Understanding and mitigating the social, institutional, economic, and technological challenges to moving beyond the fossil fuel era while advancing a just and legitimate re-orientation of Norwegian fossil fuel industries.

Focus Area 4 explores what it means to move from fossil fuels to renewable energy, viewing the energy transition as a profound societal transformation that affects technologies, institutions, power structures, and knowledge production. The focus area examines how society can address the social, institutional, economic, and technological challenges associated with the shift away from fossil energy, while supporting a just transition for Norway’s fossil fuel industry.

The core group was established in 2025, and a postdoctoral researcher was appointed to lead the development of the research agenda. The focus area is developing a research agenda, identifying funding opportunities, and organizing a range of meeting places and events, including activities open to the public. A reading group will also be established to strengthen academic engagement and foster deeper interdisciplinary dialogue.

Norwegian heritage, beautiful hiking conditions, and most importantly, the opportunity to study sustainable development brought Amber Nordholm to Norway.

 She started her master’s degree in Geographies of Sustainable Development at University of Bergen seven years ago, then moved to Trondheim for a PhD encouraged by her supervisor. And in August 2025, she started her three-year postdoc at NTNU Energy within Focus Area 4: Beyond the Fossil Fuel Era. She has no immediate plans to return to Seattle, Washington State, where she grew up.

Climate change was a key motivator in her academic choices.
“Back home, climate change was starting to feel very real. We began to have what felt like a fifth season every year: smoke season, due to more forest fires. You were advised to keep your windows closed and not vacuum because you could ruin your indoor air quality. This wasn’t a thing when I was a kid, and this is the same region I grew up in. This, among other things, motivated me to work on sustainability transitions more broadly.”

Her Norwegian roots also played a role in choosing to move.
“My grandmother was very proud of her Norwegian heritage and would make Norwegian cookies at Christmas and keep many Norwegian traditions. She kept in contact with her cousins in Norway her entire life. Because of this, I already had connections with my second and third cousins here. When one of them invited me to her wedding in Norway, I went—and that was how I ended up here the first time.”

Agenda: De-fossilization
Focus Area 4 is about “moving society beyond the fossil fuel era,” which Amber often shortens to de-fossilization. A major part of her postdoc involves helping to establish this as a clear research focus at NTNU Energy. This means considering what kinds of events and outreach can inspire NTNU researchers to integrate de-fossilization into their own work.
“I see my task as twofold: to do research and publish on this topic—adding a small contribution to understanding how to tackle this grand challenge—and to get other researchers talking and thinking about de-fossilization here at NTNU, in addition to innovation and technology.
“There are great developments in the energy transition, global increases in solar and wind, but oil and gas do not seem to be decreasing significantly. So, if we are serious about energy transitions, we need more targeted thinking on de-fossilization. This is a particularly interesting challenge in a place like Norway, which is an oil and gas state, even though it often prefers to see itself as a sustainability leader in hydro power.”

Working Across Different Areas
Her postdoc runs for three years. Amber has brought together a small discussion group of professors from different disciplines at NTNU who have researched related topics for some time. In their first meeting, she asked what “moving society beyond the fossil fuel era” means to them, and their answers provided inspiration both for her own research and for shaping the focus area.
Amber was also one of three hosts who run the NETI seminar series from August 2024 – December 2025.
“There is always the challenge of making an event productive across disciplines, which is attractive in theory but quite challenging in practice. That experience is, I hope, useful for this postdoc work.”
She still has energy for more and plans to start a reading group.
“This will hopefully facilitate good discussions of existing work on de-fossilization and ensure that I am reading useful material for my own research. Ideally, researchers will take an interest in the topic and participate in discussions linked to this focus area.”

A Social Person
Outside postdoc life at Dragvoll, Amber tries to integrate into Norwegian society by going hiking and backpacking. “And to be fair, I had that interest even before moving here. It was one of the attractions of Norway—so much amazing nature right in your backyard, reachable without hours of travel.” She has even found time for a sailing course and weekly sailing competitions on the Trondheim fjord.
“Socially, I enjoy organizing activities for colleagues. For a couple of years in my department, I organized a weekly quiz for my coworkers. These kinds of collective activities, along with my experience in interdisciplinary research and running seminar series, are part of what I hope to bring into the de-fossilization focus area.” 

Text and photo: Anne-Lise Aakervik/NTNU