet. En indføring i kultur, identitet og teknologi. Sosiologisk Tidsskrift. volum 21 (3).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2013) What We Disagree about When We Disagree about Sustainability. Society & Natural Resources. volum 26 (11).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2012) Curb Your Enthusiasm: On Media Communication of Bioenergy and the Role of the News Media in Technology Diffusion. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture. volum 6 (4).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2012) Den vanskelige energikulturen. Aftenposten (morgenutg. : trykt utg.).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Hansen, Gard Hopsdal; Kvisvik, Bjørn Christian. (2012) Den Nye Oljen. Dagens næringsliv.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2011) Tor A. Benjaminsen og Hanne Svarstad: Politisk økologi. Miljø, mennesker og makt. Sosiologisk Tidsskrift. volum 19 (3).
Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2010) The Global Warming of Climate Science: Climategate and the Construction of Scientific Facts. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science. volum 24 (3).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2010) One size fits all? Designer-institutions: Lessons from two flawed attempts in Malawi. International Journal of the Commons. volum 4 (2).
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne. (2009) Achieving a balanced view? A comparative analysis of newspaper coverage of climate change in Norway and Sweden, 2002 -2008. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES).

Report/dissertation

Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Sørensen, Knut Holtan. (2012) Towards a new sociology of innovation. The case of bioenergy in Norway and Sweden. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet. 2012. ISBN 978-82-471-3717-8.

Part of book/report

Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2019) Nurturing a regime shift toward electro-mobility in Norway. The Governance of Smart Transportation Systems.Towards New Organizational Structures for the Development of Shared, Automated, Electric and Integrated Mobility.
Ravn, Malin Noem; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2016) Arbeidet med å lage barn: Lesbiske par og tredjepartsutfordringer i familieskaping. Reproduksjon, kjønn og likestilling i dagens Norge.
Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2016) Climate Change Communication in Norway. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science.
Ryghaug, Marianne; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2015) The Global Warming of Climate Science: Climategate and the Construction of Scientific Facts. Climates and Cultures.
Henriksen, Ida Marie; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Grønning, Ingeborg. (2013) The Cafè Community. Cafè Society.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; Ryghaug, Marianne; Dugstad, Jon. (2013) Building on Norway's Energy Goldmine: Policies for Expertise, Export, and Market Efficiencies. Renewable Energy Governance: Complexities and Challenges.
Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2012) Publics in the Pipeline. On Bioenergy and its Imagined Publics in Norway and Sweden. Past and Present Energy Societies. How Energy Connects Politics, Technologies and Cultures.

Books

Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe. (2015) Vitenskap, teknologi og samfunn. En introduksjon til STS. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. 2015. ISBN 978-82-02-47889-6.

Språkvelger

Tomas Moe Skjølsvold