Biography

Henrike Rau specialises in environmental sociology and social-scientific sustainability research. Her conceptual and empirical work addresses (un)sustainable consumption concerning mobility, energy and food. She has published 70+ peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and edited collections, including 'Methods of Sustainability Research in the Social Sciences' (Sage, 2013), 'Challenging Consumption' (Routledge, 2014) and 'Mobility and Travel Behaviour across the Life Course' (Edward Elgar, 2020).

Her core research interests lie in the areas of social-scientific and interdisciplinary sustainability research. Extensive research work to date has focused on (un)sustainable consumption patterns in the areas of mobility, energy and food. In particular, Prof. Rau has achieved international recognition for research on the dynamics of mobility practices across the life course, diverse mobility cultures and the mobility-related (re-)distribution of temporal and spatial resources. She designed and led cutting-edge research on transport, mobilities and the ‘consumption of distance’ as part of CONSENSUS, a seven-year collaborative project (2009-2015) between Trinity College Dublin and NUI, Galway on consumption, environment and sustainability funded by the EPA Ireland (www.consensus.ie).

She was also the social science partner in the NUIG-based nZEB-Retrofit project (2014-2018) funded by Science Foundation Ireland. This project combined engineering and social science expertise to investigate household energy consumption in Ireland and the potential benefits and drawbacks of retrofitting initiatives. In addition, Prof. Rau was scientific lead and WP1 leader in ENERGISE, an EU Horizon2020 funded inter- and transdisciplinary research project (2016-2019) on household energy use in Europe (www.energise-project.eu). Additional areas of expertise include cross-cultural comparative studies and qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.