Dr Tim Foxon

Reader in Sustainability & Innovation

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 37910
Email address: t.j.foxon@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 9.107

Biography

Dr Tim Foxon is a Reader in Sustainability & Innovation in the Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. He is a Research Councils UK Academic Fellow (2007-12), and a member of the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and the new Centre for Integrated Energy Research at Leeds. His research focuses on innovation systems and processes for a transition to a low carbon economy. He is interested in how path dependency arises through co-evolution of technologies and institutions (social rule systems), how this can lead to lock-in of particular paths, and how policies to promote diversity of options and long-term thinking can help to overcome such lock-in.

He is a co-investigator on research examining Transition pathways to a low carbon economy, supported by EPSRC and E.On UK, as well as on an EPSRC project on future energy decision making for cities, and leader of an ESRC research seminar series on Complexity economics for sustainability. He was previously a Research Associate/Lecturer at Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge.

Current research projects

RCUK Academic Fellowship (RCUK, 2007-12)
Transition Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy (EPSRC/E.On, 2008-12)
Complexity Economics for Sustainability (ESRC seminar series, 2008-10)
Future Energy Decision Making for Cities (EPSRC, 2009-12)
Innovation-friendly Climate Policies (ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, 2011-13)

Current PhD students

Ronan Bolton - Socio-Technical Transitions and Infrastructure Networks
Matthew Hannon - The Role of Sustainable Business Models in Energy System Transitions
Hannah James - Decision making for microgeneration
Dan O'Neill - Measuring progress towards a steady state economy
Marco Sakai - How would reductions in consumption-induced emissions in the North affect development in the South?

Areas for PhD supervision

Low carbon innovation
Technological and institutional change
Energy policy

Teaching Interests

low-carbon innovation
UK energy policy
sustainable innovation
technological and institutional change.

Publications

Bolton, R; Foxon, TJ (2011) Governing Infrastructure Networks for a Low Carbon Economy: Co-Evolution of Technologies and Institutions in UK Electricity Distribution Networks , Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, 12, pp.2-26.
Foxon, TJ (2011) Governing a low carbon energy transition: lessons from UK and Dutch approaches , In: Galarraga, I; Gonzales-Eguino, M; Markandya, A (Ed) Handbook of Sustainable Energy, Edward Elgar Publishing.
Foxon, TJ (2011) Policy support for environmental innovation , In: Dietz, S; Michie, J; Oughton, C (Ed) Political Economy of the Environment, Routledge Studies in Contemporary Political Economy , Routledge, pp.132-143.
Foxon, TJ (2011) A coevolutionary framework for analysing a transition to a sustainable low carbon economy , ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS, 70, pp.2258-2267. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.07.014
Foxon, TJ (2011) Systems of innovation: national, regional and technological innovation systems , In: Dietz, S; Michie, J; Oughton, C (Ed) Political Economy of the Environment, Routledge Studies in Contemporary Political Economy , Routledge, pp.117-131.
Foxon, TJ (2010) Stimulating investment in energy materials and technologies to combat climate change: an overview of learning curve analysis and niche market support, PHILOS T R SOC A, 368, pp.3469-3483. doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0106
Marigo, N; Foxon, TJ; Pearson, PJ (2010) Chinese low-carbon innovation: developing technological capabilities in the solar photovoltaic manufacturing industry , Journal of Knowledge-Based Innovation in China, 2, pp.253-268.
Foxon, TJ; Hammond, GP; Pearson, PJG (2010) Developing transition pathways for a low carbon electricity system in the UK, TECHNOL FORECAST SOC, 77, pp.1203-1213. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2010.04.002
Nye, M; Whitmarsh, L; Foxon, T (2010) Sociopsychological perspectives on the active roles of domestic actors in transition to a lower carbon electricity economy, ENVIRON PLANN A, 42, pp.697-714. doi:10.1068/a4245
Foxon, TJ (2010) Energy for the Future: A New Agenda, ENVIRON VALUE, 19, pp.130-132.
Bonilla, D; Foxon, T (2009) Demand for New Car Fuel Economy in the UK, 1970-2005, J TRANSP ECON POLICY, 43, pp.55-83.
Foxon, T; Reed, M; Stringer, L (2009) Governing long-term social-ecological change: what can the adaptive management and transition management approaches learn from each other?, Environmental Policy and Governance, 19, pp.3-20. doi:10.1002/eet.496
Parrish, BD; Foxon, TJ (2009) Sustainability entrepreneurship and equitable transitions to a low-carbon economy, Greener Management International, 55, pp.47-62.
Foxon, T; Stringer, LC; Reed, MS (2008) Approaches to governing long-term social-ecological change: Comparing adaptive management and transition management, Oekologisches Wirtschaften, pp.20-22.
Barker, T; Scrieciu, SS; Foxon, T (2008) Achieving the G8 50% target: modelling induced and accelerated technological change using the macro-econometric model E3MG, CLIMATE POLICY, 8, pp.S30-S45. doi:10.3763/cpol.2007.0490
Foxon, T; Pearson, P (2008) Overcoming barriers to innovation and diffusion of cleaner technologies: some features of a sustainable innovation policy regime, J CLEAN PROD, 16, pp.S148-S161. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.10.011
Foxon, T; Kohler, J; Oughton, C (2008) Innovation for a Low Carbon Economy: Economic, Institutional and Management Approaches ,Edward Elgar.
Strachan, N; Foxon, T; Fujino, J (2008) Low-Carbon Society (LCS) modelling, CLIM POLICY, 8, pp.S3-S4. doi:10.3763/cpol.2008.0538
Strachan, N; Foxon, T; Fujino, J (2008) Policy implications from the Low-Carbon Society (LCS) modelling project, CLIMATE POLICY, 8, pp.S17-S29. doi:10.3763/cpol.2007.0488
Foxon, TJ (2007) Innovation impacts of environmental policies , In: Marinova, D; Annandale, D; Phillimore, J (Ed) International Handbook on Environment and Technology Management, Edward Elgar, pp.119-139.
Barker, T; Ekins, P; Foxon, T (2007) The macro-economic rebound effect and the UK economy, ENERG POLICY, 35, pp.4935-4946. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2007.04.009
Foxon, TJ (2007) Technological lock-in and the role of innovation , In: Atkinson, G; Dietz, S; Neumayer, E (Ed) Handbook of Sustainable Development, Edward Elgar, pp.140-152.
Foxon, T; Pearson, P (2007) Towards improved policy processes for promoting innovation in renewable electricity technologies in the UK , Energy Policy, 35, pp.1539-1550. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2006.04.009
Kohler, J; Barker, T; Pan, H; Agnolucci, P; Ekins, P; Foxon, T; Anderson, D; Winne, S; Dewick, P; Miozzo, M; Green, K (2007) New lessons for technology policy and climate change: investment for innovation, CLIM POLICY, 7, pp.156-161.
Barker, T; Ekins, P; Foxon, T (2007) Macroeconomic effects of efficiency policies for energy-intensive industries: The case of the UK Climate Change Agreements, 2000-2010, ENERG ECON, 29, pp.760-778. doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2006.12.008
Foxon, T (2006) Bounded rationality and hierarchical complexity: Two paths from Simon to ecological and evolutionary economics, ECOL COMPLEX, 3, pp.361-368. doi:10.1016/j.ecocom.2007.02.010
Foxon, T; Pearson, P; Makuch, Z; Mata, M (2005) Transforming policy processes to promote sustainable innovation: some guiding principles ,Imperial College London.
Foxon, T; Gross, R; Chase, A; Howes, J; Arnall, A; Anderson, D (2005) UK innovation systems for new and renewable energy technologies: drivers, barriers and systems failures, Energy Policy, 33, pp.2123-2137. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2004.04.011
Weisser, D; Foxon, TJ (2003) Implications of seasonal and diurnal variations of wind velocity for power output estimation of a turbine: a case study of Grenada, INT J ENERG RES, 27, pp.1165-1179. doi:10.1002/er.938
Foxon, T (2003) Inducing innovation for a low-carbon future: drivers, barriers and policies ,Carbon Trust.